Grant Cornwell

Grant Cornwell is an American professor and university administrator and the 15th president of Rollins College. Cornwell took office as president of Rollins College in July 2015, following eight years as president of the College of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio. Previously, he was vice president and professor of Philosophy at St. Lawrence University, in Canton, New York. Founded in 1866, Wooster is a four-year liberal arts college, known for its Independent Study program which pairs every senior with a faculty advisor in the creation of a unique scholarly product.

Cornwell assumed office on July 1, 2007, succeeding R. Stanton Hales, who retired. Cornwell received his B.A. in Philosophy and Biology from St. Lawrence University. He received his Masters and Ph. D., also in Philosophy, from the University of Chicago.

Prior to coming to Wooster, Cornwell served as vice president of the university and dean of academic affairs at St. Lawrence University from 2002 to 2007. As chief academic officer, he had management responsibility for the university’s 46 academic departments and interdisciplinary programs, the university libraries and gallery, intercollegiate athletics, and information technology.

Cornwell joined the St. Lawrence faculty as an instructor in philosophy in 1986. He served as associate dean of the first year from 1992 to 1997, and chair of the philosophy department from 1998 to 2002.

Cornwell served on the national advisory board of Liberal Education and Global Citizenship: The Arts of Democracy, a three-year faculty and curriculum development initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, from 2001 to 2004. He also served as a fellow of the National Learning Communities Project, a leadership group convened by the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education, from 2000 to 2004. Currently, Cornwell serves on the advisory board for the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education and is a member of the SAGE Group, formed as a collective of national educational leaders by the Association of American Colleges and Universities to work with institutions to realign practices toward more intentional undergraduate education.

Cornwell’s scholarship and teaching lie in the areas of human rights, globalization, and critical race theory. Cornwell is co-editor of two books: Global Multiculturalism: Comparative Perspectives on Ethnicity, Race, and Nation and Democratic Education in an Age of Difference: Redefining Citizenship in Higher Education. He has authored more than two dozen scholarly articles or chapters in edited volumes, as well as a CD-ROM on the history of slavery and the sugar industry in St. Kitts.