Katherine May Hazard, class of 1933

Abstract

In Part 1 of this interview, Katherine May Hazard begins by discussing daily life at Pembroke College. For her, this meant commuting to campus and becoming used to the regimented life at Pembroke. She explains some of the requirements, what it was like to date mathematicians, and her involvement on campus. Outside of class, there were a variety of activities and, oftentimes, formal dances. She remembers Dean Margaret Shove Morris telling them that Pembrokers were not preparing for a specific career, but for life.

In Part 2, Hazard shares her opinions on the Women’s Movement and her distress at the thought of Pembroke having lost its identity in the Pembroke/Brown merger of 1971. Hazard continues to discuss the Brown of today and how, when she visits, she sees both destruction as well as continuity.

Part 1

Part 2

Transcript

Recorded on November 23, 1982 in Alumnae Hall, Brown University, Providence, RI
Interviewed by Deborah Aschheim

Suggested Chicago style citation: Hazard, Katherine May. Interview. By Deborah Aschheim. Pembroke Center Oral History Project, Brown University. November 23, 1982.

Biography

Katherine May Hazard was born in 1911 in Edgewood, Rhode Island, to John and Ethel Hazard. She attended a public high school in Cranston, Rhode Island, before moving on to Pembroke College, where she studied mathematics. At Pembroke, she participated in Industrial Group, Class Fistball, Math Group, and Handbook Committee. After college, she worked for the Works Progress Administration before settling down to teach math at the elementary and junior high school level. Hazard passed away on August 1, 1991.