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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.