Lynn C. Pasquerella is an American academic and the 14th president of the
American Association of Colleges and Universities. Before she assumed this position, she was the 18th president of
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...
in
South Hadley, Massachusetts
South Hadley (, ) is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts.
South Hadle ...
, serving from 2010 to 2016. She was a professor of philosophy at the
University of Rhode Island for 22 years before becoming URI's Associate Dean of the Graduate School. From 2006 to 2008 she was Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Graduate School at the
University of Rhode Island. She was the
Provost of the
University of Hartford from 2008 to 2010. She also served as the President of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
society from 2018 to 2021.
Education
Pasquerella is a 1979 summa cum laude graduate of Quinebaug Community College, a 1980
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
and magna cum laude graduate of
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...
, and earned her
Ph.D. in
Philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
in 1985 from
Brown University
Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...
.
Career
Pasquerella is a philosopher whose area of interest is
medical ethics
Medical ethics is an applied branch of ethics which analyzes the practice of clinical medicine and related scientific research. Medical ethics is based on a set of values that professionals can refer to in the case of any confusion or conflict. T ...
. She was a fellow in the John Hazen White Sr. Center for Ethics and Public Service and a professor of medical ethics in
Alpert Medical School’s Affinity Group Program.
Pasquerella has received funding through the
United States Department of Energy
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...
to work on ethical issues related to the
Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...
. She has also received research grants from the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
, the
National Science Foundation
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
, the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...
, the Council of Graduate Schools, and the
United States Office of Research Integrity. She was the principal investigator on a $3.5 million NSF ADVANCE grant to promote the careers of women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (
STEM) disciplines and on a $750,000 NSF–Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate grant to encourage recruitment of underrepresented groups into the professoriate in STEM fields.
Pasquerella has served on the boards of Paul Newman's Discovery Center and the Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions, for which she has also been a project leader in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. She has served on the board of directors of the
Rectory School, Day Kimball Hospital’s ethics committee and as chair of its Institutional Review Board, the Rhode Island Bio Bank Steering Committee, the Rhode Island Health Department’s Institutional Review Board, and the advisory board for the Women’s Adult Correctional Facility in Rhode Island.
Since July 2010, Pasquerella has hosted ''The Academic Minute'', a radio segment and podcast featuring a different university-based researcher each day. ''The Academic Minute'' is produced by
Northeast Public Radio in partnership with the
American Association of Colleges and Universities. In addition to Northeast Public Radio, ''The Academic Minute'', which airs on WAMC, is syndicated to other stations throughout North America and streamed internationally via the web.
On January 4, 2016, Pasquerella announced that she would be stepping down as president of Mount Holyoke College at the end of the 2016 academic year. Pasquerella became the 14th president of the
American Association of Colleges and Universities starting July 1, 2016. From 2018 to 2021, Pasquerella served as the president of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She serves on the boards of several institutions and organizations, including the Lingnan Foundation Board of Trustees, the Heterodox Academy Advisory Council, the Olin College of Engineering Board of Trustees, and the national Trust for the Humanities. She is also a member of the editorial advisory boards of several academic publications, including the ''Journal of Public Integrity'', ''LearningWell Magazine'', the ''Journal of Brentano and the Aristotelean Tradition'', and ''Public Philosophy Journal''.
Awards and recognition
In December 2022, Pasquerella was awarded the North Star Medal of Lifetime Achievement by the STAR Scholars Network. In October 2022, she received the Brown University Alumni Association’s William Rogers Award, and in May 2020, she received the Mount Holyoke College Alumni Association’s Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award. In May 2019, Pasquerella was named one of America’s Top 35 Women in Higher Education by ''Diverse: Issues in Higher Education''.
Pasquerella has received the 2018 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service and Altruism from
Mary Baldwin College. On May 20, 2017, Pasquerella was the commencement speaker for
Elizabethtown College's Class of 2017. On June 3, 2017, she received an honorary doctorate in Civil Law from
Bishop's University
Bishop's University () is a small English-language Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Diocese of Quebec, Anglican Bishop of Quebec ...
in Quebec, Canada. Pasquerella delivered a commencement address and received an honorary doctorate degree at the
University of Hartford’s graduate commencement ceremony on May 18, 2019. She also received honorary doctorate degrees during the commencement ceremonies of the
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...
on May 2, 2019, and the
University of Rhode Island on May 19. She received honorary doctorates from
Mount Holyoke College
Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...
in 2020, from
Concordia College in 2021, and from
Bay Path University in 2022.
Publications
*''What We Value: Public Health, Social Justice, and Educating for Democracy'', University of Virginia Press, January, 2022.
*''Ethical Issues in Home Health Care.'' Co–authored with Rosalind Ladd and Sheri Smith. Charles C. Thomas Publishing, 2002.
*''Ethical Dilemmas in Public Administration.'' Edited with Alfred Killilea and Michael Vocino. Praeger, 1996.
*"Brentano’s Theory of Value: Beauty, Goodness, and the Concept of Correct Emotions" with
Wilhelm Baumgartner in ''The Cambridge Companion to Brentano'', 2004. Pages 220–237.
References
External links
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasquerella, Lynn
Quinebaug Valley Community College alumni
Mount Holyoke College alumni
Brown University alumni
University of Hartford faculty
Brown University faculty
Mount Holyoke College faculty
University of Rhode Island faculty
Presidents and Principals of Mount Holyoke College
Living people
1958 births
Women heads of universities and colleges
American women writers
21st-century American women academics
21st-century American academics