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Frances Daly Fergusson became the ninth president of Vassar College in 1986 retiring from that position after twenty years on July 1 2006. The third woman to head the college Dr. Fergusson previously (1982-1986) was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Bucknell University. She is today President Emeritus and professor of art at Vassar.
Dr. Fergusson is on the board of Overseers of Harvard University beginning a six-year term in 2002. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is on the Board of Directors of the Foreign Policy Association. She is also on the Board of Trustees of Isamu Noguchi Foundation the National Humanities Center and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. Dr. Fergusson was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation from 1989-2001 and chaired its committee on education media arts and culture and its proxy committee.
Dr. Fergusson was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mayo Foundation (Mayo Clinic) from 1988-2002 and chair of its board from 1998-2002. She has served on the executive committee of the New York Commission in Independent Colleges and Universities the board of the Society of Architectural Historians of the United States and the Board of Directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).
Dr. Fergusson has been a Director of HSBC Bank USA since 1990 is on its Executive Committee and chairs its committee on compensation and succession. She was a Director of CH Energy Inc. from 1993-2002. A past member of the Board of Directors of the United Way of Dutchess County she was the 1991 campaign chair for Dutchess County. She was on the Board of Trustees of Historic Hudson from 1990-1999.
A graduate of Wellesley College in 1965 with special honors in art history Dr. Fergusson earned her master's and doctoral degrees in art history at Harvard University. She was named a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow for 1974-1975 and a Radcliffe Institute Fellow in that same year. In 1979 she was elected a Danforth Associate for excellence in teaching and commitment to students. In 1998 she was awarded the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val-Kill Medal. The following year she received the Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University. She holds honorary doctorates from the University of London Hartford University and Bard College. She has published widely in her academic specialty architectural history and is the recipient of the Founders' Award of the Society of Architectural Historians. | 