A
pioneer in more ways than one, Maria Louise Sanford came to the University
of Minnesota in 1880. She was the University’s first woman professor,
hired by President Folwell after a conversation that lasted just 30
minutes.
When Sanford arrived in Minnesota, the University had 300 students and
18 professors. She taught composition, rhetoric, elocution, and oratory,
packing lecture halls with young scholars enthusiastic about her
innovative teaching style. She often welcomed students into her home, just
minutes from campus, sometimes housing up to 16 students at a time. Known
for her impressive oratory skills, she traveled widely as a lecturer and
advocate for education. She founded the Minneapolis Improvement Society,
an active group that crusaded for a cleaner city and sparked many a lively
debate. A Minneapolis public school was named after her, as was Sanford
Hall, the University’s first residence hall, built here on University
Avenue in 1910.
