her intention to step down as president of Vassar College after twenty years as head of the institution. Catharine Bond Hill assumed the position of president at the end of the 2005 2006 academic year. Fergusson served on the search committee that brought Drew Faust to the presidency of Harvard, on a subsequent governance committee that brought about changes in the Corporation of Harvard, and for a dozen years was the chair of the Visiting Committee to the Harvard Library.She received the Centennial Medal from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard and the Harvard Medal for Outstanding Service to the University. Awards Doctor of Literature degrees (honorary) from the University of London Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (1999) Honorary doctoral degrees from Bard College, and the University of Hartford Harvard Medal for "outstanding service to the University." References Living people Wellesley College alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American art historians Presidents of Vassar College Newton College of the Sacred Heart faculty University of Massachusetts Boston faculty Bucknell University faculty 1944 births American women historians Pfizer people Women art historians Women heads of universities and colleges 21st-century American women