Sister Mary Kenneth Keller (born Evelyn Marie Keller, December 17, 1913 – January 10, 1985) was a pioneering American Catholic nun, educator, and computer scientist. She became the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in computer science, awarded in 1965 by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Evelyn Marie Keller was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to John Adam Keller and Catherine Josephine (née Sullivan). In 1932, at age 18, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (B.V.M.), a Roman Catholic order. She professed her vows in 1940, taking the religious name Sister Mary Kenneth. Her early education focused on the sciences. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from DePaul University in Chicago in 1943 and a Master of Science in Mathematics and Physics from the same institution in 1953.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Keller pursued advanced studies in computing at several institutions, including Purdue University, the University of Michigan, and Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth, she participated in a 1961 summer program for high school teachers and collaborated with mathematicians John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz. She contributed to the development of BASIC (Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), one of the earliest and most accessible high-level programming languages designed to make computing available to a broader audience, including non-specialists and students.
She later enrolled in the doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her dissertation, titled “Inductive Inference on Computer Generated Patterns” (supervised by Professor Preston Hammer), involved constructing algorithms for analytic differentiation of algebraic expressions, implemented in CDC FORTRAN 63.
In 1965, at age 51, she received her Ph.D. She and Irving C. Tang were the first two recipients of computer science doctorates in the U.S. (Keller’s Ph.D. and Tang’s D.Sc. were awarded the same day; another man received his slightly earlier that day at a different institution). Keller was the first woman to achieve this milestone.
After graduation, Sister Mary Kenneth returned to her order’s Clarke College (now Clarke University) in Dubuque, Iowa—a Catholic women’s college. She founded its computer science department in 1965, one of the first at a small college in the U.S., and directed it for about 20 years.
She was a strong advocate for expanding access to computers in education, believing they could democratize learning and empower women and others traditionally excluded from technical fields. The National Science Foundation supported her work with a $25,000 grant for instructional equipment. She taught many students, including mothers who sometimes brought children to class, and authored or co-authored books on computer science, including texts on BASIC.
Sister Keller died in Dubuque, Iowa, on January 10, 1985, at age 71. She exemplified how faith, education, and innovation could intersect. In an era when women faced significant barriers in STEM, she broke new ground while remaining committed to her religious vocation and the mission of making technology accessible for teaching and learning.
Her story highlights early efforts to broaden participation in computing, from developing user-friendly languages like BASIC to building academic programs at smaller institutions. Today, she is remembered as a trailblazer who helped pave the way for greater diversity in computer science.
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