Nancy Dye

Nancy Dye
13th President of Oberlin College
In office July 1, 1994 (1994-07-01) – June 30, 2007 (2007-06-30)
Preceded by	S. Frederick Starr
Succeeded by	Marvin Krislov
Personal details
Born	Nancy Schrom (1947-03-11)March 11, 1947 Columbia, Missouri
Died	Lakewood, Ohio
Spouse(s)	Dr. Griffith Dye
Children	Molly, Michael
Parents	Ned Stuart Schrom and Florence Elizabeth Ahrens
Alma mater	BA, Vassar College, 1969 PhD, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 1974
Profession	Historian

Nancy Schrom Dye (March 11, 1947 – October 28, 2015) was an American historian and college academic who served as the first — and to date only — female president of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. As a professional historian, she was the author of numerous articles and several books, and she served on the editorial board of The Journal of American History.

Biography

Early life and education

Nancy Schrom was born in Columbia, Missouri, in 1947. Both of her parents were college administrators: her father serving as dean of students at Montclair State University and SUNY New Paltz, and her mother working as assistant to the dean of the New York University Law School.

She attended Vassar College as an undergraduate. She received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1974, and accepted a position at the University of Kentucky, where she taught from 1974 to 1988.

Vassar

In 1988, she accepted a position at Vassar College, where she served as Dean of the Faculty as well as Professor of History. She served as acting president of Vassar for several months in 1992.

President of Oberlin College

Dye became the 13th president of Oberlin College in July 1994, succeeding the embattled S. Frederick Starr. Oberlin's first female president, she oversaw the construction of new buildings, the increased selectiveness of the student body, and helped grow the endowment with the then-largest capital campaign in the college's history.

As president, Dye was known for her accessibility and inclusiveness. Especially in her first few years, she was a regular attendee at student events such as football games, concerts, and dorm parties.

On September 11, 2006, after serving as President of Oberlin College for 12 years, Dye announced her resignation effective June 30, 2007. Her resignation came after a period of transition for the College. Some were dissatisfied with Dye's communication with students and faculty, while others respected her ability to keep the College stable when other Colleges were suffering financially. Her most recent biannual review was unreleased. Official reasons for the burial of the report are because of poor methodologies, although many suspect that it was due to a largely negative review.

In honor of her commitment to internationalism, the board of trustees announced the Nancy S. Dye chair for Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at Oberlin at commencement in May 2007. Dye was succeeded as Oberlin College President by Marvin Krislov in July 2007.

A 2009 article in the New York Times reported that Dye earned $1.4 million from Oberlin as its ex-president.

Later career

After leaving Oberlin, Dye spent a number of years in South Asia and the Middle East. After serving as vice chancellor for the Asian University for Women in Bangladesh in 2008, she was vice provost of the United Arab Emirates University from 2009 to 2011, where she established a residential college for women.

Death

She died at her home in Lakewood, Ohio in 2015.

Bibliography

• As Equals and As Sisters: Feminism, Trade Unionism, and the New York Women's Trade Union League (University of Missouri Press, 1980)
• (co-editor, with Noralee Frankel) Gender, Race, and Class in the Progressive Era (University Press of Kentucky, 1991)