In January 1878, Mary Rippon stepped off the train in Boulder and stayed to teach at the University of Colorado for 31 years. The school recently honored her with a posthumous degree. Ryan Warner speaks with author Silvia Pettem who wrote a biography on the educator.
![A woman with white shoulder-length hair and a purple shirt holds up a comic book to her chest.](https://www.cpr.org/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto/https://wp-cpr.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2024/07/IMG_0588-e1722010580943.jpg)