Millicent Carey McIntosh (November 30, 1898 – January 3, 2001) was an educational administrator and American feminist who led the

Brearley School The Brearley School is an all-girls private school in New York City, located on the Upper East Side neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan. The school is divided into lower (kindergarten – grade 4), middle (grades 5–8) and upper (grades 9 ...

(1930–1947), and most prominently

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 ...

(1947–1962). The first married woman to head one of the Seven Sisters, she was "considered a national role model for generations of young women who wanted to combine career and family," advocating for working mothers and for

child care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

as a dignified profession.

Early life

McIntosh was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

on November 30, 1898 to Anthony Morris Carey and Margaret Cheston Thomas, both active Quakers. She was also a Quaker. Her mother was a member of Bryn Mawr College's first graduating class (1889). Her aunt,

M. Carey Thomas Martha Carey Thomas (January 2, 1857 – December 2, 1935) was an American educator, suffragist, and linguist. She was the second president of Bryn Mawr College, a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Biography Early life ...

, also a leader in women's education, founded the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore. McIntosh attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

for her undergraduate, majoring in Greek and English and graduating in 1920 magna cum laude. McIntosh studied economics at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, and earned an English Ph.D. from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

with a dissertation on 14th century

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

s. After graduating with her Ph.D. in 1926, McIntosh became an assistant professor of English at Bryn Mawr College. Shortly afterward, we was appointed dean of freshman and then acting dean of the college. Later, she headed the Brearley School for seventeen years, where she pioneered a

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

class for sixth grade students. Her husband was the pediatrician

Rustin McIntosh Rustin McIntosh (September 29, 1894 – February 14, 1986) was an American pediatrician. From 1930 until 1960, he was the chief of pediatrics at the Babies Hospital of NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital and the Reuben S. Carpentier Professor of Pedia ...

, with whom she had five children.

Barnard career

McIntosh became Dean of Barnard College in 1947, and became the institution's first President in 1952. She was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1966. She retired in 1962 and was replaced by Rosemary Park. After Barnard, she helped to found

Kirkland College Kirkland College was a small, private liberal arts women's college located in Clinton, New York, from 1968 to 1978. It was named for Samuel Kirkland, who founded Hamilton College. Hamilton absorbed Kirkland on June 30, 1978, and now maintains ...

in the 1960s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McIntosh, Millicent Carey 1898 births 2001 deaths American centenarians American feminists Presidents of Barnard College Barnard College faculty Bryn Mawr College faculty Bryn Mawr College alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Johns Hopkins University alumni People from Baltimore Bryn Mawr School people Women centenarians American Quakers Quaker feminists