Studied painting at the University of California, Berkeley but dropped out.
In 1963 graduated with a bachelor's degree in Education, Museum Administration and Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Her father was a pharmacist and her mother was a biologist.
Received an honorary Ph.D degree from Pratt Institute in 2023.
Received a Master of Fine Arts degree from San Francisco State University in 1972. One aspect of Hershman's master's thesis involved writing art criticism under three pseudonyms: Prudence Juris, Herbert Goode and Gay Abandon.
