Jill Ker Conway facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jill Ker Conway
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| Born | Jill Ker 9 October 1934 Hillston, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 1 June 2018 (aged 83) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | Australian-American |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Notable works | The Road from Coorain |
| Notable awards | National Humanities Medal 2012 |
| Spouse | John Conway (d. 1995) |
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Jill Ker Conway (born October 9, 1934 – died June 1, 2018) was an amazing Australian-American writer and scholar. She was famous for her life stories, especially her first book, The Road from Coorain. Jill Ker Conway also made history as the first woman president of Smith College from 1975 to 1985. Later, she taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was honored for her work in women's history and received the National Humanities Medal.
Contents
Jill Ker Conway's Early Life
Jill Ker Conway was born in Hillston, New South Wales, a very remote area of Australia called the outback. She grew up with her two brothers on a large family farm named Coorain. This name means "windy place" in the language of the indigenous Australians.
Life on the farm was quite lonely. Jill didn't have other kids to play with, only her brothers. Her mother, who was a nurse, taught her at home using special lessons sent by mail.
Life on the Sheep Farm
From a young age, Jill helped out on the sheep farm. By age seven, she was already an important helper. She would herd sheep, check the fences, and move heavy farm supplies. The farm did well for a while, but then a very long drought hit. This drought lasted seven years and made life very hard.
Jill's father also became very sick. When she was eleven, he sadly drowned in an accident while trying to fix the farm's water pipes.
Moving to Sydney
After her father's death, Jill's mother didn't want to leave Coorain. But the drought continued for three more years. Finally, she had to move Jill and her brothers to Sydney, a big city, so the children could go to school.
Jill found her new school in Sydney a bit tough. Her polite British manners and accent, taught by her parents, were very different from her classmates' Australian ways. This sometimes led to teasing. So, her mother sent her to Abbotsleigh, a private school for girls. There, Jill found learning exciting and made friends.
University and Challenges
After Abbotsleigh, Jill went to the University of Sydney. She studied History and English and graduated with top honors in 1958. After university, she wanted to work for the Australian government in foreign affairs. However, an all-male committee turned her down. This made her realize there was a unfairness against women.
After this, she traveled through Europe with her mother. In 1960, at age 25, she decided to move to the United States on her own.
Life in the United States
In the U.S., Jill was accepted into the history program at Harvard University. There, she met a Canadian professor named John Conway. They fell in love and got married. John Conway passed away in 1995.
Jill earned her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1969. She then taught at the University of Toronto in Canada from 1964 to 1975. Her book True North tells the story of her life in Toronto.
After 1985, she became a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She received many special awards and degrees from colleges and women's groups in North America and Australia.
Jill Ker Conway also served on the boards of several large companies, like Nike and Colgate-Palmolive. She helped guide these companies for more than ten years. After 2011, she led a non-profit group called Community Solutions. This group helps people who are experiencing homelessness in New York City.
Jill Ker Conway passed away on June 1, 2018, in Boston. She was 83 years old.
Leading Smith College
In 1975, Jill Ker Conway made history. She became the first female president of Smith College. Smith College is the largest women's college in the United States. It's a private college that focuses on liberal arts, and it's the only women's college in the U.S. that offers its own engineering degrees.
New Programs for Students
As president, Jill Ker Conway started some important programs. One was the Ada Comstock Scholars program. This program helps students who might not fit the usual college student mold. Many of these students have jobs and families. The program lets them study full-time or part-time, depending on their schedules. This way, they can earn a bachelor's degree over a longer period. A building called Conway House was even named after her in 2006, as a home for these Ada Comstock Scholars.
Jill Ker Conway also helped students who were receiving welfare benefits. At the time, if these students got a scholarship, they would lose their welfare money. This meant they had to choose between supporting their children or getting an education. Jill found a clever way around this. Instead of giving them scholarships, she helped pay their rent and gave them access to accounts at local stores and doctors. This meant they could go to college without losing the support their families needed.
This program became famous after ABC's Good Morning America featured its graduates. Eventually, the state of Massachusetts realized how important the program was. They changed their welfare system so that students could receive scholarships without losing their benefits.
Expanding Learning Opportunities
Under Jill Ker Conway's leadership, Smith College also created the Smith Management Program (now called Smith Executive Education). She also started the Project on Women and Social Change. She worked to add new subjects to the college's courses, like women's studies, comparative literature, and engineering.
Jill was also very good at raising money for the college. During her time as president, the college's money grew from $82 million to $222 million! This extra money helped build new facilities, like the Ainsworth Gymnasium, and expand the Neilson Library. The Career Development Office was also improved to help students and graduates find jobs and further training.
In 1975, Time magazine recognized Jill Ker Conway as a "Woman of the Year."
The Road from Coorain Book
Jill Ker Conway started writing her first memoir, The Road from Coorain, after she left Smith College. She was teaching at MIT at the time. The book was published in 1989. It tells the story of her early life, from the remote Coorain farm in Australia to her time at Harvard University in the United States.
The book begins with her childhood on the sheep farm near Mossgiel, New South Wales. Jill Ker Conway writes about her teenage years in Sydney and her studies at the University of Sydney. She describes how she grew intellectually and how she felt when she realized that women faced unfairness. For example, she was denied a job in the Australian foreign service because she was a woman.
In 2001, Chapman Pictures made a TV movie based on the book, also called The Road from Coorain. Katherine Slattery played the adult Jill, and Juliet Stevenson played her mother.
Awards and Honors
- 1960: Jill Ker Conway received a special scholarship called a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar in History. This allowed her to study at Harvard University.
- 1975: In her first year as president of Smith College, Time magazine named her a "Woman of the Year."
- 1989: Her book, The Road from Coorain, won the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award.
- 2013: She was given a very high honor from Australia, called a Companion (AC) in the Order of Australia. This was for her great service to the community, especially women, as a writer, teacher, and leader. Because she was no longer an Australian citizen, she was later recognized as an 'Honorary Companion'.
- 2013: On July 10, she received the 2012 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama. This award recognizes people who have done great work in history, literature, and other humanities fields.
Legacy
In 2017, a special building called the John and Jill Ker Conway residence for veterans opened in Washington D.C. This building helps provide homes for veterans.
