She attended Emma Willard School, graduating in 1960, Barnard College, graduating in 1965,[1] and Columbia University, where she received an M.A. and Ph.D. degree in English. As an assistant professor of English at Princeton University, entering the faculty in 1971, she received, as the first woman to do so, the title of university marshal. She served as a program officer at the Markle Foundation, the program director of the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and as a consultant and special assistant to the president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She became the first female principal of Exeter in 1987, and served until her retirement 1997.[2][3] During her time at Exeter, she received significant press coverage over her handling of a scandal involving the firing of a drama teacher, Larry Lane Bateman, over child pornography charges in 1992.[4][5]
O'Donnell is married to Patrick O'Donnell, with whom she has three children, two of which are from a previous marriage. She has received honorary degrees from New England College and Hamilton College.
