Irene Dillard Elliott
1924–1935, 1946–1964

A native of Laurens, S.C., Elliott earned
a BA from Randolph-Macon Women’s College. After earning an MA from the University of South Carolina in 1921, she went to the University of North Carolina, where she earned one of the first Ph.D.s given to a woman at that university. She then came back to the University of South Carolina in 1924, where she served as professor of English and the first dean of women in the University’s history. She served in that capacity until 1935, when ill health forced her retirement. However, in the wake of World War II, a shortage of English professors brought her back to the University in 1946, and she taught another 18 years until her retirement in 1964.