Science, Medicine & Engineering
Peerless
Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman
1926 – 2004
The first woman to lead a university anywhere in Africa
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the Liberia Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
President of the University of Liberia from 1978, the first woman to head a university on the continent — and she spent the job defending her faculty against her own government.
Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman was a Liberian educator and the first woman to serve as president of a university in Africa.
Born Mary Antoinette Hope Grimes in Monrovia, daughter of Louis Arthur Grimes, who became Chief Justice of Liberia, she took her first degree at Liberia College in 1947, a master's in teaching at Radcliffe in 1949, and a doctorate in education at Cornell in 1967. She joined the University of Liberia's education faculty in 1950, became Dean of the Teachers' College in 1958 and vice-president for academic affairs in 1975, and was president from 1978 to 1984 — expanding the university's facilities and scholarships while defending its academics against government interference.
Born Mary Antoinette Hope Grimes in Monrovia, daughter of Louis Arthur Grimes, who became Chief Justice of Liberia, she took her first degree at Liberia College in 1947, a master's in teaching at Radcliffe in 1949, and a doctorate in education at Cornell in 1967. She joined the University of Liberia's education faculty in 1950, became Dean of the Teachers' College in 1958 and vice-president for academic affairs in 1975, and was president from 1978 to 1984 — expanding the university's facilities and scholarships while defending its academics against government interference.
- Wikipedia — Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman
- The Perspective — The end of an era in Liberia's history: eulogy to Dr Mary Antoinette Brown Sherman
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