Elizabeth S. Billings was born in 1832, in Conway, Massachusetts and graduated from Ipswich Female Seminary. She had a distinguished career as teacher at Andover Seminary and Oberlin College, and Associate Principal of Abbott Academy. She married the Rev. Hiram Mead in 1858 and after his death became the first non-alumnae President of Mount Holyoke Seminary and College in 1890. During her ten-year tenure she directed the expansion of the curriculum, encouraged teachers to pursue advanced degrees and allowed students a measure of self-government. When the Seminary building was destroyed by a fire in 1896, Mead initiated an extensive building project (including the erection of Mary Lyon Hall in 1897) which became the foundation for the modern College. In 1901, a dormitory was named Mead Hall in her honor. She died in 1917.