MILLS COLLEGE PRESIDENT JANET L. HOLMGREN NAMED TRUSTEE AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 

Oakland, CA - Mills College President Janet L. Holmgren has been elected to the Princeton University Board of Trustees to serve a four-year term as a trustee. A widely respected leader in higher education for more than 30 years, President Holmgren became the 11th president of Mills in 1991, after serving as one of the highest-ranking female administrators at Princeton University where she was vice provost from 1988 to 1991.

Prior to becoming Princeton’s vice provost, she was a senior administrator at the University of Maryland (College Park) from 1982 to 1988, and a full-time faculty member at the University of Maryland and Federal City College from 1972 to 1982.

“I am proud to be a part of our outstanding higher education system and look forward to using the best ideas and practices available to make contributions to both Mills and Princeton,” said Holmgren.

President Holmgren has been instrumental in shaping the agenda for women and higher education through her prominent roles with Mills and national boards. She currently serves on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the National Council for Research on Women, and is the recent past chair of both boards. She is also an executive board member and past chair of the Women’s College Coalition, and served as chair of the board of directors of the American Council on Education.

Among the many milestones during President Holmgren’s administration at Mills, the College completed a highly successful sesquicentennial campaign, raising $132 million—$32 million over the original $100 million goal. President Holmgren has led Mills in creating major diversity initiatives resulting in faculty of color comprising 25 percent of the total faculty (up from 3 percent in 1991), an enhanced curriculum reflecting multiculturalism, college-wide diversity training, and increased diversity in the student body. As a result of these efforts, Mills is considered among the top 20 liberal arts colleges in the nation for diversity by U.S. News & World Report.

Since 1991, the Mills endowment has increased from approximately $70 million to more than $200 million through fundraising and sound management of investments, including major increases for financial aid and academic programming.

The College’s graduate programs have been improved and expanded, including establishment of Mills’ first doctoral degree program in urban educational leadership, a new Graduate School of Business, and new degrees in public policy and infant mental health. New undergraduate majors include intermedia arts, public policy, biopsychology, and environmental science. The Mills Women’s Leadership Institute and the Institute for Civic Leadership were also established under Holmgren’s leadership.

During the Holmgren administration, nearly $100 million in campus renovations and improvements have been completed, including a $10 million renovation of historic Mills Hall, a new education complex, a renovated social science building, new student housing, and a new Natural Sciences Building opening this October.

President Holmgren has established strong relationships with Mills’ wider East Bay community, having initiated significant outreach in areas ranging from early childhood through 12th grade education, to business development and city planning.

She earned her PhD and MA in linguistics from Princeton in 1974 and 1971, respectively, and her BA in English, summa cum laude, at Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan) in 1968.

The 40-member Princeton Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall direction of the University. It approves the operating and capital budgets, supervises the investment of the University’s endowment, and oversees campus real estate and long-range physical planning. They also exercise review and approval concerning changes in major policies related to instructional programs and admission, as well as tuition and fees, and hiring of faculty members.

Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently recognized as one of the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills currently ranks among the top 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The New York Times recently selected Mills as one of three leading California colleges for students to consider.

In 2006, the Washington Monthly College Rankings named Mills a leading liberal arts college based on community service, research spending, quality of preparation for graduate education, and social mobility. In addition, The Princeton Review’s annual guide, the Best 361 Colleges (2007) included Mills for the second year in a row among top U.S. institutions offering students an outstanding undergraduate education.

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