Barbara C. Millard, One of the First Women Professors and
Later Dean of Arts and Sciences at La Salle University, Dies at 66

Barbara C. Millard, Ph.D., one of the first women faculty members at La Salle University whose presence on campus ranged from becoming Dean of the University’s largest school to co-founding a daycare center on campus, died from cancer June 1 at her home in Doylestown. She was 66.

Millard was also President of the Faculty Senate at La Salle and established a women’s network on campus which led to the establishment of the Women’s Studies program at the University.

"She was a strong and proud advocate for women's rights, so she was involved in the creation of the Women Studies program," said her daughter, Jennifer Seery. "She was proud of these accomplishments, as were we all." She added her mother "was my role model and best friend."

La Salle University President Brother Michael McGinniss, FSC, said, "Barbara Millard was a great teacher, a great colleague, and a great leader on the faculty and as a dean. She was a person of tremendous intellect and always a person of remarkable warmth in all settings. Above all, she was a friend to many of us who had the privilege of knowing her over the years. The members of the La Salle University community feel her loss keenly."

A native of West Philadelphia, Millard attended West Catholic High School where she was class valedictorian. Millard received her A.B. magma cum laude from Marywood College, an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and Ph.D. from the University of Delaware.

After graduating from Marywood, she began her teaching career at Sulzberger Jr. High School in the Philadelphia school system, and then at Darby-Colwyn High School. She joined the La Salle faculty in 1972 as a member of the English Department. She became the second woman at La Salle to become a full professor.

She was elected to La Salle’s Faculty Senate in 1980 and was its President from 1987 to 1990. Millard became Director of the Women Studies Program, and became Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at La Salle in 1993, the first woman and the first person other than a Christian Brother to hold that post.

"Her first concern was always with the students and then with the faculty and what was best for them," said Dr. Samuel Wiley, who served as Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

"She was a dean who really loved her faculty," added Maribel Molyneaux, a Professor of English at La Salle. "She was one of the most generous persons I’ve met. She (was) as much my mentor as my friend. She was enormously helpful to me in learning to teach at the college level."

As a scholar, Millard specialized in the Renaissance period, Shakespeare, and English literature. Three times she invited members of the Royal Shakespeare Company to perform on campus and teach. She also headed summer Shakespeare workshops for high school teachers. Millard was reportedly the first faculty member to do a travel study course at La Salle. Millard was co-author of the book, As You Like It: An Annotated Bibliography, and published many scholarly articles on Shakespeare. She was a contributor and editor for Shakespeare Quarterly for the Folger Shakespeare Library.

"When I would pass her classroom, I could see all the kids in crowns and robes," said Molyneaux. "She wanted students to feel it the way she did."

Dr. Marjorie Allen, a La Salle English Professor, said "Barbara was a remarkable teacher. When students took her Shakespeare course, they worked very hard, but they came out of that course with not merely an understanding of his plays but with an appreciation and an enthusiasm for reading them," said Allen. "She enjoyed working with students both in the classroom and beyond. She often invited students to her home. She always had time for them, and she made them feel at home in her office. Who else had a beautiful carpet in Olney Hall?"

Allen added that Millard "worked hard to make newer faculty feel at home at La Salle, and this was especially true for women when there were few women faculty in the 1970's and 1980's."

According to her daughter, Millard co-founded the Building Blocks Daycare Center in 1973 to meet the need that she and other mothers, including staff and students, for day care. She raised money to start and fund it. She co-edited a cookbook, Cooking by Degrees, which was sold as a fundraiser for the center. Both her children were enrolled there.

Millard retired as Dean in 2001 and from La Salle in 2007. After her retirement, she enjoyed traveling with her husband and serving as a volunteer for Reading for the Blind program.

She and her husband John met at a church fair when they were 14 and 15, and were married for 44 years. According to her daughter, Millard encouraged her husband to start his own consulting firm that offered outplacement services to corporations and career transition services to individuals.

In addition to her husband and daughter Jennifer, Millard is survived by a son John, four grandchildren, and a brother, Cory Casacci.

Relatives and friends are invited to participate in Barbara's Life Celebration on Thursday, June 4 from 7 to 9 p.m. at St. Martin of Tours Church on Riverston Circle in New Hope, PA, and to her Funeral Mass at 11a.m. on Friday, June 5, also at St. Martin’s. Interment will be private.

To honor her philosophy that students with modest means should have access to a college education, donations to the Barbara C. Millard, Ph.D. Memorial Scholarship Fund at La Salle University would be appreciated in lieu of flowers (c/o Development Office, 1900 W. Olney Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19141.