Sonya Stephens is the former 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 ...

and the author of ''Baudelaire's Prose Poems: The Practice and Politics of Irony'' as well as the editor of ''A History of Women's Writing in France'' and ''Translation and the Arts in Modern France''.

Education

Stephens studied at New Hall, a college for women at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

that is now known as

Murray Edwards College Murray Edwards College is a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1954 as New Hall and renamed in 2008. The name honours a gift of £30 million by alumna Ros Edwards and her husband Steve, and the firs ...

, where she received her B.A. in modern and medieval languages. She holds a master's degree in French studies from the

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (; UdeM; ) is a French-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university's main campus is located in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce on M ...

and a doctorate in French from the University of Cambridge.

Faculty career

She was chair of the Department of French at

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

and later chaired the Department of French and Italian and served as the first vice provost for undergraduate education at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

. She joined Mount Holyoke College in 2013 as dean of faculty and vice president for academic affairs. She became acting president in July 2016, following the resignation of

Lynn Pasquerella 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 in South Hadley, Massachusetts, se ...

. Stephens was officially named president on April 23, 2018. On March 2, 2022, Stephens announced she will be resigning in August 2022 to lead the

American University of Paris The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the first to be established in France. The university ...

Beverly Daniel Tatum Beverly Christine Daniel Tatum (born September 27, 1954) is an American psychologist, administrator, and educator who has conducted research and written books on the topic of racism. Focusing specifically on race in education, racial identity dev ...

succeeded her as interim president, beginning in July 2022.

Selected works

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References

American women academics Mount Holyoke College faculty Presidents and Principals of Mount Holyoke College Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge Linguists from the United States American women linguists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Université de Montréal alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Indiana University Bloomington faculty Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London American academic administrators Women heads of universities and colleges 21st-century American women {{US-academic-administrator-20C-stub