Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D.

Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., interim president of Mount Holyoke College, is a clinical psychologist widely known for both her expertise on race relations and as a thought leader in higher education. Her thirteen years as the president of Spelman College (2002-2015) were marked by innovation and growth and her visionary leadership was recognized in 2013 with the Carnegie Academic Leadership Award. The author of the best-selling “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” and Other Conversations About Race (now in the 2017 20^th anniversary edition) and Can We Talk About Race? and Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation (2007), Dr. Tatum is a sought-after speaker on the topics of racial identity development, race and education, strategies for creating inclusive campus environments, and higher education leadership.  A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, she was the 2014 recipient of the APA Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Psychology.

A civic leader in her community, Dr. Tatum is engaged in educational initiatives designed to expand educational opportunity for underserved students and their families, as well as to connect communities across lines of difference. In Atlanta she serves on the governing boards of the Westside Future Fund, Achieve Atlanta, and the Tull Charitable Foundation. Her national service includes her membership on the boards of the Educational Testing Service and Sesame Workshop.

Dr. Tatum holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Wesleyan University, and M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan as well as an M.A. in Religious Studies from Hartford Seminary (now the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace). She has served as a faculty member at the University of California/Santa Barbara, Westfield State University, and Mount Holyoke College. Prior to her 2002 appointment as president of Spelman, she served as dean and acting president at Mount Holyoke College. In Spring 2017 she was the Mimi and Peter E. Haas Distinguished Visitor at Stanford University.