Mary Patterson McPherson (b. 1935) (President, 1978 - 1997)
Peter Schaumann, 1998
Oil on linen, 142.875 x 112.395 cm
2010.26.1

Pat McPherson (PhD 1969) is credited with revitalizing Bryn Mawr College and leading it through a difficult period of inflation that dwindled college assets and crippled admissions. She came to the presidency with a doctorate in philosophy from Bryn Mawr and eight years’ experience as Dean of the Undergraduate College. During her tenure, McPherson balanced the budget, grew the endowment, and increased the size and diversity of the student body. In the late 1980s, LGBT students and students of color criticized McPherson’s administration for its insensitivity towards their experiences of harassment. An emblem of the College’s problems to some students and an iconic role-model to others, attitudes among McPherson’s admirers were described by a 1996 issue of The College News as “The Cult of ‘Mary Pat.’” Upon her retirement, College trustees honored her commitment to the College community with the establishment of the McPherson Award for Excellence in 1997. 

In her portrait, President McPherson sits casually on a tabletop, wearing Bryn Mawr’s blue-accented doctoral robes. The artist, Peter Schaumann, depicts her against a warm wooden background that appears to situate McPherson in the Great Hall where the painting hangs. Her leisurely pose refuses to emulate the grip of M. Carey Thomas’s hand upon her seat, even as the regal swoop of McPherson’s white-edged hood echoes the dramatic diagonal of Thomas’s robes. Light from a nearby window illuminates her smiling face, securing her confident, sharp expression as one that is at home here. The heavy books, the downward pull of her thick robes, and the sturdy materiality of the wooden table upon which she sits contribute to the painting’s sense of gravity, suggesting the grounded solidity of McPherson’s legacy.