Beehive 1962

Dr. Moffett and friends at Cricket Hearth
College's First and Only Dean Sees Last Class of Girls
8
(from a Roanoke Times article of Sept., 1961)
Dr. M'Ledge Moffett is a living institutio n.
For thousands, sh is an unchanging symbol of campus days at Racliord College. As Dean
of 'Vomen, Dr. Moffett has guided, directed, and counseled hordes of unsure freshmen and
overworked seniors from the first days of the college in 1913.
This week, for the 49th time, she watche d the stream of fresh-faced students pour onto
the campus as Orientation Week began. These young women in sneakers and pleated skirts
look little like the first student body at Radford, but like their predecessors, they will seek out
Dr. Moffett for answers to their questions. They will be the last to benefit by the dean's wit
and wisdom.
J n J nne, she will retire.
Dr. Moffett has been many things to Radford College. In the early years, she directed the
hume economics department ... teaching her charges the fine points of sewing, cooking, and
homE' care. She handled purchasing and food service for the 180 students and 15 faculty members.
In 1920, she became the first woman dean in the state.
There was little to see at Radford when Dr. Moffett began her career, only Founders Hall,
some resident houses, and 33 acres of land. Through the past 48 sessions, she has witnessed the
transformation to a handsome campus with 16 buildings on 70 acres.
As unofficial historian, she has kept, collected, and written the story of the college's growth
from a two-year state normal school to today's fully accredited senior college ,vith 1,600 students
and 100 faculty members. She has seen the part-time graduate school and a nursing program
for aspirants at Radford and Pulaski hospitals.
Born in Cincinnati in 1892, Dr. Moffett grew up in Lexington and received her B.S., M.A.
and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University, where she was a charter member of Kappa Chapter
of Kappa Delta Pi. Always active in the education field, she was formerly a director of the
Virginia Education Association, and president of the Virginia Home Economics Association.
l\'oted for her wit and warmness, Dr. Moffett lives alone in her Racliord home, and keeps
on the go in her 1961 black sedan.
Other people and places still fascinate her, too, and last year she toured Europe and the
~ear East by jet, her favorite type of travel.
Looking today at her school of girls, Dr. Moffett speaks with noticeable pride. "The college
is a very definite part of the Radford Community," she says, "and that's not true of all colleges."
by "iorma Vecellio of the Roanoke Times