Graham, Patricia Albjerg
- Existence: 1935 -
Born in 1935 to two Purdue educators (Marguerite Hall-Albjerg and Victor Lincoln Albjerg), Graham earned her BA with highest distinction from Purdue University in 1955. In 1964, she earned her PhD from Columbia University and then spent several years working as an educator and counselor in Virginia and New York. Having held appointments at Indiana University, Northern Michigan University, and Columbia University's Teachers College, Graham joined the faculty at Harvard University and served as the Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study at Harvard University, the vice president for Institutional Planning for Radcliffe College, and the vice president of Radcliffe College. She left Harvard in 1977 after she was appointed president of the National Institute of Education by the President of the United States. She later returned to Harvard in 1979 and became the Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education. In 1982, she became the Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the first woman to be appointed dean of a Harvard faculty. Graham retired from her deanship in 1991 and served as the President of the Spencer Foundation from 1991 until 2000. In 2009, Graham was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.