Mar 08, 2023
The Johanna Weinmeister Campus: A New Label for STEM Projects for Girls
International Women’s Day is observed worldwide on March 8 to raise awareness of women’s social, political and economic accomplishments. This day is particularly significant for girls in school and women at university, since education is one of the most crucial pillars of women’s empowerment. Nonetheless, women are still underrepresented in many areas to this day, including in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). So, it is all the more important to encourage their success in these fields.
TU Dresden advocates for young women on their paths to enrollment in STEM programs and during their studies through a wide range of projects. These will be pooled and promoted under the label of the Johanna Weinmeister Campus. Because one form of encouragement is to establish role models, be they contemporary or historic.
Who was Johanna Weinmeister?
It wasn’t until 1907 that women were officially allowed to enroll to study at a university in the Kingdom of Saxony. As the first women to study at what was then called Technische Hochschule Dresden, Johanna Weinmeister and Emmy Schecker enrolled in the 1907/08 winter semester. Johanna Weinmeister studied in the General Department with the goal of eventually taking the exams to qualify her as a teacher. In 1913, she submitted written papers in mathematics and physics, followed by an examined lesson to earn her teacher’s degree. On December 19 and 20, 1913, she passed her examination with an overall result of “good” and became the first woman to graduate from Technische Hochschule Dresden. Her peer Emmy Schecker studied chemistry for only one semester. Emmy Schecker’s request for admission was initially denied on March 29, 1907. However, once her father – a senior government official – entreated the Rector to admit his daughter as a regular student, it was announced on October 23, 1907, that “female persons” could also enroll as full-fledged students, effective immediately.
Accomplished women at TU Dresden
TU Dresden seeks to increase the visibility of pioneering women from its history and outstanding women in research and raise public awareness of them. Diversity Management has plans for places of remembrance, exhibitions, honorary naming and more as part of a project for promoting the visibility of outstanding (historical) women in science and academia on campus. The Johanna Weinmeister Campus is just the beginning.