Dr. Alberta Corbin (1870-1941)

Dr. Alberta Corbin (1870-1941). A graduate of the University of Kansas and Yale University, Dr. Corbin was professor of German at KU from 1903 to 1941. She was appointed Dean of Women in 1918, a position she had unofficially filled for several years prior. A dedicated suffragist, she was chair of the membership committee of the Kansas Equal Suffrage Association. She often shared the speaking platform with fellow suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Anna Shaw.

Program, Kansas Equal Suffrage Association, Thirtieth Annual Convention, May 19-20, 1913, Lawrence, Kansas. Dr. Corbin is listed on the program and gave a talk entitled "The College Girl and Citizenship."

Corbin Hall opened in 1923 as a women’s dormitory, and is still in use today. It was named in honor of Dr. Alberta Corbin, who tirelessly pressed the university administration and the state legislature to secure housing for women on the KU campus. Dr. Corbin believed that one of the benefits of having a dedicated women’s dormitory would be the coming together of women from different backgrounds, classes and interests, living together as a community, with the common purpose of education.