Northwestern University Alumni

Celebrating Women’s History Month at Northwestern

Since the first female student enrolled at Northwestern 152 years ago, many pathbreaking women have gone on to graduate from the University and create greater opportunity for others. In honor of Women’s History Month, we are spotlighting a few of our many inspiring alumnae whose achievements in the areas of law, athletics, and transgender activism have paved the way for others and made an impact in the world.

Meet Nellie MacNamara 1917, First Female Director of Northwestern’s Legal Clinic

Nellie MacNamara (1888–1959) graduated from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, then called Northwestern University School of Law, in 1917 and went on to work for the school for 31 years, serving on the faculty and as the legal clinic’s first female director.

After graduating with honors from the Law School, MacNamara briefly practiced law in Kalispell, Montana. She returned to Illinois in the 1920s to take a position at the Legal Aid Bureau of United Charities of Chicago, which provided civil legal services for low-income residents of Cook County. Eventually, her work led her back to Northwestern Pritzker Law, this time as a faculty member.

As an instructor, MacNamara oversaw the civil and industrial branches of the clinic, while another professor oversaw its criminal law practice. The clinic temporarily shuttered its doors during the Second World War due to reduced student enrollment, during which time she entered the private sector as an attorney at Montgomery Ward and Company. Upon her return after the war, MacNamara took over leadership of the Law School’s clinical program—making her the first woman to hold the position.

As clinical education was still relatively new, MacNamara had the unique opportunity to shape the methods and philosophy of clinical education, not only at Northwestern but also at law schools across the country. Under her leadership, the clinic forged new partnerships with alumni attorneys in Chicago and became a requirement for students not participating in law journals. MacNamara continued to serve as the clinic’s director until 1954, when she transitioned to serving as a lecturer before her retirement the following year. Read more about MacNamara’s life and legacy.

Meet Betty Robinson Schwartz ’34, First Woman to Win Gold in an Olympic Track and Field Event

At the age of 16, Betty Robinson Schwartz ’34 ran track in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics—the first year in which women were allowed to compete in track and field. There, she won the gold medal in the 100-yard dash, running a world record 12.2 seconds, and the silver in the 4x100-meter relay.

After graduating from high school in Harvey, Illinois, Schwartz attended Northwestern on an athletic scholarship. She studied in Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy, then called the School of Education, and became the first woman to receive a varsity letter at the University. During her time as a student, she was involved in a horrific airplane crash that shattered her left leg. After two and half years, Schwartz could run again. But one of her legs was now shorter than the other, and a silver pin in her left knee prevented her from crouching in the usual four-point starting position.

Undeterred by her disability, she qualified for the 1936 Berlin Olympics and ran the third leg of the 4x100-meter relay, where she didn’t need to begin from a starter’s crouch. Joined in Germany by fellow alumna Annette Rogers Kelly ’37 in the relay race, Schwartz took home another gold medal. She was later inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1977. Read more about the “First Lady of Olympic Track.”

Meet Karen Topham ’78, ’79 MS, First Transgender Teacher in the US to Transition on the Job

In 1998, Karen Topham became the first openly transgender teacher in the United States to transition on the job. The high school English teacher in Lake Forest, Illinois, gained national attention and has since served as a writer, public speaker, and advocate for LGBTQ issues.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in teaching from Northwestern, Topham received a master’s degree in directing from Roosevelt University before joining the staff at Lake Forest High School in 1983. For four decades, she taught English, creative writing, and drama and directed more than three dozen plays as the school’s theatre director. Her presence at the school led to greater acceptance of the LGBTQ community while her public experience helped many people in their own transitions.

Since retiring in 2016, Topham has continued to combine her lifelong passion for theatre with ongoing advocacy around transgender issues. Now a theater critic, she founded ChicagoOnStage, a website that features local and national theatre reviews. Topham also became a founding member of the American Theatre Critics Association’s equity, diversity, and inclusion committee. In that role, she has helped educate members on writing about transgender and nonbinary actors, such as pronoun usage and the importance of not misgendering characters or actors in theater reviews.

Through her advocacy, Topham also addresses some of the systemic issues that impact transgender and nonbinary actors in theatre, including the lack of parts written for them, the reticence of directors in casting them for cisgender roles, and the discrimination they can experience backstage. Today, she continues to help younger people who have concerns about transitioning and speak out on transgender rights, and is at work on a memoir. Read more about Topham’s life and advocacy.