Welcome to Corbin Hall

• Namesake of first women’s residence hall in Kansas.
• 1918-1921: Acting Dean of Women at KU.
• Speaker alongside Susan B. Anthony in 1912 Women’s Suffrage Campaign
• Led legislative battles to build co-op housing, scholarship halls, and residence halls for KU and other state universities.

Alberta Corbin came to KU as one of its first female students, entering in 1889 and graduating with her AB degree in the Class of 1893. She earned a PhD from Yale University in 1921 and studied at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Berlin. She began as a teacher in KU's Department of German in 1910, and become a full professor in 1920. Ms. Corbin served from 1918-1921 as the Acting Dean of Women.

Ms. Corbin was active in many roles fighting for women’s rights. She spoke alongside Susan B. Anthony and feminist minister Anna Shaw in the 1912 women’s suffrage campaign. In 1912, she organized a lecture series in Lawrence for prominent women activists, including the legendary Jane Addams of Hull House. 

During her tenure, she worked to establish cooperative housing options for women, which led to the beginnings of Watkins, the first scholarship hall. Corbin led the fight for the appropriation to build residence halls in two strenuous sessions in front of the Kansas legislature. This work paid off at KU and at five other state schools.

Alberta Corbin died at 70 in March 1941. In a eulogy given by Olin Templin, namesake of Templin Residence Hall, ironically, it seems that her message of women’s liberation was still not fully engrained. Templin commented on how the fates had intervened from her achieving her ‘highest desire’ of living at home and rearing children, the life of a ‘normal’ woman.

(Information courtesy of Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity)