Skip to main content
 

Presidents

Principals and Presidents of Mount Holyoke

  1. Mary Lyon

    Founder and Principal

    1837 – 1849

  2. Mary C. Whitman (class of 1839 graduate)

    Principal

    1849 – 1850

  3. Mary W. Chapin (class of 1843 graduate)

    Acting Principal

    1850 – 1852

    Principal

    1852 – 1865

  4. Sophia D. Stoddard (class of 1841 graduate)

    Acting Principal

    1865 – 1867

  5. Helen M. French (class of 1857 graduate)

    Principal

    1867 – 1872

  6. Julia E. Ward (class of 1857 graduate)

    1872 – 1883

    Principal

  7. Elizabeth Blanchard (class of 1858 graduate)

    Principal and President

    1883 – 1889

  8. Louisa F. Cowles (class of 1866 graduate)

    Acting President

    1889 – 1890

  9. Elizabeth Storrs Mead

    President

    1890 – 1900

  10. Mary E. Woolley

    President

    1900 – 1937

  11. Roswell G. Ham

    President

    1937 – 1957

  12. Richard Glenn Gettell

    President

    1957 – 1968

  13. Meribeth E. Cameron

    Acting President

    1968 – 1969

  14. David B. Truman

    President

    1969 – 1978

  15. Elizabeth T. Kennan (class of 1960 graduate)

    President

    1978 – 1995

  16. Joanne V. Creighton

    President

    1996 – 2010

  17. Lynn Pasquerella (class of 1980 graduate)

    President

    2010 – 2016

  18. Sonya Stephens

    Acting President

    2016 – 2018

    President

    2018 –2022

  19. Beverly Daniel Tatum

    Acting President

    2002

    Interim President

    2022-2023

  20. Danielle R. Holley

    President

    2023-

Historical Note: Mary A. Brigham (class of 1849, non-graduate) is not included on this list because she did not officially serve as president of Mount Holyoke. Tragically she died in a railway accident en route to begin her term as president in 1889. This note honors and recognizes her selection as a president of Mount Holyoke.