Photo courtesy of David Tatum
On March 30, the Board of Trustees named Dr. Beverly Tatum the new acting president of MHC.
By Tara Monastesse ’25
News Editor
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president emerita of Spelman College, has been appointed by the Board of Trustees as Mount Holyoke College’s interim president following the departure of current president Sonya Stephens. Beginning her term in July, Tatum will lead the College for the 2022-2023 academic year until the search for the College’s 20th president is complete and the new candidate assumes office.
Tatum will replace Stephens, whose departure from the College was announced by the Board of Trustees on March 2. Stephens has stepped down to assume the position of president at The American University of Paris.
Tatum’s appointment was announced in a letter to the community on March 30, written by Board of Trustees Chair Karena V. Strella ’90.
“During her term, Beverly will be an active presence on campus and in the wider community to advance Mount Holyoke’s mission and core values,” Strella wrote. “In partnership with the Board, faculty, students, staff and alums, she will work to sustain our current momentum and move key strategic projects and vital operational activities forward.”
This will not be Tatum’s first time serving as acting president of the College. In 2002, she served in the role for the spring semester while 17th president Joanne V. Creighton took a six-month sabbatical. She ascended to this role after working with the College for 13 years, initially as a faculty member of psychology and education from 1989-2002 as well as dean of the College from 1998-2002.
In her work as an experienced psychologist and educator, Tatum focused her academic research specifically on race relations. In a 1992 edition of the Harvard Educational Review, Tatum contributed a piece on her research entitled “Talking about Race, Learning about Racism: The Application of Racial Identity Development Theory in the Classroom.” In the article, Dr. Tatum described her observations while teaching a class entitled “The Psychology of Racism” at three collegiate institutions — one of which was Mount Holyoke.
“It has become painfully clear on many college campuses across the United States that we cannot have successfully multiracial campuses without talking about race and learning about racism,” Tatum’s article concludes. “Providing a forum where this discussion can take place safely over a semester … may be among the most proactive learning opportunities an institution can provide.”
Tatum is also widely known as the author of the 1997 book “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race.” According to The New York Times, the book, which was updated for its 20th anniversary in 2017, once again climbed to the bestseller list in June 2020. She also published the book “Can We Talk About Race?: And Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation” in 2007.
In more recent years, Tatum was named the 2013 recipient of the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award and the 2014 recipient of the American Psychological Association Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology, according to her personal website.
Starting in 2002, Tatum served as the ninth president of Spelman College. She stepped down in July 2015 to “focus on her work as an author, speaker and expert on issues related to racial identity,” according to the Spelman College website.
“We are grateful to Tatum for lending her extraordinary skills and expertise at this time to help position the 20th president for success and the College for continued excellence,” the Board of Trustees announcement concluded.