The history of higher education in the U. S. traditionally has been characterized by the same kinds of studies as most other American history: ones that focus on the experiences or concerns of the authors. What such history ignores is the group that for most of this century comprised about 40 percent or more of the undergraduate student body and about 20-25 percent of the faculties; namely, women. The difficulty of looking at the history of women in higher education through the same methodological lens as men is that the focus on success brings forth a set of women that is significantly different from the other women educators and from other women. Investigations of backgrounds of successful women faculty and administrators suggest that many of these women have had one of two experiences: attending an all-girl's high school or college or coming from an immigrant family. In single sex institutions, a teacher can support and encourage her students vigorously in a fashion that is rare in coeducational institutions where both faculty and students often tend to regard male students as more meritorious of academic consideration. Other areas that need further study concerning women are discussed including the influence of sororities, the role of the academic wife, influence of college life on women students, effects of coeducational institutions on women, and sex-linked curricula. (Author/PG)