Mount Holyoke College. Board of Trustees.

Members of the Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees are responsible for overseeing the institution's finances, admissions policies, academic affairs, student life, development, and physical plant. Board members also play a role in the selection of presidents of the College and honorary degree recipients. The Board was established in 1836 and originally consisted of several benevolent gentlemen who helped Mary Lyon plan a school for the higher education of women that would its own property and not be a for-profit venture. The first woman trustee, Sarah Williston, was appointed to the Board in 1884. Mount Holyoke principals and presidents have also been members of the Board since that year. Alumnae began serving on the Board in 1892 and the practice of adding a Young Alumnae Trustee to the Board began in 1970. An advisory group of former trustees, called the Trustee Fellows, was established by the Board in 1988. The trustees have diverse backgrounds and are primarily drawn from academia, human services, the government, and the corporate world.

From the guide to the Board of Trustees Records RG 3. 1., 1836-2004, (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)