subject, and in 1883, she taught the college's first political economy class. Coman was the first American woman to teach statistics and Wellesley became the only American women's college to offer statistics courses before 1900. Coman developed and taught several new courses in economics, history, and rhetoric, including Statistical Study of Economic Problems, Industrial History of the United States, and Conservation of Our Natural Resources, all framed by sociological insights related to social justice. To teach students about the practicality of applying economic theory to real world economic and social problems, Coman escorted her students on field trips to Boston's tenement houses, labor union meetings, factories, and sweatshops. In 1885, at the age of 28, she became professor of history and economics. That same year, she turned down the offer of a position as dean of women at the University of Michigan, stating that she preferred to remain at Wellesley and continue teaching. She was acting dean from 1899 to 1900, during which time she established a new department of economics and sociology, becoming its head in 1900. According to historian Melinda Ponder, Coman was a popular teacher. Two of her students, Helen Frances Page Bates and Helen Laura Sumner Woodbury, were among the first American women to earn PhDs in economics. Woodbury is recognized as an important historian of labor and a noted economist, while Helen Bates became a noted social worker. She retired from full-time teaching at Wellesley in 1913, becoming professor emeritus. In writing about the farewell dinner held in her honor, the New York Times said: "Miss Coman has been so closely associated with the history and development of Wellesley for so long a time that her loss is felt very deeply by the whole college." Coman continued to research and write until her death in 1915. Coman's papers are held by the Wellesley College Archives. In 1921, the college established the Katharine Coman Professorship of Industrial History to honor her service. Notable works Coman and Elizabeth Kendall coauthored the 1902 book A Short History of England for School Use based on research that Coman conducted in England between 1886 and 1894. Coman published The Industrial History of the United States in 1910, the first industrial history of the United States. It was reprinted nine times before 1915. Her 1911 article, "Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation," was the first article published in the newly formed journal