Jacquelyn Anderson Mattfeld (born October 5, 1925) is a retired

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

and academic administrator. She served as president of

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

from 1976 to 1980. Born in Baltimore, she studied at the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869), ...

and

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a private liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland. It was chartered in 1885 by a conference in Baltimore led by namesake John F. Goucher and local leaders of the Methodist Episcopal Church.https://archive.org/details/h ...

before completing her PhD at the

Yale School of Music The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a join ...

in 1959. Her early research focused on Renaissance music, including Josquin des Prez. However, she was unable to find an academic appointment, instead teaching piano privately, until she was hired as associate director of financial aid at Radcliffe College. The remainder of her academic career was administrative; she served as associate dean of student affairs at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, provost and dean of faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, and a dean and later associate provost at Brown University, before being appointed president of Barnard in 1976. Mattfeld was hired at Barnard in large part to respond to the college's continuing financial problems, owing to her reputation as a budgetary expert. She addressed these difficulties by raising tuition, but was nevertheless able to increase the application rate to the college. Despite her effective financial leadership, however, she was fired after four years. She was subsequently appointed provost and dean of faculty at the

College of Charleston The College of Charleston (CofC or Charleston) is a public university in Charleston, South Carolina. Founded in 1770 and chartered in 1785, it is the oldest university in South Carolina, the 13th oldest institution of higher learning in the Unit ...

. She later developed an interest in gerontology, which she pursued in part as executive director of the C. G. Jung Center in Evanston, Illinois; following her retirement, the Center appointed her Board Member Emeritus. As an academic administrator, Mattfeld developed a reputation for blunt, even pugnacious candor, declaring on her departure from Brown, "We don't accomplish things. We sit around for half an hour talking about whether or not it was a mistake to spend $56,000 for a house on Humpty‐Dumpty Street." At Barnard, she clashed with

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

administrators and her own board over her (successful) resistance to the college's takeover by Columbia. Describing herself as "militant" in response to institutionalized sexism and classism in elite universities, she has been throughout her career an advocate for enhanced student services and expanded outreach to students from less affluent backgrounds. She has also argued for the necessary overlap between professional education and the

liberal arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattfeld, Jacquelyn 1925 births Women heads of universities and colleges Presidents of Barnard College Brown University faculty American women musicologists American musicologists Yale School of Music alumni Living people