UK'S FIRST WOMAN GRADUATE

In 1888 Belle Clement Gunn became the first woman student at UK to earn a baccalaureate degree.

Gunn, a Lexington native, spent her childhood on a farm near Shelbyville, Kentucky, where she attended the highly regarded Science Hill Academy for girls.  Her family moved to Lexington in the early 1880s where Gunn attended public schools and the Sayre Institute.  Classmates remembered Gunn as "well above average in scholarship, but not so brilliant as to inspire envy and jealousy."  She participated fully in the social life available, including the literary societies.

Prior to the 1888 commencement, President Patterson called Belle Gunn to his office.  He asked the only woman graduate, "I suppose you will not want to sit up on the platform with the young men on Commencement Day, will you Miss Gunn?"  Gunn replied, "I've been through four years in classes with them and I don't see why I shouldn't sit on the platform with them now."  

At commencement President Patterson was reportedly "most gracious" to the first woman graduate whom he referred to as the "Eldest Daughter of the Institution."

Congratulations 2018 graduates!