Tossie Permelia Frances Whiting, a native of Richmond, Virginia, was graduated from the high school at Hartshorn Memorial College in 1895. She earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Chicago and an M.A. from Columbia University. She worked at Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute (now Virginia State University in Petersburg) from 1904 until she retired in 1948. She was their first Dean of Women from 1919, when the position was created, until 1936 when she became an Associate Professor of English. A dormitory, Whiting Hall, was named after her in 1958. Ms. Whiting received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Virginia Union University in 1945.
From the guide to the Tossie P.F. Whiting Papers, 1898-1947, (Archives and Special Collections Department, L. Douglas Wilder Library, Virginia Union University)
