Alumnae Council History
The Alumnae Council was established in 1917 to promote the interest of women in the University of Michigan community. Throughout its rich history the Alumnae Council has provided support and encouragement to the women of the University through a myriad of innovative projects and programs.
Among its first and finest undertakings, the Alumnae Council led the campaign that raised the funds for the construction of a center to serve the social and cultural activities of all Michigan students: the Michigan League Building on the University of Michigan campus at Ann Arbor.
The early years also saw the establishment of scholarships to provide financial assistance for self-supporting women students, a program that has grown to $2.5M in endowments honoring 30 alumnae and staff of the University of Michigan. Scholarships remain a focal point of the Council today. Income from these endowed funds has provided over three million dollars in scholarships for several thousand undergraduate and graduate students.
Henderson House, a women's cooperative residence, was founded in 1947 and is sustained by the Alumnae Council.
The Alumnae Council spearheaded the campaign that raised the start-up funds to launch the U-M Center for the Education of Women.
Alumnae enthusiastically supported M women athletes' march into intercollegiate competition and endowed a scholarship for varsity women athletes: The Marie Hartwig Scholarship.
The Council created the Alumnae Athena Award to honor nationally and internationally acclaimed women of the University of Michigan for their scholarly and humanitarian contributions. It also instituted the Alumna-in-Residence program that brought distinguished women professionals to the campus to meet with and teach current students.
The Council envisioned and sponsored the Academic Administrative Internship program to provide opportunities for women to gain administrative experience through interning with various Vice Presidents of the University.
Council facilitated the building of the Education Center at Camp Michigania, the Association's Family Camp on Walloon Lake in Northern Michigan, with funds raised through the annual Birthday Greeting Campaign.