Grant Cornwell

president, rollins college  

Orlando, Florida | PathNorth member since 2022

Grant Cornwell was named Rollins’ 15th president following eight years as president of The College of Wooster, in Wooster, Ohio, where he championed initiatives in diversity and global engagement, collaborative research, and experiential learning. Prior to his Wooster presidency, Cornwell served as vice president of the university and dean of academic affairs at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, for five years. For the previous 16 years, he was a member and chair of St. Lawrence’s philosophy department and dean of St. Lawrence’s hallmark First-Year Program. The curiosity and exploration at the core of liberal learning remain driving forces in his approach to higher education.

Cornwell is nationally recognized for his work in defining liberal learning in a global environment and continues to write regularly about multiculturalism, freedom, diversity, and global citizenship. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) and chairs the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) Presidents’ Trust. He is also a member of the executive committee of Florida Campus Compact. He has served on the boards of AAC&U and Teach for America, the Council on Foreign Relations’ Global Literacy Advisory Board, the American Council on Education’s Commission on International Initiatives and the national advisory panel for the Association of Governing Boards’ project on Faculty and Institutional Governance. While at The College of Wooster, he chaired the Great Lakes Colleges Association's board of directors and served as president of the North Coast Athletic Conference (Division III). He is a co-author of “An Education for the Twenty-First Century: Stewardship of the Global Commons,” which appeared in AAC&U’s Liberal Education, among other publications.

Cornwell holds bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and biology from St. Lawrence University and master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy from the University of Chicago.

In addition to holding the George D. and Harriet W. Cornell Chair of Distinguished Presidential Leadership, Cornwell is a member of the Rollins faculty, serving as a professor of philosophy.

Cornwell is an avid sailor, basketball player, and golfer. He and his wife, Peg, have two sons, Kelsey and Tosh, and Sailor, their dog.

peg Cornwell

Peg Cornwell earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from St. Lawrence University. She worked as a commercial loan officer in New York and Chicago, and then completed a master’s degree in counseling and human development. At St. Lawrence she was the director of career services and their Student Leadership Academy. During her husband’s presidency of The College of Wooster, she established the Wooster Parents Leadership Council. Since the Cornwells’ arrival at Rollins College in August 2015, Peg has become engaged with the campus and local communities. She is on the boards of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida WMFE, the local public radio station, and the Winter Park Day Nursery.  She is also a member of the Government Relations Committee of the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce. Peg and her husband have two grown sons, Tosh and Kelsey; a cat, Piper; and a dog, Sailor.