Schwehn, Hilda M. (Hilda Marie)

Biographical Information

Hilda Schwehn (1899) graduated from Olivet College in 1923 with a BA. She was hired by Purdue University in 1936 as a graduate assistant in the Physical Education for Women Department. During her years as a graduate assistant, Schwehn taught freshman and sophomore physical education classes, served as the faculty sponsor of Triton (the honorary swimming club for women), and was a hostess at W.R.H. South. In 1944, Schwehn became an assistant professor, and became an associate professor in Physical Education for Women in 1948. During her sabbatical in 1955, Scwehn traveled to the Scandinavian Seminar for Cultural Studies and Education in Copenhagen, Denmark and focused on "activities in physical education and allied subjects and projects of wide cultural value." In 1963, after the retirement of Professor Helen Hazleton, Schwehn was named the Acting Head of the Department of Physical Education for Women. She retired in 1968. The Hilda M. Schwehn Female Physical Education Teacher Award was named in her honor.