{{short description|First female president of William & Mary}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Katherine-Anandi-Rowe (cropped).jpg | caption = Rowe in 2018 | office = 28th President of the College of William and Mary | term_start = July 1, 2018 | term_end = | predecessor = W. Taylor Reveley III | successor = | office1 = Provost and Dean of Faculty at Smith College | term_start1 = July 1, 2014 | term_end1 = June 30, 2018 | predecessor1 = Marilyn Schuster | successor1 = Joseph O'Rourke (acting) | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | spouse = Bruce Jacobson | children = 2 | education = Carleton College (BA)<br>Harvard University (MA, PhD) | signature = Katherine Rowe's signature, 2021.png | module = {{Infobox academic | child = yes | thesis_title = The Dead Hand: Fictions of Agency and the Physiology of Possession | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/303990817/ | thesis_year = 1992 | doctoral_advisor = Marjorie Garber | discipline = English and American Literature | workplaces = {{plainlist| * Yale University * Bryn Mawr College * Smith College * College of William and Mary}}}} | name = Katherine A. Rowe }} '''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 on February 20, 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wm.edu/about/administration/president/index.php|title=Katherine A. Rowe - William & Mary |website=www.wm.edu |accessdate=January 8, 2019}}</ref> She began her service on July 2, 2018, succeeding W. Taylor Reveley III, who had served as president since 2008. Rowe is the first woman to be named president.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2018/28th.php |title=William & Mary announces Katherine Rowe as 28th President |website=Wm.edu |accessdate=February 22, 2018}}</ref> After seven months in office, Rowe was formally inaugurated on February 8, 2019 as part of the university's annual Charter Day ceremony.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2019/charter-day-2019.php|title=Rowe looks toward W&M's future in inaugural address|website=www.wm.edu|access-date=2019-03-14}}</ref>
== Career == 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''<nowiki/>'s special issue on New Media, Rowe led the first open review of a traditional humanities journal on the web. ''The New York Times'' described the special issue as "trailblazing." <ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/arts/24peer.html |title=For Scholars, Web Changes Sacred Rite of Peer Review |last=Cohen|first=Patricia |date=2010-08-23 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2025-10-18 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In a 2020 special report, ''Diverse: Issues in Higher Education'' highlighted Rowe as one of 35 leading women in higher education.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://diverseeducation.com/article/166770/|title=Diverse: Issues In Higher Education highlights 35 outstanding women during Women's History Month|date=2020-02-11|website=Diverse|language=en|access-date=2020-02-13}}</ref>
Rowe served as provost and dean of the faculty of Smith College from 2014 to 2018. While at Smith, she served as the interim vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In this role, Rowe is credited{{By whom|date=December 2023}} with transforming Smith's liberal arts curriculum and increasing diversity in faculty hiring.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/about/administration/president/about/index.php|title=About Katherine A. Rowe {{!}} William & Mary|website=www.wm.edu|access-date=2019-03-14}}</ref> During her tenure as provost, Smith College developed "one of the first statistical and data sciences majors at a liberal arts college.”<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.gazettenet.com/Smith-College-provost-named-president-of-Virginia-s-College-of-William-and-Mary-15685026|title=Smith College provost named president of the College of William & Mary|last=Cutts|first=Emily|date=2018-02-20|work=Daily Hampshire Gazette}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.smith.edu/news/developing-a-maker-culture-at-smith|title=Gate Story - 2015 - Pioneering Learning: Developing a Maker Culture at Smith {{!}} Smith College|website=www.smith.edu|access-date=2019-03-17}}</ref> Rowe also oversaw the creation of Smith College's first Massive Open Online Course.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/04/11/university-leaders-question-their-grasp-digital-learning-issues|title=University leaders question their grasp of digital learning issues -- and seek reinforcements {{!}} Inside Higher Ed|website=www.insidehighered.com|language=en|access-date=2019-03-17}}</ref>
Rowe was an English professor at Yale University from 1992 to 1998 before moving to Bryn Mawr College, where she stayed from 1998 to 2014. She was the director for the Tri-College Digital Humanities Initiative, a coalition of faculty, students and staff from Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges. Rowe directed the Mellon Tri-College Faculty Forum, a group supporting collaboration between the three colleges’ faculty members.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/news/announcements/2018/28th-email.php|title=Rector's message on W&M's 28th president|website=www.wm.edu|access-date=2019-03-14}}</ref> She is also the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Luminary Digital Media, an organization that created reading apps for iPadOS in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.luminary.co/|title=Luminary Digital Media|website=Luminary Digital Media|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-14|archive-date=June 18, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180618210654/http://www.luminary.co/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
[[File:Dr. Katherine A. Rowe.jpg|thumb| Rowe speaking in front of Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved in 2023]] Rowe and her husband Bruce Jacobson co-founded the nonprofit Boston Ultimate Disc Alliance. She also co-founded the Carleton College women's Ultimate team. Rowe was a World Ultimate Club Finalist and a Women's National Finalist.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://ultiworld.com/2012/11/20/how-we-practice-throwing-like-a-girl/|title=How We Practice: Throwing Like A Girl {{!}} Ultiworld|date=November 20, 2012|work=Ultiworld|access-date=June 26, 2018}}</ref> She has served as an Ultimate coach for more than a decade.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://awesomesportsproject.com/2017/05/09/interview-with-katherine-rowe-the-ultimate-coach/|title=Interview with Katherine Rowe: The Ultimate Coach|date=May 9, 2017|work=Awesome Sports Project|access-date=June 26, 2018|archive-date=June 22, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622165538/https://awesomesportsproject.com/2017/05/09/interview-with-katherine-rowe-the-ultimate-coach/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rowe met her husband, Jacobson, through Ultimate.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pilotonline.com/distinction/article_4289068c-fbfc-11e8-9ab5-075f7026b796.html|title=She's the first female president of the second-oldest university in the country. Here's what she brings to the table.|website=Virginian-Pilot|language=en|access-date=2019-03-14}}{{Dead link|date=April 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Rowe received a bachelor's degree in English and American literature from Carleton College in 1984. She earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in English and American literature from Harvard University. Mid-career, Rowe completed graduate work in Cinema and Media Studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She has received of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Rowe also served as President <ref> {{Cite web |url=https://shakespeareassociation.org/about/governance/|title=Shakespeare Association of America Governance}} </ref> of the Shakespeare Association of America and 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. Rowe has been a member of the Modern Language Association, International Shakespeare Association and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/about/administration/president/about/index.php|title=About Katherine A. Rowe {{!}} William & Mary|website=www.wm.edu|access-date=2019-03-14}}</ref> She was inducted into William & Mary's Omicron Delta Kappa—The National Leadership Honor Society—in 2018.
Rowe and Jacobson have two adult children.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-multimillion-dollar-homes-on-campus-where-rent-is-free-1538665233|title=The Multimillion-Dollar Homes on Campus Where Rent is Free|last=Frieswick|first=Kris|date=2018-10-04|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2019-03-14|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}</ref>
== Selected works ==
*''New Wave Shakespeare on Screen with Thomas Cartelli'' (Polity Press, 2007) {{ISBN|978-0745633923}} *''Reading the Early Modern Passions: Essays in the Cultural History of Emotion'' (Penn Press, 2004) {{ISBN|978-0812218725}} *''Dead Hands: Fictions of Agency, Renaissance to Modern'' (Stanford UP, 1999) {{ISBN|978-0804733854}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box | title = Dean of Smith College | before = Marilyn Schuster | after = Joe O’Rourke (interim) | years = 2014–2018 }} {{s-end}} {{College of William & Mary presidents}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Katherine A}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:College of William & Mary faculty Category:Presidents of the College of William & Mary Category:Carleton College alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Smith College people Category:Bryn Mawr College faculty Category:Women heads of universities and colleges