FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2011

Columbus-Lowndes Public Library archivist published in Journal of Mississippi History

COLUMBUS, Miss.—Columbus-Lowndes Public Library Archivist Mona K. Vance’s article “Mississippi University for Women and the Battle over Coeducation” was recently published in the latest edition of the Journal of Mississippi History.

An extract of her masters thesis “Fighting the Wave of Change: Cultural Transformation and Coeducation at Mississippi University for Women, 1884 to 1982” explores the case of Joe Hogan v. Mississippi University for Women and its long term impact on the school. Hogan sued the university in 1979 when he was denied admission to the nursing department based on his gender. Eventually, the United States Supreme Court heard the case in 1982 and found in favor of Hogan. As a result, MUW officially opened its doors to men on July 15, 1982.  The case ultimately determined the fate of coeducation at both The Citadel in South Carolina and the Virginia Military Institute 10 years later.

Vance said, “I am thrilled to have my first published article printed in the Journal of Mississippi History. The Hogan case resulted in a landmark decision. It affected not only our local community, but the nations system of public higher education as well.”

The Journal of Mississippi History is an illustrated quarterly magazine with articles by scholars on the history of Mississippi, the lower Mississippi Valley and the South. It is published through the Mississippi Historical Society.  

Vance received her MA in history from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2008 and her BS in communications from Mississippi University for Women in 2002.

For more information on the Mississippi Historical Society, visit http://mdah.state.ms.us/admin/mhistsoc.html.