Princeton awards a Ph.D degree to a woman, T’sai-ying Cheng, for the first time. Post date October 16, 2020 More Princeton History ← Princeton University confers the Doctor of Humanities honorary degree upon opera singer Marian Anderson, making her the first African American woman to receive such an honor from the college. → Princeton begins to admit women as undergraduates. 148 women, consisting of 100 first-years and transfer students of other years, enter Princeton on September 6.