Harriett M. Allyn
Harriett M. Allyn (4 May 1883 – 7 July 1957) was an American zoologist, anthropologist, and college administrator. She was the first academic dean of Mount Holyoke College, appointed in 1929. Early life Harriett May Allyn was born in New London, Connecticut in 1883, one of four children born to Charles and Helen Louisa Starr Allyn. She attended high school at the Williams Memorial Institute, before enrolling at Mount Holyoke College. There, she was an active participant in a number of student government organizations. An entry for Allyn in the 1905 Mount Holyoke yearbook reads:Allyn graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1905, going on to obtain her Master's and Ph.D., at the University of Chicago in zoology and biology. Career Allyn began her teaching career at Lake Erie and Vassar Colleges, followed by Hackett Medical College in Canton, China, where she was dean for eight years, 1915–1923. Allyn made the move to China with a friend, the daughter of Hackett's founder Martha Hackett. There, she taught zoology and pre-medical subjects, and worked alongside Dr. Hackett to try to keep the college for, and run by, women. In Canton, she also acted as director of the Chan Kwang School, and chairman of