Carolyn Ellis Staton, the first woman to hold the position of provost at the University of Mississippi, died late last month at her home in Oxford, Mississippi. She was 71 years old.
A native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Dr. Staton was a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans. She earned a master’s degree at Columbia University and a juris doctorate at Yale Law School, where she became friends with Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton.
Staton joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi in 1977. She was a professor of law and served as interim dean of the School of Law. In 1999, she was named provost of the university and served in that role until her retirement in 2009.
Speaking at Staton’s funeral service, Hillary Rodham Clinton said: “It is always hard to lose a friend – someone who made you a better person. No matter what else I may have been, to Carolyn I was always just a friend.”