Dr. Minnich earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Graduate Faculty for Political and Social Science of The New School University in New York, where she was teaching assistant for Hannah Arendt. She wrote her dissertation on John Dewey, and has continued to work on issues of democracy and education, with particular focus on inclusive scholarship, curricula, teaching, and institutional practices.
As an academic administrator, she has been a Dean and/or Director at The New School (now Lang) College; Sarah Lawrence College; Hollins College; and Barnard College on the undergraduate level. She has also been a dean at the Union Institute & University’s Graduate College for Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. She has taught at all of these institutions. Special appointments have included Professor of Philosophy & The Humanities – the Hartley Burr Alexander Chair, Scripps College; Visiting Scholar, Scholars & Seminars Program, the Getty Institute for The History of Art and The Humanities; Thomas P. Johnson Distinguished Visiting Professor, Rollins College; and the Whichard Visiting Distinguished Professor of Humanities and Women’s Studies, East Carolina University.