Education 2024: KATHERINE A. ROWE

Rowe became president of the nation’s second-oldest university in 2018, after serving as provost and dean of faculty at Smith College. She has shepherded the creation of William & Mary’s first sustainability plan, an entrepreneurship hub and the college’s strategic plan, Vision 2026.

In October 2023, William & Mary and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation formed a leadership development institute, the Williamsburg Institute, chaired by Carly Fiorina.

The college announced hefty donations this year, including $30 million from an anonymous alumna to renovate and rename a building for former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates (currently the university’s chancellor) and $100 million from Jane Batten to establish the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences.

Rowe holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University, completed graduate work at New York University and spent 16 years as an English professor and department chair at Bryn Mawr College. A Shakespearean scholar, she also co-founded and was CEO of a software company that developed apps to help students understand the Bard of Avon’s plays.

Rowe serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board of directors and the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission.