Former biology department head honored in Lansing historical center

Mae Woldt, the woman whom Woldt Hall is named after, is being featured at Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame in Lansing.

An exhibit entitled “Resourceful Women: 30 Who Worked to Preserve Michigan’s Water, Woods, and Wildlife,” opened Sunday.

Woldt was head of CMU’s biology department from 1906 until her death in 1935.

The exhibit was inspired by the book “Ruin and Recovery: Michigan’s Rise as a Conservation Leader” written by Dave Dempsey, and profiles Michigan women who were influential in environmental issues.

“We didn’t have many educators on the list, so we talked to educators and (Woldt’s) name came up,” said Patricia Majher, the museum’s assistant director. “She was a real leader early on in the conservation movement and taught people at what is now known as the Department of Natural Resources.”

Woldt was born in 1874 in Urbana, Ill., where she lived until she completed high school. This was rare at this time, when most children left school after the 8th grade. She then earned her Bachelor of Science at the University of Michigan and her Master of Science at the University of Chicago, according to her obituary.

She joined the faculty of Central State Teacher’s College, as CMU was known at the time, in 1899 as a teacher in the biology department and became head of the department in 1906.

When opening a faculty meeting just after Woldt’s death, University President Eugene Warriner said one always thought of her as a master of her subject, as an authority and she had no patience for students who failed to do their best, according to transcript from the meeting in the Clarke Historical Library.

A former student of Woldt, Lewis Burgess wrote in 1937 that “Miss Woldt was ever the friend of the student.”

Woldt was passionate about the field of biology, and in an essay entitled “Recollections of Miss Mae K. Woldt,” Harry Ruhl listed 18 fields in which Woldt excelled at teaching, including botany, zoology and ecology.