Harriet W. Sheridan office files (OF.1UF.S5)

Biographical Note

Harriet W. Sheridan (1925-1992) was hired as Dean at Brown University in 1979 and remained in the post until 1987, when she resigned to return to her longtime career, the teaching of English. She later founded the Center for the Advancement of College Teaching at Brown and was noted for her course on literature and medicine, which was very popular with many medical students.

She had arrived at Brown from Carleton College in Minnesota, where she had spent 26 years and had served at various times as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, chairwoman of the English department and faculty chairwoman. She was also Carleton's acting president from January to August of 1977, succeeding Howard Swearer, who had resigned to become president at Brown.

A native of New York City, she received her bachelor's degree from Hunter College in 1944, a master's from Smith College in 1945 and a doctorate in medieval English literature from Yale University in 1950.

Professor Sheridan was chairwoman of the American Association for Higher Education and a member of many educational groups, including the American Council on Education's Commission on Women in Higher Education. She was a former director of the Association of American Colleges and a former member of the Commission on Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.