New England Law to Award Honorary Degree to Bobbi Gibb, First Woman to Run Boston Marathon
Boston, Mass. (PRWEB) April 16, 2016 -- Roberta “Bobbi” Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from New England Law | Boston, the law school announced on Saturday. Gibb, who will serve as grand marshal of the Boston Marathon on Monday, is a 1977 graduate of New England Law.
In 1966, women were not yet allowed to enter the Boston Marathon. Gibb, then 23, waited in bushes near the race start and snuck on in a hooded sweatshirt and Bermuda shorts. She finished in 3 hours, 21 minutes, 40 seconds, becoming the first woman to do so and changing the course of women’s running history. Gibb was again the top female finisher in 1967 and 1968, and in 1972, women were officially allowed to enter the race. Since then, more than 164,000 women have finished the Boston Marathon.
“New England Law is pleased to award an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to our graduate Bobbi Gibb, whose pioneering spirit is as inspiring today as it was 50 years ago,” said Dean John F. O’Brien ’77. “Bobbi’s example of standing up for what’s right and refusing to give in when confronted with adversity is a model for our students and for all of us. We’re proud to count her as a New England Law graduate.”
Gibb will be honored at New England Law’s 105th Commencement on May 20. She continues a tradition of pioneering women at New England Law that also includes the first African-American woman from Massachusetts to earn a law degree (Blanche Braxton ’23), the first female lawyer to argue before the full Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (Margaret McChesney ’26), and the first female police commissioner of Boston (Kathleen O’Toole ’82). New England Law was founded in 1908 as the nation’s first law school for women.
“The practice of law is so important to helping people and making the world a better place by protecting our freedoms and allowing our democracy to function,” Gibb said. “New England Law has long supported the advancement of women in the legal world, and I’m proud to be part of that legacy.”
An effort is underway to install a sculpture of Gibb along the Boston Marathon route. For information on the sculpture project, view here.
About New England Law | Boston
New England Law | Boston was founded in 1908 as Portia Law School, the nation’s only law school devoted exclusively to the legal education of women. Coeducational since 1938, the law school is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. The school offers a full-time division, a part-time division, and a special part-time program designed for students with primary childcare responsibilities. For more information, visit http://www.nesl.edu or follow us on Twitter @NewEnglandLaw
John McElhenny, New England Law | Boston, http://www.nesl.edu, +1 (617) 620-9485, [email protected]
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