Education
PhD English and American Literature, Stanford University
MSc (Oxon.) Comparative Education, University of Oxford || Thesis on access at University of the Western Cape
BA Hons. (First Class) English Language and Literature, University of Oxford
BA English, College of Saint Benedict || Saint John's University
Biography
Laura McGrane is Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives at Haverford College and co-chair of the collegewide Strategic Planning implementation committee (IC2030). In addition to co-writing the Strategic Plan for 2030, she currently oversees institutional grants for the academic program, external reviews, enrollment studies across the disciplines, and collegewide initiatives in community engagement and ethical inquiry.
She was a 2021-22 ACE Fellow (American Council on Education) based in the Office of the President at William & Mary where she worked on strategic initiatives and fellowships. She served as Rhodes Secretary for District 4 for over a decade; and selector on numerous Rhodes Scholarship selection committees nationally for 25 years. Recent work with the Rhodes Trust includes leading international sessions on micro-bias in selection committees and reimagining an inclusive Rhodes House.
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.
Over the past decade, she has served as founding Director of Visual Culture Arts and Media (VCAM), Director of the Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanities, and Chair of English at Haverford College. She spearheaded the creation and design of VCAM, overseeing its construction, new curricular programming, and grant funding with the Mellon Foundation and other funders in arts & sciences, technology, and community practice. As Director of the Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanities, she oversaw the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery and the Mellon Creative Residencies program, postdoctoral fellows in the faculty seminar program, and national workshops in collaboration with over a dozen liberal arts colleges around digital humanities and humanities labs.
She has written or served as Primary Investigator for several significant grants, including the Mellon Philadelphia Area Creative Collaboratives program and the Mellon Visual Studies interdisciplinary minor project, as well as co-designing and overseeing the Creative Arts and Fabrication + Technology (CRAFT) initiative, the Summer Doculab program, HIP (Haverford Innovations Programming), and the Maker Arts Summer Design Collaborative. She also leads workshops and faculty seminars on issues of technology, justice, and environmental sustainability.