On February 20, 2018, William & Mary’s Board of Visitors unanimously elected Katherine A. Rowe as the 28th president of the university. A nationally recognized innovator in higher education, Rowe champions the liberal arts, entrepreneurship, and pathways to careers. She began on July 1, 2018. In November 2021, the Board unanimously approved an early extension of her contract, through June 2028.

Rowe oversaw the creation of William & Mary’s ambitious strategic plan, Vision 2026. An inclusive, multi-year planning process included crafting the university’s first-ever values statement. Built on four cornerstone initiatives — data, water, democracy, and careers — Vision 2026 advances the capacities needed for leadership in the 21st century. In fall 2023, William & Mary announced plans to establish a School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics. Rowe also secured a $100 million gift, the largest in the university’s history, from philanthropist Jane Batten to catalyze the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences. Consistent with Vision 2026’s goals, Rowe announced in 2022 a commitment to cover full tuition and fees for all undergraduate in-state Pell Grant recipients.

Under Rowe’s leadership, William & Mary has advanced access and affordability, holding tuition flat for five years, from 2019–2023. Her cross-university initiatives include a central Entrepreneurship Hub, a Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation, realization of William & Mary’s long-planned Memorial to the Enslaved, a Veteran to Executive Transition program and an Institute for Integrative Conservation. William & Mary successfully closed its For the Bold campaign in June 2020, raising just over $1 billion.

Rowe serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Virginia Business and Higher Education Council Board, RVA757 Connects, the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission and the GoVA Region 5 Council. She was named to the Virginia Business Virginia 500 Power List in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. In 2020, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education named Rowe one of the top 35 women in higher education.

Previously, Rowe served as provost and dean of faculty at Smith College in Massachusetts. Earlier in her career, Rowe co-founded and served as the CEO of Luminary Digital Media, which developed educational apps for Shakespeare’s plays.

Rowe holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and a master’s and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. She has completed graduate work in Cinema and Media Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Rowe has published three books and has editing credits in the acclaimed Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare. She is a past president of the Shakespeare Association of America.

Rowe spent more than a decade coaching Ultimate Frisbee. She was a World Ultimate Club Finalist and a Women’s Nationals Finalist. She co-founded the nonprofit Boston Ultimate Disc Alliance and the Carleton College women’s Ultimate team. Rowe shares her love of Ultimate with her spouse, Bruce Jacobson, William & Mary’s First Gentleman. They have two adult children, Daniel and Beah.