Education and Positions
Accomplishments, Elected Positions, and Committees
Other Memberships and Affiliations
Honors and Awards
Honorary Degrees

Ms. White had a long and industrious career that included many awards, honors, committee appointments, and "firsts." However, even though she spent a lot of time traveling, acting as part of committees, and on writing and research, by all accounts, her students came first. Some of her more famous students include: Charlotte Zolotow (1933-6) (1), August Derleth (1930) (2), Herbert Kubly (1937) (3), and Mark Schorer (1929) (4).

Education and Positions

1916 Radcliffe College A.B. English, summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa
1917 Radcliffe College A.M. English
1917-19 Smith College assistant in English
1919-25 UW Madison instructor in English
1924 PhD in Letters and Science--perhaps first woman to earn PhD in L&S at UW
1925-33 UW Madison assistant professor
1933-36 UW Madison associate professor
1936-67 UW Madison professor--first woman full professor in the UW's College of Letters and Science
1943-44 (fall semester) Barnard College visiting professor
1948 Columbia University visiting professor
1955-58 chair of UW English department--first woman to do so
1958-59 Harvard University visiting professor
1961-67 chair of UW English department

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Accomplishments, Elected Positions, and Committees

1920 Modern Language Association--delivered her first major paper on Blake (topic of dissertation)
1933-38 American Association of University Women committee on Membership and Maintaining Standards
1937-41 American Association of University Women committee on Fellowship Awards
1940-49 National Conference of Christians and Jews, board of directors; commission on religious organizations 1951--
1941-47 National President, American Association of University Women
1944-47 Modern Language Association Council
1945 First woman president of Wisconsin's University Club
1945 Co-founder of the Wisconsin Writer's Institute
1945 Modern Language Association Executive Council
1945 President, University of Wisconsin Teachers Union
1945-50 Vice President, College English Association
1945-48 American Council on Education executive committee; committee member 1947-55
1946 United States Educational Mission to Germany
1946-49 member of US National Commission for UNESCO
1946 member of the US delegation to the 5th meeting of the Preparatory Commission for UNESCO in London
1947 member of the US delegation UNESCO in Mexico City
1947-67 Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs member
1947-50 Vice President, International Federation of University Women
1947-50 Vice-Chair US Board of Foreign Scholarships
1947-54 member US Board of Foreign Scholarships; chair 1950
1948-50 National Student Association advisory board
1950-51 Vice President, American Association of University Professors
1951-54 member Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Armed Services (DACOWITS)
1952 Whitney Foundation, Division of Humanities, Advisory Board
1956-58 President of the American Association of University Professors (the first woman to head this organization)
1959 elected into American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1960-62 Advisory Committee for Survey of Federal Programs in Higher Education
1961 elected Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters
1962-67 National Newman Foundation board of trustees
1962-65 National Council of Teachers of English advisory council
1962-67 Sister Formation Graduate Study and Research Foundation member of lay advisory board
1963 Consultant, Catholic Renascence Society
1963 National President, Modern Humanities Research Association
1963 National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Commission VIII, International Platform Association
1964 Wisconsin Education Association Council of Wisconsin Writers, committee member
1964 Notre Dame University Library Council member
1965 appointment to the UW Institute for Research in the Humanities

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Here Ms. White is third from left in a group picture of the Fulbright Program's Board of Foreign Scholarships taken on December 11, 1953. The presidentially appointed Board of Foreign Scholarships, composed of twelve members drawn from academic, cultural, and public life, supervises the Fulbright Program worldwide. (5)

Other Memberships and Affiliations

Academy of American Franciscan History corresponding member
American Benedictine Academy
Gallery of Living Catholic Authors academy member
Kappa Gamma
Madison College Women's Club president 1933-35
Madison University Club president 1941-42
Madison Literary Club president 1962-63
Milton Society of America
Mortar Board
Phi Beta Kappa senate 1946-67 ; chairman of Ralph Waldo Emerson Award committee
Phi Delta Gamma
Phi Kappa Phi
Pi Lambda Theta
Renaissance Society of America
Sigma Delta
Sigma Epsilon

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Honors and Awards

1916 George B. Solhier prize for bachelor's thesis
1928-9, 1930 Guggenheim Fellowship at British Museum and Oxford's Bodleian Library
1939-40 Research Fellow at the Henry E. Huntington Library--one of the first women to hold this appointment
1942 University of Notre Dame Laetare Medal --for "a life devoted to the things of the mind and the spirit" for an outstanding Catholic layperson whose distinction in a particular field of endeavor has reflected glory upon the Catholic faith
1944 Theta Phi Alpha Siena Medal
1947 Distinguished Achievement Award (for Education) Graduate Chapter of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association
1949 American Association of University Women's Achievement Award ($2500)
1951 Northwestern University Centennial Award
1956 Catholic Book Club of America Campion Award
1956 Folger Library Research Fellowship
1957 Georgian Court College Mercy Medal
1958 Cardinal Newman Award
1958 named Honorary Officer, Order of the British Empire for her eminence in the field of 16th and 17th century English Literature
1959 Christopher Award for Literature
1963 Jane Addams Medal for Distinguished Service, Rockford College
1964 Hadassah Award
1964 John Gilmary Shea Award for Tudor Books of Saints and Martyrs
1965 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters Distinguished Service Citation
1965 Wisconsin Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award

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Honorary Degrees

Boston College 1959
Bradley University 1957
Carroll College (MT) 1954
Catholic University of America 1961
Duquesne University 1962
Grinnell College 1965
Kalamazoo College 1957
Loyola University 1957
Merrimack College 1958
Miami University (OH) 1948
Mt. Mary College 1941 LL.D
Mt. Saint Scholastica College 1939 LL.D
Nazareth College (KY) 1962
Oberlin College 1960
Regis College 1965
Rockford College 1942
Smith College 1947
St. Joseph's College (IN) 1960
St. Norbert's College 1949
Trinity College (DC) 1949
Wilson College 1947 L.H.D

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(1) more information about Charlotte Zolotow: http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ccbc/wisauth/zolotow/main.htm
(2) more information about August Derleth: http://www.derleth.org/autobiog.htm
(3) won the National Book Award in nonfiction for his book An American in Italy.
(4) wrote Sinclair Lewis: An American Life, a book many regard as the definitive biography of the famous writer and social commentator.
(5) The Fulbright Program, 1946-1996: An Online Exhibit http://www.uark.edu/depts/speccoll/fulbrightexhibit/bfs.html