Mary Patterson McPherson


Mary Patterson McPherson has served as the president of Bryn Mawr College, the vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the executive officer of the American Philosophical Society. She is considered to be "a significant figure in American higher education and a leader in the education of women". She is widely credited with renewing and revitalizing Bryn Mawr and enhancing its stature during a time when the role of women's colleges was being challenged.

Education

McPherson attended school at Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont. She received her B.A. and L.L.D. from Smith College, an M.A. from the University of Delaware, and a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr.

Work

McPherson taught philosophy at the University of Delaware and served as professor and dean at Bryn Mawr before being elected president of Bryn Mawr College, from 1978 to 1997. Her inauguration at Bryn Mawr College marked the first time that all the presidents of the Seven Sisters colleges were women.
McPherson served as vice president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation from October 1997 to February 2007.
She was named the executive officer of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States in 2007. She has been a member of the society since her election to membership in 1983.
MacPherson has also served on the boards of many institutions, including several schools and colleges, JSTOR, the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Brookings Institution, the American Council on Education, and the National Humanities Center.

Awards