Ruth Boynton

Ruth Boynton (1896 – 1977) was a physician, researcher, and administrator who spent almost her entire career at the University of Minnesota.

[2] She started college at La Crosse State Normal School and transferred to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Previously, the Health Service was primarily staffed by a single employee, director Dr. Harold S. Diehl, who took her on as an assistant for three years.

She also spent one year at the University of Chicago, from 1927 to 1928, as the Chief Medical Advisor for Women and assistant professor of medicine.

Because no woman had been in charge of a university health service before her, there was some hesitation to appoint Boynton, so she had to serve only as the acting director for a year.

She also ran the U of M School of Public Health during World War II when its Director left to serve in the Army.

She moved to Florida where she volunteered her time as the secretary-treasurer of the American College Health Association for several years.

Boynton gave $20,000 to establish the Prudence Cutright Scholarship for an outstanding woman graduate student in education to the University of Minnesota in her bequest.