This article is featured in the 2025 Commencement & Reunions special issue.
Each year on commencement, Dartmouth awards one member of its graduating class from 50 years ago an honorary degree. Judy Geer ’75 Th ’83 is the first woman to receive this honor.
Geer started her undergraduate studies at Smith College, when Dartmouth was still all-male. She transferred to Dartmouth in her junior year and joined the Class of 2025. During her time at the College, Geer helped found the women’s swim team and signed up to row on the new women’s crew team. She went on to compete as a member of the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympic women’s rowing teams.
Following the end of her Olympic career, Geer joined Concept2, a Morrisville, Vt., rowing equipment and exercise machine company founded by her husband, Dick Dreissigacker. Geer and her husband also own the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, a non-profit in Craftsbury, Vt. The Dartmouth sat down with Geer to discuss her experience as a female athlete in one of the first coeducational classes.
You transferred to Dartmouth just as it became coeducational. What do you remember most vividly about that transitional moment for the College — and for you personally?
JG: I remember it being a really exciting time for me. I was coming from an all-women’s college. I was so excited that I could row, help start a swim team and take great courses. I was also really happy to be further north so I could get outdoors and enjoy the woods. But, I was aware of the fact that for a lot of women it was a really hard time. I was determined to prove that women could be good students.
As someone who helped found the women’s swim team and joined the newly-formed women’s crew team, what motivated you to be so active in shaping women’s athletics at Dartmouth, especially as a woman in a male-dominated sport?
JG: I was just doing what I loved. I had been at Smith College for two years where the only swimming was synchronized swimming. At Smith, they had rowing, but it wasn’t competitive. I learned to row though, and I loved it. Getting to Dartmouth I was just following the things that I loved, and I was thrilled to be rowing on the water, forming a team and making friends through that. I was excited to help start the swim team as well — there were about four of us that first year — and the wife of the men’s coach was willing to coach us.
How did being a woman in elite athletics during the 1970s and 1980s shape your views on gender equity in sports?
JG: My sister and I were invited to be among the first four women’s boats to race at the Henley Royal Regatta in the UK, a very traditional, stuffy and old British Regatta. I felt so unwelcome there. It was not a good experience. It felt like they were looking down their noses at us because we were wearing shorts and t-shirts. I remember thinking “come on, I’m doing what I love. I’m doing it as well as I can, and just as well as any guy.”
What advice would you give to a young athlete with Olympic dreams today, especially a woman navigating systems still marked by inequity?
JG: If you need to seek out female coaches or people who are supportive, do it because they are out there. I love that we have a lot of female coaches and athletes at Crossbury, so the kids that come and take advantage of our programs are all being exposed to role models who are women and top athletes. Just keep doing what you love. Do it as well as you can, and prove that you deserve to be there. It will take you places. I loved it, I stuck with it, I made Olympic teams and then I turned it into my job.
What is your fondest memory from your time competing on the world stage?
JG: There were so many great memories at that time. I think my fondest memory is probably my best performance, which was during the Olympic Boycott year in 1980 [when President Jimmy Carter announced the U.S. would boycott the Moscow games that year]. We were able to race against most of the teams in the pre-Olympic competition. There were a lot of great times though. But you need to enjoy the process. You need to enjoy what you are doing, enjoy your training, enjoy the pursuit of your sport, all of it, not just a few key events. You never know what could take away an opportunity, so enjoy the process.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
