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Everyone at Rollins has a go-to story about Grant and Peg Cornwell. Spend enough time on campus—beyond that obligatory first sighting of a strikingly tall, silver-haired man astride his royal-blue Vespa—and you become well-versed on the finer points of C-Store cookies, Barker House soirees, and a large, pizza-snatching Portuguese water dog named Sailor.

Backyard dance parties. Kitchen baking lessons. Guest lectures and overseas trips. Religious-like attendance at extracurricular activities. It’s a wonder the College never offered a presidential-themed Immersion.

On second thought, maybe there wasn’t a need. Everyone would have aced that course. After all, life at Rollins the past 10 years meant life with the Cornwells. A family atmosphere flourished, and so too did the memories.

In listening to stories from those across campus, one thing is for certain: Their lives and Rollins College are better because Grant and Peg gave so fully of their minds and hearts.

A decade ago, in a crowded field of qualified candidates, Grant found a way to stand out. His secret? It wasn’t just about him.

Allan Keen ’70 ’71MBA ’10H (former board chair): During the search process, one of the things that got everyone’s attention was when Grant told us like 3,800 people had visited his home at Wooster. That almost sounded too good to be true. … Well, he ended up hosting 4,000 his first year at Rollins!

Joseph Pool ’26 (SGA president): My first time speaking with President Cornwell, and many of my interactions with him since then, have been at Barker House, sharing dinner and discussion.

Keen: The second thing about hiring Grant was the idea that Peg was an integral part of the presidency and a real asset to go with him.

Lorrie Kyle ’70 (executive director, office of the president): In an interview shortly after becoming Rollins’ president, Grant said that although he couldn’t define “the magic or chemistry,” he and Peg were much more effective together than the sum of their individual parts.

Julie Garner (women’s golf coach): There are no more passionate narrators of the Rollins story than Grant and Peg. They’ve always been enthusiastic cheerleaders for Rollins from the very beginning—the heart and soul of the College.

Before Grant became “Grant!” he had to win some people over. Earning the trust of faculty meant establishing a culture “grounded in mutual respect.”

Sam Stark ’91 (former VP of communications and external relations): Of all the accomplishments Grant made as president, first and foremost, he created a campus culture that has become one of the College’s greatest strengths.

Keen: His first job was to reinvigorate the faculty and get them back to where they were comfortable and happy.

Anne Murdaugh (associate professor of physics and faculty president): Early on, there was a vote in the faculty that didn’t go the way Grant wanted. At the end, he walked up to the faculty leaders and said, “Well, that’s shared governance!” That was so appreciated. Even though he didn’t agree with the outcome, he was genuinely respectful and validated the faculty’s feelings. It was a sense of, “OK, let’s go back to the drawing board and rework this.”

Jana Mathews (professor of English): Grant will be forever beloved at Rollins because while he takes the work of the College seriously, he never takes himself too seriously. During my two-year tenure as CLA faculty president, I always appreciated his sense of humor.

Donna Lee (VP of student affairs): In one especially memorable email, Grant wrote, “Often your stubbornness is charming. Not so this time.” I laughed out loud when I read it.

Mathews: With each dad joke and self-effacing aside, Grant proved the veracity of U.S. Weekly’s claim that stars really are just like us.

Lee: We had our moments—spirited, honest, direct, but always grounded in mutual respect and a deep love for this place and our work. That tension? That push and pull? It made the work better.

Stark: Grant has a unique ability to compartmentalize issues by importance, and when needed, he will decide quickly. But even when a person or group desperately wants a decision made, Grant has an internal process that he trusts, and there is no timeline. Do not confuse this with indecision. I suspect it’s tied to his education in and passion for philosophy and the pursuit of truth, not speed.

Murdaugh: In faculty leadership meetings, we’d always take a minute to debate things like, “Is time a social construct or something tangible?”

Susan Singer (president, St. Olaf College; former VP of academic affairs and provost, Rollins): I can point to a single inflection point in the arc of my career when I committed to a path in academic leadership. During my interview process, Grant shared that everyone on his team had to see the humanity in everyone, regardless of the situation. That was the moment I was sold on his approach and vision.

Lee: I had left Rollins. I did not think I would return. But he saw something, extended the invitation, and opened the door. Because of him, I came home.

Ellie Rushing ’19 (reporter, The Philadelphia Inquirer; former editor-in-chief, The Sandspur): Our reporting, like all good journalism, was not always what the College wanted splashed in print, but regardless, we could sit together and talk through the logistics and challenges of a story, and I always left feeling supported, understood, and with a deeper understanding of an issue than when I walked in.

Micki Meyer (Lord Family assistant VP of student affairs for engagement): One of my favorite memories with Grant was on the dedication day for Kathleen W. Rollins Hall. We were chatting before the ceremony while sitting at the top of the gathering stairs. After three years of dreaming, planning, and creating a plan to deepen student engagement with the mission, we took a collective breath and took it all in with hearts filled with gratitude and excitement for the future. “We did it!” he said. I’ll never forget that.

Eltavious Johnson ’26 (SGA vice president): Here’s how President Cornwell ended every SGA conversation with me and Joseph: “Thank you for your service. Love you, guys. Have a great day.” … You just automatically go, “Love you too!” That’s really a special thing to hear from a president.

Barbara Alfond ’68 (honorary trustee and namesake of The Alfond Inn): I have the deepest admiration for the way Peg gave agency, respect, and visibility to the catering staff. She made them feel seen, proud of what they achieve, and proud of being part of Rollins. Peg also brought spouses and parents of trustees deeper into the intellectual life of the campus … and did you know she has her very own fan-girl club of young women she’s taken under her wing?

Arabella Lilleslatten ’25 (one of four roommates who became Peg’s “Cookie Gals”): I wanted to interview Peg for The Sandspur to finally uncover the elusive cookie recipe that seemed to follow every mention of her name. Then she sent me this email: “How about I bring over all the ingredients and you, your roommates, and I make Peg’s cookies?” We were so excited. I’m pretty sure we spent three hours cleaning our Lakeside apartment that day.

Alfond: The relationships that blossomed over a cookie have been one of the most important parts of these young women’s lives.

Lilleslatten: We started a group chat called “Cookie Gals” and met up several times each semester, not just to bake, but mostly to catch up on life. These sweet conversations often happened while we baked spicy molasses cookies, with Peg slipping little pieces of butter to Sailor—his favorite treat—or while we made one of her favorite desserts, glazed lemon cake. [At the end of each month, Peg would sell her cookies at the C-Store, with proceeds benefiting the Student Emergency Fund.]

Alfond: Peg was an amazing ambassador. When she served as chair of Second Harvest Food Bank—a program she cared about personally and gave her time to not as the partner of the president of Rollins—she made it her business to know every single worker by name and his or her history.

Vivianne Nieves ’20 (on attending a leadership Immersion in Uganda and Rwanda with the Cornwells): I’ll never forget how they were so willing to learn about others by walking in their shoes. I saw them confronted with new concepts and dynamics. They became like one of the students … vulnerable and stepping out into the unknown.

Lilleslatten: Grant and Peg have truly been like campus parents—not just to us, but to everyone.

Johnson: When I played piano on stage, I knew I could look in the audience and see Grant and Peg.

Garner: I call them my closers. Whenever we had a prospective student-athlete come to campus, the first thing I’d do was reach out to Grant and Peg to see if they could meet the student and tell them about Rollins. I was pretty much undefeated.

Together, the Cornwells were always the life of the party—and everyone was invited.

Murdaugh: Grant was so supportive of his faculty, dare I say indulgent. At the annual holiday party, he let us put a dance floor in his backyard to liven things up and really connect. It was great seeing Grant and Peg dance.

Johnson: In SGA, we decided to do a presidential roast on the Lip Sync stage. We thought it was a long shot because sometimes those things can go south, but he agreed. We had a lot of jokes about Fox Day and Peg’s cookies and President Cornwell playing basketball—all the things that make him zingy. It was such a great event that he invited us to reprise the roast at his presidential dinner.

Garner: Our golf team came over for a pizza party one time, and one of the players put the box of pizza on a chair. Sailor’s usually so laid-back, but in less than a second he grabbed a whole piece of pizza and inhaled it. I thought, this is how my career at Rollins is going to end. I’ve poisoned the president’s dog. But he turned out OK.

Kyle: The glue of the Cornwells’ special relationship is their ever-present sense of humor. At a recent dinner for trustees, Grant spoke of the thousands of guests he and Peg had welcomed to Barker House. Peg’s riposte: “Have they all left?”

Johnson: There always came a time when it was like, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”

Lilleslatten: To be loved is to be seen—and Grant and Peg saw every student. I’ll miss watching them lead Rollins with so much heart, but I know their love for this community runs deep. They’ll always be here in some way.

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