Quick Facts
Biography
Danielle R. Holley (born c. 1975) is an American academic administrator serving as the 20th President of Mount Holyoke College. Her term began on July 1, 2023, with her official inauguration taking place on September 21, 2023. She is the first Black woman to be permanently appointed President of the College.
In 2022, she was mentioned by The New York Times as a possible Joe Biden Supreme Court candidate to succeed retiring Justice Stephen Breyer.
Career
Holley received a B.A. from Yale University in 1996, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1999. She then served as a law clerk for Chief Judge Carl E. Stewart of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Holley served as associate dean for academic affairs at the University of South Carolina School of Law, from which position she was named dean of the Howard University School of Law in 2014. From there she was selected to become Mount Holyoke's 20th President.
Holley is a Liberty Fellow through the Aspen Global Leadership network. She is also on the board of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.2
Selected publications
- The Recovery School District Act and New Orleans’ Charter Schools” in LAW & DISASTERS: CHILDREN AND THE LAW AFTER THE KATRINA DISASTER (2008)
- Accountability Charter Schools” in OUR PROMISE: ACHIEVING EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY FOR ALL AMERICA’S CHILDREN (2009)