SEAS graduate makes HERstory — 75 years ago

By Elizabeth Egan 

Seventy-five years ago, Dorothy Price made history when she walked across the stage at commencement. As she shook hands with the dean and received her diploma, she became the first woman to earn an engineering degree from the University at Buffalo since the university offered its first engineering curriculum in 1921.  

Price (formerly Gracz) graduated high school during World War II and was recruited to work at the Curtis-Wright Corporation as an engineer’s aid. After taking a drafting course at Cornell University, she worked alongside the engineers to make corrections on blueprints for cargo and fighter planes. According to her son, Jim Moynihan, her aptitude for the job prompted her boss to encourage her to pursue engineering after the war. In 1945, she enrolled at UB and pursued a degree in industrial engineering.

Price, who passed away in 2008, was an active student during her time at UB. According to the 1949 Buffalonian, UB’s college yearbook, Price served as the recording secretary for the Engineering Society, as a member of the engineering student counsel and as one of the founding members of the Society for the Advancement of Management.

On top of her courseload and extracurriculars, she noted in an interview with the Buffalo Evening News, now The Buffalo News, that she also held two part-time jobs, working at the Hens & Kelly department store and as an elevator operator at the Statler Hotel.

“She didn’t take any guff from anybody, and I think that probably came from being the only woman in engineering,” said Moynihan.

Seventy-five years after Price walked the stage, Kat Marion Crever walked across a similar stage as the only female student to graduate from the Department of Materials Design and Innovation’s first undergraduate cohort.

“I’d like to think both Dorothy and I had similar motivations when it came to completing our degrees. In my case, building an education and future for myself was my number one priority, second to any standing I had amongst my colleagues,” said Marion Crever. “After all, we don’t necessarily think of ourselves as the outlier. We are just pursuing our dreams.”

While the significance of Price’s achievement continues to draw acclaim, Moynihan noted that his mother would often say, “I was the first, but there were others,” acknowledging four other female students who enrolled in SEAS during her time as an undergraduate.

“As the first woman to graduate from the MDI undergraduate program, it wasn’t just my victory,” said Marion Crever. “It was the start of a path for all the women that will come after me. I want them to see that this option is just as accessible to us as it is to men and know without doubt that their success is possible.”

After graduating, Price worked in industry for several years before deciding to pursue a career as a physics teacher. 

Ann Bisantz, dean of undergraduate education at UB and a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, graduated from UB with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering in 1989, 40 years after Price graduated as the only female in her class.

“When I was an undergraduate, there were plenty of female students in industrial engineering. It wasn’t 50-50, but there was a lot of representation,” said Bisantz.

As a current faculty member, Bisantz said that the biggest change has been an increase of women on the faculty, having only had one female faculty member in the department when she was a student.

“A positive change across the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the last 10 years has been a greater focus on hiring women and other underrepresented individuals,” said Bisantz. "I think that it is helpful, especially for PhD students, to see women in faculty roles and being accomplished researchers.”

In 1999, Price returned to UB to receive the Vital Partners Award, commemorating the 50th anniversary of her graduation and recognizing her as a role model for future generations of women in engineering.

"I remember that she was a gracious and humble lady who clearly loved her students," said Mark Karwan, Praxair Professor in Operations Research and SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, who presented her with the award in 1999 as the dean of SEAS.

While accepting the award, she encouraged women with an aptitude for math and science to pursue engineering, saying, “It can be preparation for unlimited opportunities in any field.”

Sixty-five years after Price’s graduation, a new group formed on campus, Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), to improve the recruitment, retention and success of women in STEM fields and support extracurricular opportunities for UB students of all genders.

This year, the group celebrates its 10th anniversary, marking two significant milestones that demonstrate a facet of the tremendous growth of SEAS over the past 75 years.