Karlyn Crowley has been named the nineteenth president of Kalamazoo College in Michigan. She is slated to begin her presidency on July 1.
According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, Kalamazoo College enrolls about 1,200 undergraduate students. Women represent about 55 percent of the liberal arts college’s student population.
For the past six years, Dr. Crowley has served as provost at Ohio Wesleyan University. Before that role, she spent 18 years on the faculty of St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. She held several positions throughout her long tenure, including interim assistant vice president for academic affairs, founding director of the Cassandra Voss Center, and professor of English and women’s and gender studies.
“Kalamazoo College represents what the liberal arts must be right now — rigorous, globally engaged, and deeply connected to the lives students want to lead,” said Dr. Crowley. “I am drawn to the K-Plan as a powerful foundation, and I look forward to working with the campus community to build on its strengths in ways that deepen student opportunity, strengthen outcomes, and position K as a national leader in liberal arts education. This is a college with both a remarkable legacy and extraordinary potential.”
Dr. Crowley received her bachelor’s degree in English and women’s studies from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana. She earned her master’s degree and Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia.


