Jeanne Owen, WFU’s first female full professor, dies at age 82

By Sarah Mansell
336.758.5237
July 30, 2003

Jeanne Owen, professor emerita of business law at Wake Forest University and the university’s first female full professor, died July 27 in Winston-Salem after a sudden illness. She was 82.

Owen came to Wake Forest in 1956 to teach in what was then the School of Business Administration, now the Calloway School of Business and Accountancy. At the time, the university had only five women faculty members. From 1962 – 1964, Owen served as acting dean of women.

In 1967, Owen became the first woman at Wake Forest to earn the title of full professor. She was awarded the Jon Reinhardt Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1987 and retired in 1991.

“She was truly one of the pillars in the history of our university as a whole, and particularly the business school,” said Thomas Taylor, Hylton Professor of Accountancy and dean of the Calloway School from 1980 -1992. “She appreciated the importance of a liberal arts education.”

A Gibsonville native, Owen received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She earned a master’s degree from Indiana University and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A campus memorial service for Owen is planned for the fall semester in Wait Chapel.

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