Karlene Burrell-McRae

Dean of the Undergraduate College Karlene Burrell-McRae works collaboratively with the president, senior officers, and faculty to provide leadership and promote the vision of a fully integrated student experience, combining the curricular and cocurricular dimensions of student life, illuminating the connection between students’ intellectual and personal development. Dean Burrell-McRae leads new and existing initiatives to foster a diverse and inclusive community.

Most recently, she was the Dean of the College at Colby College, focused on the elevation of student support through integrative advising, the expansion of initiatives to advance research, internship, and study-away opportunities, launched an Office of Civic Engagement and developed a new residential model blending an inclusive first-year housing experience with integrated and comprehensive programming. She also launched a new office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that has introduced restorative justice practices and partnered with faculty and staff to incorporate DEI principles in all aspects of college life.

Prior to Colby College, she was the associate dean of students and executive director of the Center for Identity + Inclusion at the University of Chicago. Previously, she served as the assistant dean of college and director of Black Cultural Center at Swarthmore College. Before working at Swarthmore, Dean Burrell-McRae spent 18 years at the University of Pennsylvania, where she held numerous positions with increasing responsibility within the Division of University Life, including her role as the inaugural director of Makuu, the university’s Black cultural center. A self-described community builder and collaborator, she earned a doctorate in higher education, a master’s in social work, and a master’s of science in education from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a 1994 alumna of Colby and majored in anthropology.