Some Notes on the Barnard Presidency
Terminological prefatory note:
The title “President” first used to designate Barnard’s chief administrative officer in July 1, 1952, five years into the term of Barnard’s 5th head, the heretofore “Dean” Millicent Carey McIntosh (1947-1962). The change from “dean” to “president” required the approval of the Columbia University Board of Trustees and was sought by Barnard trustees at the suggestion of the Ford Foundation to emphasize Barnard’s autonomous relationship with the University and thus its claims for separate consideration for financial support.
To further complicate the story, it was Barnard’s second administrative leader, Emily James Smith (1895-1900), who was the first to be designated dean. The first, Ella Weed (1889-1894), being designated in the College’s first charter as “chair of the academic committee.” Thus Sian Leah Beilock is Barnard’s 8th president and 12th administrative head.
The 1900 Intercorporate agreement provided for the creation of the office of “Dean of Barnard College” to be appointed by the Barnard Board of Trustees with the approval of the Columbia University president and its board of trustees. The Barnard dean was to be one of the then ten deans of the University, each with administrative responsibility for one of its ten divisions or schools. She was a member of the University committee of deans, whose weekly meetings all Barnard heads personally attended into the 1970s. President Mattfeld was the first to send a representative.
The dean’s gender was not specified in the 1900 intercorporate agreement, despite some effort by the Barnard trustees to reserve to position for a woman. But all Barnard’s administrative heads to date have been women.
Nor was any religious stipulation attached, although the Columbia presidency had consistently been held since 1754 by a member of the Episcopal Church, a tradition not broken until Dwight Eisenhower became the University’s 13th president in 1948. Weed, Smith and Gildersleeve were all at least nominally Episcopalians; Gill was Presbyterian; McIntosh was from a Quaker background; Rosemary Park and Martha Peterson were Protestants; Barnard’s three presidents prior to Beilock have been Jewish.
Birthplace
NYC – VCG/EVF/JRS/SLB
NY Region – DLS (Westchester)
Upstate NY – EW/EJS
New England – LDG (Maine); RP (Mass)
Baltimore – MCM, JAM
Kansas — MAP
Raised
NYC –VCG/JRS
NY Region – EVF/DLS
Upstate NY – EW/EJS
New England – LDG (Maine); RP (Mass)
Baltimore – MCM, JAM
Kansas – MAP
California — SLB
College
NYC – VCG/EVF
Upstate – Poughkeepsie (EW)
New England – Northampton (LDG); Waltham (JRS); Cambridge (RP)
Other NEast – EJS and MCM (Bryn Mawr, Pa.); JAM Baltimore, Md.
Kansa – MAP
California — SLB
Graduate Studies
NYC – VCG/EVF/JRS
New England – Cambridge/DLS; New Haven — JAM
Other Northeast – MCM (Baltimore)
Other US – Chicago – EJS; Lawrence, Kansas — MAP; East Lansing, Mich. — SLB
Cologne, Germany – RP
None – EW/LDG
Marital status
EW, LDG, VCG, RP, MAP and JRS all single when heading Barnard
EJS and RP left presidency upon marriage
JAM had been divorced a decade before becoming president
MCM, EVF, DLS and SLB all married as president, with 5, 2, 3 and 1 children respectively.
Academic credentials
All 12 were college graduates:
Six were graduates of Sister Colleges:
Vassar – EW; Bryn Mawr – EJS; MCM; Smith – LDG; Barnard – VCG; EVF
Others: Kansas (MAP); Goucher (JAM); Brandeis (JRS); Georgetown (DLS); U California, San Diego (SLB)
10 have held PhDs: Smith (Chicago/Greek); Gildersleeve (CU/English); McIntosh (JHU/English); Park (Cologne/German Lit.); Peterson (Wisconsin/Math Ed.); Mattfeld (Yale/ musicology); Shapiro (CU/Anthropology); Spar (Harvard/Political Science)
Two have not: LD Gill studied in Europe but no PhD; EVF graduated from law school
Prior Occupation
School administrator/teacher – EW/EJS/MCM (3)
College faculty/administrator – VCG/RP/MAP/JAM/JRS/DLS/SLB (6)
Attorney – EVF
Hospital Administrator — LDG
Tenure
| Ella Weed | 1889 | 1894 | 5 |
| Emily James Smith | 1894 | 1900 | 6 |
| Laura Drake Gill | 1901 | 1907 | 6 |
| Virginia Crocheron Gildersleeve | 1911 | 1946 | 36 |
| Millicent Cary McIntosh | 1947 | 1962 | 15 |
| Rosemary Park | 1962 | 1967 | 5 |
| Martha Peterson | 1967 | 1975 | 9 |
| Jacquelyn A. Mattfeld | 1976 | 1980 | 5 |
| Ellen V. Futter | 1980 | 1993 | 14 |
| Judith R. Shapiro | 1994 | 2008 | 15 |
| Debora Spar | 2008 | 2017 | 9 |
| 125 |
Departures
Retirement – VCG/MCM/JRS
Resigned for family reasons – EJS/RP
Resigned for professional reasons – EVF; DLS
Resignations extracted – MAP/JAM
Died — EW
Barnard Chief Administrators, 1889 – 2017
Ella Weed (1853 –1894)
b. Newburgh, NY
Vassar 1873
Headmistress of Miss Annie Brown’s School, 1882-1894
A Foolish Virgin: A Novel (1883)
Trustee and paid “Chairman of the Academic Committee” 1889- 1894
October 1893 – illness leave
Died, January 1894, age 41
http://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/alumni/ella-weed.html
Emily James Smith (1865-1944)
b. Canandaigua, NY, 1865
Bryn Mawr 1889
Girton College, Cambridge, 1889-91
Packer Collegiate Institute, Brooklyn, teacher of Greek, 1891-93
University of Chicago, Graduate Fellow, 1893-94
Named Ist Dean of Barnard College, 5/11/1894 (at 29) – 2/1/1900
On leave 2/99 – 9/1899 — Thomas Fiske acting dean
Married publisher George Haven Putnam, April 1899
Resigned February 1, 1900
Later taught part-time at Barnard until death of husband in 1931
Died 1944, age 79
http://thenewschoolhistory.org/?ppl=emily-james-smith-putnam
Laura Drake Gill (1860-1926)
b. Chesterville, Maine, 1860
Smith College, 1881
Mathematics teacher, Northampton, Mass, 1882-1898
Red Cross administrator, Spanish American War, 1898-1900
2nd Dean of Barnard College, began January, 1901, at age 40
Resigned June 1907
later involved in women’s placement services at colleges in the South
Died 1926, age 66
Interim – acting dean and provost, Willian Tenney Brewster, 1907-1911
Virginia C. Gildersleeve (1877-1964)
b. NYC, 1877
Barnard AB 1899
MA Columbia 1900
Teaching English at Barnard, 1901-1905
Columbia graduate student, 1905-08
PhD in English literature, 1908
Instr. and Ass’t Professor of English, Columbia and Barnard, 1909-11
Named 3rd dean of Barnard, February 1911, at 34
On leave in Europe spring 1921
Sabbatical and sick leave, 1930-1932
Retired after 36 years as dean in 1946
Retired to Westchester and then Cape Cod, 1947-1964
Many a Good Crusade (1954)
A Hoard for Winter (1962)
Died 1964, age 87
Millicent Cary McIntosh (1898-2001)
B. Baltimore, Maryland, 1898
Bryn Mawr AB 1921
Johns Hopkins PhD in English, 1924
Bryn Mawr assistant professor and administrator, 1924-1928
Headmistress, The Brearley School, NYC, 1930-1946
Married Dr. Rustin McIntosh, 1931 ; 5 children
Started as Barnard’s 4th dean, 1947, at 49
Title change to president, 1952
Retired, June 1962
“Reminiscences of Millicent Carey McIntosh”: CU oral history, 1966
Retired with husband to Tyringham, Mass.
Died 2001, age 102
Rosemary Park (1907-2004)
b. Andover, Mass., 1907
Radcliffe AB
University Cologne PhD in German Literature, 1929
Professor and administrator, Connecticut College, 1934-1946
President Connecticut College, 1947-1962
Installed as Barnard’s 2nd president, July 1962, at 55
Married 1966
Resigned, effective June 1967
Joined husband at UCLA, where she became an administrator
Died 2004, age 97
Interim, Dean of Faculty, Henry Boorse, July – November 1967
Martha Peterson (1916 – 2006)
b. Outside Jamestown, Kansas, 1916
University of Kansas AB 1937
Academic administrator, U. Kansas and U. Wisconsin
PhD, University of Kansas 1959, educational psychology
Dean of Women, U. Wisconsin
Installed as Barnard’s 3rd president, November, 1967, at 51
Inauguration, April 1968
Resigned May 1975, to become president of Beloit College
President Beloit College, 1975-1981
Died 2006, age 90
Interim, Dean of Faculty and acting president, Leroy Breunig
Jacquelyn Anderson Mattfeld (1925 – )
B. Baltimore, Md., 1925
Goucher College AB
Yale University PhD in musicology
Administrative posts at Radcliffe. MIT and Sarah Lawrence
Brown Provost 1973-75
Selected as Barnard’s 4th president, November 12, 1975, at 50
Installed June 1976
Inauguration, November 1976
Fired/Resigned May 29, 1980
Subsequent administrative posts on West Coast
Director C. G. Jung Center, Evanston, Illinois
Retired, Evanston, Illinois
Ellen V. Futter (1949 -)
B. NYC, 1949; raised on Long Island
University of Wisconsin, 1967-69
Barnard AB, 1971
Columbia Law J.D., 1974
Associate, Milbank, Tweed, 1974-1980
Acting president, July 10, 1980 (2 months short of 30th birthday) – April 1981
Installed as Barnard’s 5th president, April 1981, age 31
Resigned effective October, 1993
President, American Museum of Natural History, 1993 –
RMc interview with EVF, June 25, 2015
Interim, Vice president and acting president, Kathryn Rodgers, July 1993-April 1994
Judith R. Shapiro (1942 – )
B. Queens, NYC, 1942
Brandeis College AB, 1963
Columbia University PhD in anthropology, 1969
Assistant professor, U. Chicago, 1969-1973
Sex Roles and Social Structure Among the Yanomami Indians of Northern Brazil (1972)
Professor of Anthropology, Bryn Mawr College, 1973 – 1985
Provost, Bryn Mawr College, 1986-1993
Installed 6th president of Barnard College, June 1994
Retired June 2008
President, Teagle Foundation, 2010 –
RMc interview with JRS, June 22, 2015
Debora L. Spar (1963 -)
B. 1963, Westchester, NY
Georgetown AB
Harvard University PhD in government
Married; 3 children
Harvard Business School professor and administrator
Installed as Barnard’s 7th president, July 2008
Wonder Women: Sex, Power, and the Quest for Perfection (2013)
Resigned, November 2016, effective March 2017 to become president of the Lincoln Center
Interim, Robert Goldberg, COO, March 2017 – June 2017
Sian Leah Beilock (1975 – )
B. 1975, Berkeley, California
University of California, San Diego, BS 1997
Michigan State University, PhD in psychology, 2003
Miami University, Ass’t Prof., 2003-05
University of Chicago, Ass’t Prof., 2005-08; Asoc. Prof., 2008-12; Professor, 2012- 17
Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives, 2014-2017
Married; 1 daughter
Choke: What the Science of the Brain Reveals about Getting It Right When You Have To (2011)
Installed as Barnard’s 8th president, May 2017
Inauguration scheduled for February 8, 2018
Presidential Prosopography
12 administrative leaders to date
Titles
1 “Chair of Academic Committee” (Weed)
3 deans (Smith/Gill/ Gildersleeve)
1 dean & president (McIntosh)
7 other presidents (Park/Peterson/Mattfeld/Futter/Shapiro/Spar/Beilock)
Birthplaces
3 in NYC (Gildersleeve/Futter/Shapiro)
3 other New York (Weed/Smith/Spar)
2 New Englanders (Gill/Park)
2 Baltimore (McIntosh/Mattfeld)
1 Kansas (Peterson)
1 California (Beilock)
Colleges
2 Barnard ABs (Gildersleeve/Futter
5 Sisters (Weed/Gill/Smith/McIntosh/Park)
1 Brandeis (Shapiro)
1 Goucher (Masttfeld)
1 Georgetown (Spar)
1 Kansas (Peterson)
1 UCal/San Diego (Beilock)
Graduate Training
3 Columbia (Gildersleeve/Futter/Shapiro)
1 Yale (Mattfeld)
1 U. Kansas (Peterson)
1 Michigan State (Beilock)
1 University Cologne (Park)
1 U. Chicago (Smith)
1 Johns Hopkins (McIntosh)
1 Harvard (Spar)
1 Germany (Gill)
1 None (Weed)
Prior Occupations
6 in academic administration (Park/Peterson/Mattfeld/Shapiro/Spar/Beilock)
5 earlier college instructors (Gildersleeve/McIntosh/Shapiro/Spar/Beilock)
2 school administrators (Weed/McIntosh)
4 earlier school teachers (Weed/Smith/Gill/Peterson)
1 attorney (Futter)
1 hospital administrator (Gill)
Age at Start
Average age – 43
Youngest – Futter (29)
Oldest — Park (55)
Age at End
Average age – 54
Youngest – Smith (34)
Oldest – Gildersleeve (70)
Tenure
Average – 11 years
Shortest – 5 years (Weed/Smith/Park/Mattfeld)
Longest – 36 years (Gildersleeve)
Reasons for Leaving
Death – 1 (Weed)
Retired — 3 (Gildersleeve/McIntosh/Shapiro)
Resigned following marriage – 2 (Smith/Park)
Resigned to take another position – 3 (Peterson/ Futter/Spar)
Resigned – 2 (Gill/Mattfeld)
Last updated: November 7, 2017
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