Ex-Radcliffe Dean Cronkhite Dies at 90

Bernice B. Cronkhite '16, former dean of Radcliffe College and subsequently, the first dean of its Graduate School, died last Wednesday in Stillman Infirmary after a long illness. She was 90.

Appointed dean of the college at 29--and called the "baby dean" by some of her students--Cronkhite filled that position from 1923 until 1934, when she became dean of Radcliffe's newly formed Graduate school.

Recognizing the need for a scholarly community for women graduate students, she worked vigorously for the establishment of Radcliffe's graduate center that bears her name. The center, begun in 1956, includes dormitories and dining facilities.

In a statement released last week. Radcliffe President Matina Horner praised Cronkhite as "a courageous and visionary pioneer who dared to act on her firm belief that women had the right as well as the responsibility to develop and contribute their intellectual talents for the betterment of society."

Many Firsts

At Radcliffe, Cronkhite concentrated in government, remaining in Cambridge to do graduate work after college. During World War I, she became the first woman to hold a section leader post when she taught a section of Harvard's introductory government class. Cronkhite explained later that "the Corporation passed appointed me on the condition that there was no man available for the job and that it was only for one year. Otherwise they wouldn't have taken the risk."

She then went on to the study international law at Yale after being turned down by Harvard Law School because she was a woman. She then returned to Radcliffe, earning her Ph.D. in political science in 1920--the first woman to earn a doctorate in that field at Radcliffe.

After finishing her doctoral studies, Cronkhite traveled in Belgium on a fellowship from the Commission for the Relief of Belgium during 1921 and 1922.

Home Again

Back in Cambridge, Cronkhite quickly became an integral part of the college, advancing all women's scholarship, particularly at the graduate level.

Frances C.M. Donovan '28, a student at Radcliffe during Cronkhite's term as dean, remembers the administrator as "extremely thoughtful and kindly to individual students." A warm woman with a good sense of humor, Cronkhite took a personal interest in her students, Donovan added.

And former Radcliffe president Mary Bunting Smith said yesterday that while Cronkhite was not a great scholar herself. She was "very respected and a very good administrator."

"For many alumnae, the essence of Radcliffe College was Bernice Cronkhite." Smith added She kept in close correspondence with many of her past students until the time of her death.

Cronkhite remained active in Radcliffe affairs, particularly at the Graduate Center, long after her official retirement in 1959 when she became dean emeritus. In recent years she had done fundraising for the graduate center and designed that any revenue from her recently published memoirs. "The Times of My Life," should go to maintain the plant table at the center.

Her other responsibilities included serving as vice-chairman of the State Department's Board of Foreign Scholarships from 1956 to 1969 president of the New England Conference of Graduate Education from 1947 to 1958; and a trustee of Barnard College the Buckingham School in Cambridge and the Alice Freeman Palmer Institute in Sedalian N.Y.

In addition to her memoirs, Cronkhite authored the Handbook for Harvard Teachers" (1950) and "Graduate Education for Women" The Radcliffe Ph.D." (1956).

She was married to Leonard W. Cronkhite a nuclear scientist and business man died in 1947 Cronkhite is survived by three step children. Bayard Morse of Rockport Mass Dr. Leonard W. Cronkhite Jr. of Wauwatosar Wisc and Elizabeth Minot of Cambridge eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren