Margaret Antoinette Clapp (April 10, 1910 – May 3, 1974)[1] was an American scholar, educator and Pulitzer Prize winner. She was the president of Wellesley College from 1949 to 1966.[2]
During her presidency, she was able to make many improvements to the college campus by increasing the number of faculty members and increasing financial aid for students. Other accomplishments of note during her tenure construction and remodeling of major campus buildings as well as increasing the college endowment fund.
After her presidency, she moved to India in order to experience a new culture, stating that living in a different country with a different culture gave her a new perspective on her own culture. During her time there, she became the Minister Counselor of Public Affairs for the United States Embassy, becoming the first woman to hold such a position. In addition, she was the chief cultural officer for the United States Information Service India for three years. She was also the principal of the Lady Doak College in Madurai for two years. She stayed in India until 1971, when she returned to her Berkshire home to retire.[3]
- ^ Barbara Sicherman, Carol Hurd Green - Notable American Women: The Modern Period : a Biographical Dictionary, Volume 4
- ^ Records of the President's Office, 1DB.1899-1966, Wellesley College Archives. https://archives.wellesley.edu/repositories/2/resources/2 Accessed May 13, 2021.
- ^ Lindheim, Burton (1974-05-04). "Margaret Clapp, 64, Dies; Wellesley Ex-President". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-05-20.