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Monmouth College President Draves honored by her alma mater with prestigious award

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (06/25/2025) — Monmouth College's 15th president recently received an award from her undergraduate alma mater named in honor of its 15th president.

Patricia Draves recently returned to Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, to receive the Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award. The honor is given to an alumna for outstanding achievement in and contributions to the field of education.

In particular, Draves was cited for distinguishing herself as an accomplished scholar and pathbreaking leader, dedicating her career to serving students and to the liberal arts.

"It is such an honor to receive this recognition from Mount Holyoke, a college that ignited my passions for liberal arts, sciences, learning and educating young people on their journeys," said Draves. "It is extra special that the award honors President Kennan, who I knew as a student and enjoyed interacting with her in lectures and especially in round-table-type debates on a campus filled with brilliant and curious women."

The award honors the service that Kennan, a 1960 graduate of Mount Holyoke, has given to the college and to higher education in general. Kennan served as president of the school from 1978-95, holding that office the entire time Draves was a student. The former Patricia Holland graduated from the school in 1985 with a degree in chemistry,

Moving on from Mount Holyoke, Draves earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Illinois. The Rhode Island native taught at the University of Central Arkansas and at Monmouth (2002-06) before serving as vice president for academic affairs at the University of Mount Union for 11 years. Draves left the Ohio school in 2017 to serve as the 18th president at Graceland University, which has campuses in Lamoni, Iowa, and Independence, Missouri.

After an extensive national search, Draves was named Monmouth's president in the spring of 2024, and she took office that July.

As a Mount Holyoke student, Kennan was a summa cum laude history major. She studied at Oxford before earning a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1966 and was a professor of medieval history at Catholic University in the nation's capital before assuming Mount Holyoke's presidency.

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Monmouth President Patricia Draves recently returned to her undergraduate alma mater, Mount Holyoke, to receive the prestigious Elizabeth Topham Kennan Award.

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