Elizabeth L. Cless
Elizabeth Lawrence Cless (January 28, 1916 – July 20, 1992) was an American educator who helped create continuing education for women and later lifelong learning for adults.
She began her main work at the University of Minnesota in 1954 and, with colleagues, developed the Minnesota Plan for the Continuing Education of Women. The project grew quickly and received Carnegie Corporation funding. It started in 1960 with many women enrolled and, by 1965, more than 2,500 women had taken part.
In 1965 Cless moved to California to lead the Claremont Colleges’ Center for Continuing Education (CCE), which opened in 1966. The program helped people finish interrupted or postponed degrees, offered counseling, and worked with many area institutions. Cless directed CCE until 1975 and introduced interdisciplinary liberal arts seminars in the late 1960s.
In 1979 she helped start The Plato Society at UCLA Extension, a lifelong learning program for people over 50, and led it from 1980 to 1983.
Cless is listed in Feminists Who Changed America. She received several honors, including the Radcliffe College Alumnae Recognition Award (1970) and a seat on the Radcliffe College Board of Trustees (1971). She was named Los Angeles Times Woman of the Year in 1970 and was listed in Who’s Who Among American Women (1972).
Her early life included moving often because her father was a traveling businessman. She studied at Radcliffe College, earning a BA cum laude in the fine arts of India, and did graduate work at Harvard and the University of Hawaii. She married Irving Clark in 1942; during World War II she worked for the U.S. State Department to protect art treasures. After the war she raised two children and stayed active in civic life. She later married Howard L. Cless.
Elizabeth Cless moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, after her husband’s death in 1985. She died there on July 20, 1992, at age 76.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:51 (CET).