Eliza Kellas

Eliza Kellas (born Oct. 4, 1864, Mooers Forks, N.Y., U.S.—died April 10, 1943, Troy, N.Y.) was an American educator, best remembered for her strong and effective leadership of the Emma Willard School in Troy.

Kellas graduated from the Potsdam Normal School (now State University of New York College at Potsdam) in 1889, remaining as a member of the faculty. In 1891 she was appointed principal of the school of practice at the Plattsburgh Normal School (now State University of New York College at Plattsburgh), and in 1895 she became head of the Normal School. She resigned her post in 1901 and until 1905 traveled widely as a governess and companion. In the latter year she entered Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

She graduated in 1910 and pursued graduate studies there for a year until, at the recommendation of Agnes Irwin, the lately retired dean of Radcliffe, she was selected for the post of principal of the Emma Willard School (before 1895 the Troy Female Seminary). When she entered upon her new duties in February 1911 at the school’s new campus, the gift of Margaret Olivia Sage, Kellas faced an institution whose standards had slipped seriously for several decades from its founder’s original vision. With energy and determination she set about restoring those high standards of scholarship and deportment. She succeeded also in raising money among alumnae for several more new buildings. Her own character and moral example became a significant force in the lives of the students and within a few years helped make the school one of the leading institutions of its kind in the country. At her suggestion and with funds supplied by Sage, the old campus of the Emma Willard School was reactivated in September 1916 as the Russell Sage College of Practical Arts, devoted to vocational training for young women. Kellas served as president of Russell Sage College from its opening while continuing as principal of the Emma Willard School.

The college grew quickly, granted its first degrees in 1920, and in 1927, at Kellas’s urging, severed its legal and financial connections with the preparatory school. A school of nursing was opened in the college in 1923. In 1928 Kellas retired from the presidency of the college, having seen it firmly established, and devoted herself thereafter entirely to the Emma Willard School, of which she retained the principalship until 1942, when she retired.