June Rose Colby

June Rose Colby (June 4, 1856 − May 11, 1941) was an American Professor of Literature

She was born in Cherry Valley, Ohio,[1] second daughter and the fourth of five children of Lewis Colby and his wife Celestia Rice. Her father was a dairy farmer, while her mother found an outlet for her literary interests by writing essays. In 1866 the family moved to Freeport, Illinois, where her father earned income as a lightning rod salesman. June had been home schooled up to this point, but now attended public school. The family moved again in 1870 to Ann Arbor, Michigan so that June's sister Vine could study at the University of Michigan.[2]

After June graduated from Ann Arbor High School, she matriculated to the University of Michigan. Four years later she graduated with an A.B. degree, then taught in high school from 1878 until 1883. Initially she taught algebra at Ann Arbor High School, then became preceptress and taught Greek and Latin at the high school in Flint, Michigan.[3] She left for further education at the Harvard Annex, now called Radcliffe College, then transferred back to the University of Michigan where she received an A.M. degree.[4] In 1886, she became the first woman at the University of Michigan to receive a Ph.D. by examination.[5] Her thesis was titled Some Ethical Aspects of Later Elizabethan Tragedy, Preceded by an Examination of Aristotle's Theory of Tragedy.[6]

For six years after graduating she was unable to receive a professorship and was instead employed as a teacher in High Schools in Peoria. Finally, in 1892 she was hired by the Illinois State Normal University as a professor of literature.[4] Dr. Colby became the third female professor to be hired at the University.[7] During her career, she served as Dean of Women and became a sponsor of the University's Sapphonian Society. She had several works published and was an editor on a study of Silas Marner by George Eliot. As an outspoken feminist,[8] she supported the Suffragist movement and was a member of the Normal Equal Suffrage Association, organized in 1911.[6] When she retired in July, 1931, she was named Emeritus Professor of Literature.[9] The now demolished Colby Hall at Illinois State Normal University was later named after her.[10]