A small group gathered at the Memorial Union yesterday to hear the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Elizabeth Hoffman, and retired Associate Dean of Iowa State, Ruth Swenson, speak about their experiences attending women’s colleges more than 20 years ago and how it has affected their lives, even today.

Serving as a dean at ISU, Hoffman’s job meets the high standard of success that all-women colleges, such as Hoffman’s alma mater Smith College, generally inspire. “Most of the women that I graduated with have fairly distinguished careers.”

“I was so shy in high school that I would literally slink along the walls so as not to speak to anyone. I hardly ever dated. The whole boy/girl interaction was baffling to me,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said she knew by the time that she was in ninth grade that a woman’s college was the place for her. “I think it was that I was very serious about being a student and I didn’t feel in the whole educational experience of a public high school that it was easy to be a student and be a woman.”

Hoffman said she found a pressure that young women had in high school to not be good at math and science. “I didn’t let it keep me from excelling but I had a strong sense that I would be much better at an all-women’s college in an environment in which what I had to offer was valued.”

“It was exactly the experience I was looking for. For the first time in my life… I didn’t have the feeling that someone else was always trying to speak in class before I did.”

Swenson’s collegiate experience was different from Hoffman’s from the very beginning. “I grew up in a three-generational family dominated by a matriarchal grandmother…I was the only child and it was clear to me that I was supposed to be a boy, but I wasn’t. So, the next best thing was to expect me to excel.”

Swenson’s college and major were chosen by her family. She attended Mount Holyoke and majored in chemistry. Although she majored in chemistry, she ended up taking an English course from the request of a professor. “Here I was a chemistry major, I didn’t know why I was in there. By the end of the year I won the award for the most improved English writing.”

Swenson said part of the reason for her success was the smaller classrooms that a women’s college provided.

Swenson said there are 84 colleges that admit women only across the United States with an enrollment of 120,000 students and that all-male colleges are extinct. “Nine of 10 of women’s colleges have cross registration with other colleges and universities that are co-ed,” Swenson said.

From a recent study, Swenson said that women who graduated from women’s colleges score higher on standardized and genius tests, are more likely to graduate, tend to hold higher positions in careers, are happier, and earn more money than those who do not attend women’s colleges.

Although attending a women’s college has its benefits, Hoffman assured ISU students that the discussion was not to encourage students to leave ISU for a women’s college.

“One of the things that I try to do for the Carrie Chapman Catt Center is to try to create an atmosphere for women students…that offers some of what a women’s college offers. The opportunity to have an experience with other women…with special opportunities to excel in an environment of a large university.”