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Margaret MacDonald, seen here in her chemistry lab circa 1915, was only the second women recruited to Penn State's agricultural faculty (in 1907). By then, she was already a pioneer. In 1895, she was among the first female graduates of Penn State's two-year chemistry course. "At that time, women chemists-in-the-making were not in demand," she recalled, so she continued to pursue her academic training, earning a bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1898, accepting Phi Beta Kappa membership, and going on to become one of a handful of women to hold Ph.D.'s in chemistry. "After receiving a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr in 1902, I taught chemistry wherever I could get a job," she wrote, including Vassar and colleges in New Jersey and Delaware. She taught agricultural chemistry at Penn State until 1921 and served as acting department head. MacDonald also rallied other alumnae to establish one of the University's first student loan funds for women, and led Penn State's affiliation with the American Association of University Women.
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