Board Member
Mary Dana Hinton
President, Hollins University; Past Chair, AAC&U Board of Directors
Mary Dana Hinton is the thirteenth president of Hollins University. Previously, she was the president of the College of Saint Benedict from 2014-2020. An active and respected proponent of the liberal arts and inclusion, her leadership reflects a deep and abiding commitment to educational equity and the education of women. Hinton teaches in the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education doctoral program in higher education management and the CIC President’s Institute New President Program. Her scholarship focuses on African American religious history, religious education, and leadership, strategic planning, assessment, and diversity in the academy; and she is the author of The Commercial Church: Black Churches and the New Religious Marketplace in America. Hinton earned a PhD in religion and religious education with high honors from Fordham University, an MA degree in clinical child psychology from the University of Kansas–Lawrence and a BA degree in psychology from Williams College. In 2021, Hinton was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, an organization established more than 240 years ago by the nation’s founders to honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good.