Vallentine, Florence May

The first known female student to enroll in the regular MAC undergraduate course, Florence May Vallentine (sometimes Valentine), class of 1896, appears on the freshman class roll in the 1892 catalog.

From Florence, Mass., Vallentine boarded at a professor’s house in Amherst and was elected freshman class historian. But she stayed only a few months. According to the Annual Report of 1893: “One young woman, braving the discomforts of being the only one of her sex in college, joined the freshman class and did most excellent work, but lack of funds compelled her to withdraw before the close of the first term.”

• Annual Report of 1893

• See also Women at UMass