Former University of Iowa professor, Title IX pioneer Bonnie Slatton dies

IOWA CITY — Nationally-renowned women’s athletics pioneer and University of Iowa professor Bonnie Slatton died last week at age 84.

Slatton first came to the UI in 1964 as a faculty member and coach in the women’s physical education department. For the next three-plus decades, she was a fierce advocate at Iowa and across the country for women’s athletics opportunities.

Much of her advocacy was alongside longtime Iowa women’s athletics director Christine Grant and fellow professor Peg Burke.

The trio of women’s athletics pioneers in Iowa City “did the impossible against insurmountable odds,” said Lark Birdsong, Iowa’s first intercollegiate women’s basketball coach, in The Gazette in January after Grant’s death.

“They led a national effort to ensure equal opportunities for women,” Birdsong said. “What we see in intercollegiate athletics today is testimony to their immense effectiveness. And what they created at Iowa is reflected in loyal Hawkeye pride in today’s teams.”

Slatton had leadership roles at various points in her career at the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women and the National Association for Girls and Women in Sports.

She also was Iowa’s faculty representative to the Big Ten and NCAA for 21 years and served on committees at the NCAA and U.S. Olympic Committee.

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