51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Skip to main content

First woman elected a CU regent was a prohibitionist

First woman elected a CU regent was a prohibitionist

Women’s history snapshot: Anna Louise Wolcott Vaile argued that social ills harming women could only be rectified with political power, which relied on women’s suffrage


Colorado recognized women’s right to vote in 1893, but state voters did not elect a woman to the University of Colorado’s governing board until 1910. That pioneer was Anna Louise Wolcott Vaile.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, she was one of 11 children and earned her education in Wellesley College, a private women's liberal art college in Massachusetts.

Vaile dedicated