Mary Dunn rose quickly into the administrative ranks and served as Dean of Bryn Mawr College for seven years. In 1985, she was tapped as president of all-female Smith College in Northampton, Mass.

At Smith, Dunn exhibited a low-key leadership style, especially when turmoil hit the campus.

In 1986, 200 students occupied College Hall, Smith's main administration building, in protest of the college's investments in South Africa. But unlike Harvard administrators who faced a similar situation in 1969, Dunn refused to call the police.

"There were a lot of people who thought I should call the cops and haul them out, but I didn't want to do that," she said.

The students remained in the building for a week, during which Dunn organized a series of discussions and open meetings with both students and trustees. Later that year, the board voted in favor of divestment.

Throughout the ordeal, Dunn's goal was simple: "To talk as much as possible. To find out what it was all about, to discover where we had common ground, to work together as much as we could," she said.

"Over the long haul," she adds, "students trusted me to tell the truth, and to deal with issues honestly as I saw them."

Dunn says she worked on making Smith a more welcoming place for minority students, drafting a "Design for Diversity" to raise aware of racial issues. She calls it her proudest achievement as president.