Elizabeth Topham Kennan

Infobox University President


width = 150px
name =Elizabeth Topham Kennan
caption =
order =16th
university =President of Mount Holyoke College
term_start =1978
term_end =1995
birth_date =
birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
death_date =
death_place =
predecessor =David Truman
successor =Joanne V. Creighton
alumnus =Mount Holyoke College
Oxford University
University of Washington
residence =
profession =Professor
religion =
salary =
spouse =Michael Burns
children =Alexander Kennan
website =
footnotes =|

Elizabeth Topham Kennan, Ph.D. is an American academic who served as the 16th president of Mount Holyoke College from 1978 - 1995. She also served as president of the "Five Colleges" consortium from 1985-1994.cite web|title="Mount Holyoke College President Elizabeth T. Kennan To Step Down on June 30, 1995"|publisher=Mount Holyoke College news release|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/950216SE/release2.html|date=February 16, 1995|accessdate=2008-01-13]

Background

Kennan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After Kennan received her B.A. ("summa cum laude") in history from Mount Holyoke in 1960, she pursued a second B.A. (subsequently M.A.) at Oxford University, more specifically St. Hilda's College which she completed in 1962. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1966. She was a professor of medieval history at Catholic University from 1966-1978 before joining Mount Holyoke as president. Upon her retirement from Mount Holyoke in 1995, the Kennan Faculty Chair and Lectureship was established. [cite web|title="Kennan Faculty Chair and Lectureship Established"|publisher=Mount Holyoke College|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/950526/kennan.html|accessdate=2008-01-13]

Kennan is married to Michael Burns, the former actor and professor emeritus at Mount Holyoke. They presently reside near Danville, Kentucky, where they have restored the Cambus-Kenneth Estate, a thoroughbred horse farm listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [cite news|title="Three faculty members retire as emeriti"|publisher="College Street Journal", Mount Holyoke College|date=May 24, 2002|url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/052402/faculty.shtml|accessdate=2008-01-13]

Mystery author

In 2000, Kennan co-authored the mystery novel, "Overnight Float," with Jill Ker Conway (former president of Smith College). The novel is published under the pen - name Clare Munnings and was their first venture into the mystery genre.

ee also

* List of historians
*Presidents of Mount Holyoke College

References

External links

* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/library/arch/col/rg4ri.htm Biography]
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/950216SE/release2.html Retirement press release 1]
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/950224/pres.html Retirement press release 2]
* [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/comm/csj/960126/portrait.html Press release on her official presidential portrait, 1996]