Katherine Rowe
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Katherine Anandi Rowe is an American scholar of Renaissance literature and media history. She was named the twenty-eighth president of the
College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...
on February 20, 2018. She began her service on July 2, 2018 succeeding W. Taylor Reveley III, who had served as president since 2008. After seven months in office, Rowe was formally inaugurated February 8, 2019 as part of the university's annual Charter Day ceremony. Rowe, a Shakespearean scholar, is recognized for her work in the digital innovation of the liberal arts. As the guest editor of the ''Shakespeare Quarterly'''s special issue on New Media, Rowe led the first open review of a traditional humanities journal on the web. ''The New York Times'' deemed the special issue "trailblazing." In a 2020 special report, ''Diverse: Issues in Higher Education'' highlighted Rowe as one of 35 leading women in higher education. Rowe served as provost and dean of the faculty of
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
from 2014 to 2018. While at Smith, she also served as the interim vice president for inclusion, diversity and equity. In this role, Rowe is credited with transforming Smith's liberal arts curriculum and increasing diversity in faculty hiring. During her tenure as provost, Smith College developed "one of the first statistical and data sciences majors at a liberal arts college…” as well as worked to integrate design thinking methodology across curricula. Rowe also oversaw the creation of Smith College's first MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Prior to Smith, she served as an English professor at
Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
from 1998 to 2014, and at
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
from 1992 to 1998, teaching courses exploring the history of reading, writing, and performance from the Renaissance to the digital age. In another leadership position, she served as the director for the Tri-College Digital Humanities Initiative, a collaboration of faculty, students and staff from Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges as well as the Mellon Tri-College Faculty Forum, a group supporting collaboration between the three colleges’ faculty members. An entrepreneur, Rowe is also the co-founder and was
chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Luminary Digital Media, an organization responsible for creating social reading apps in partnership with the Folger Library Shakespeare editions on the iPad. Rowe and her husband, Bruce Jacobson, a telecom entrepreneur, co-founded the nonprofit Boston Ultimate Disc Alliance and Rowe co-founded the Carleton College women's Ultimate team. As a player, Rowe was a World Ultimate Club Finalist and a Women's National Finalist. She has served as an Ultimate coach for more than a decade and led multiple teams to state championships in Pennsylvania. It was also through Ultimate that Rowe met and married Jacobson. Rowe received a bachelor's degree in English and American literature from
Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...
in 1984. She earned a master's and a Ph.D. in English and American literature from
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Mid-career, Rowe completed graduate work in Cinema and Media Studies at New York University's
Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...
. She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for Humanities, the
Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...
, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Rowe also served as President of the
Shakespeare Association of America The Shakespeare Association of America (SAA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1972 of professional and independent scholars for the advanced academic study of William Shakespeare's plays and poems and their cultural and theatrical contexts. ...
and the Associate General Editor of ''The Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Cambridge''. She also served on Harvard University's Board of Overseers’ Visiting Committee of the Library and on the Executive Committee of the
American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
. She has also been a member of the
Modern Language Association The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...
, International Shakespeare Association and the
Society for Cinema and Media Studies The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (formerly the Society for Cinema Studies) is an organization of professors and scholars. Its home office is at the University of Oklahoma, but it has members throughout the world. SCMS holds an annual confer ...
. She was inducted into
Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...
- The National Leadership Honor Society, in 2018 at William & Mary. Rowe and Bruce Jacobson have two adult children.


Selected works

*''New Wave Shakespeare on Screen with Thomas Cartelli'' (Polity Press, 2007) *''Reading the Early Modern Passions: Essays in the Cultural History of Emotion'' (Penn Press, 2004) *''Dead Hands: Fictions of Agency, Renaissance to Modern'' (Stanford UP, 1999)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Katherine A 1963 births Living people College of William & Mary faculty Presidents of the College of William & Mary Carleton College alumni Harvard University alumni Smith College people Bryn Mawr College faculty Women heads of universities and colleges