Maud May Babcock: First Woman Professor at the University of Utah and a Force for Good (1867–1954)

Maud May Babcock (1867–1954) came to Utah from upstate New York in 1892 and became a lasting force for improvement in the Beehive State. As the first woman professor at the University of Utah, she founded the Department of Elocution (and later the speech and drama programs), started physical education classes for women at the University, and became a lifelong advocate for the deaf—learning sign language and teaching at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind. A faithful Latter-day Saint woman, she was singled out among 'famous Mormon women' for the quiet, determined way she lifted the lives of Utahns through education, the arts, and service. Her life testifies that the restored gospel sends its daughters into the world to build up their communities with both competence and faith.