Announcing Lafayette’s next Provost

Dear Colleagues and Students,

I am excited to share with you the news that Laura McGrane will be joining Lafayette as Provost and Professor of English. Laura brings to the role more than 20 years of deep academic and administrative leadership experience, having served as a professor, department chair, program and center director, associate provost, and co-chair of strategic planning implementation. Laura comes to us following a national search that attracted outstanding candidates from across the country. She will officially join the College on July 1, 2024.

Across her career, Laura has earned a reputation as an inspirational leader dedicated to creating inclusive learning and working environments for students, faculty, and staff. And her experience is extensive.

Since 2021, Laura has served as the Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives at Haverford College. In this role, she led successful college-wide strategic planning and multidisciplinary initiatives, while also overseeing a number of institutional grants and enrollment studies. Since 2002, Laura has been a faculty member in Haverford’s English department, serving as chair of the department from 2015-18. Her teaching and scholarship explore print culture, digital media, and the history of the book. Her work in liberal arts as both disciplinary and interdisciplinary practice explores alliances between a rich arts & sciences curriculum, experiential opportunities, and hands-on learning.

From 2014-21, Laura served as the founding director of Haverford’s Visual Culture Arts and Media, a creative hub for students, faculty, staff, and the wider Haverford community. From 2012-15, she served as the Koshland Director of Haverford’s Hurford Center for the Arts & Humanities.

Laura gained additional administrative experience working in the Office of the President at William & Mary as a Fellow of the American Council on Education throughout the 2021-22 academic year. While at William & Mary, she focused on inclusive and shared college governance, fellowships, and university-wide strategic planning. 

Active in service to higher education on a national level, from 2012-23, Laura served as Rhodes Secretary for District 4 of the Rhodes Trust and from 2010-17 as co-founder of The Trico Digital Humanities Initiative. In addition, she has chaired and served on several reviews of English departments at highly selective institutions, as a reviewer or evaluator for various institutions and publications, and on the advisory board of several different foundations. 

Laura earned her B.A. in English and American literature from the College of Saint Benedict, as well as a B.A. in English language and literature and the M.S. in comparative/international education from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She earned her Ph.D. in English and American literature from Stanford University. 

More than her experience, though, Laura is an excellent listener, communicator, and leader at this pivotal moment in the history of our College. She is deeply thoughtful and collaborative, and understands the importance of shared governance as a guiding principle. Her intelligence, expertise, and vision will be an asset to the academic division, our senior leadership team, and our entire Lafayette community. 

I extend my sincere gratitude to the members of our search committee for their diligent efforts on this comprehensive search: elected faculty members Mary Armstrong, Nestor Gil, Joaquin Gomez-Minambres, Robert Kurt, and Mary Roth; as well as appointed representatives Tracie Addy, Thania Hernandez ‘25, Amy Klotz, Trustee Chris McCumber ’89, Brandon Morris, Angela Perkins, and Nicole Eramo.

We are excited to welcome Laura and her family to our Lafayette family.

To great things ahead,

President Nicole Hurd