Dr. MacLeod Walls has a strong history of success. Having served as the president of William Jewell College since 2016, she significantly strengthened the college’s reputation through major fundraising initiatives, enrollment growth, and strategic branding and marketing efforts. Additionally, she led the College with a warm and engaging presence and built a positive morale and community culture on campus.

Under her leadership, William Jewell raised more philanthropic support than ever before. In addition, Dr. MacLeod Walls worked closely with the board, cabinet, and larger community to develop a new brand identity, mission statement, strategic plan, and enrollment management strategy to better engage new students and external partners.

She developed meaningful partnerships with an array of organizations—including with American Public Square at Jewell, a nonprofit that fosters civil discourse between and among non-like-minded people—and serves on the boards of the Kansas City Area Chamber of Commerce, the Liberty Economic Development Council, the KC Rising Steering Committee, and the Keystone Community Corporation overseeing Kansas City’s burgeoning Innovation Hub.

Prior to serving as president at William Jewell, Dr. MacLeod Walls served in numerous academic and senior leadership roles at Nebraska Wesleyan University and Bryan College of Health Sciences in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Dr. MacLeod Walls earned her Ph.D. in English Literature and Classical Rhetoric from TCU and her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History from Hiram College, where she earned Phi Beta Kappa. Dr. MacLeod Walls is an alumna of the Harvard New Presidents Program, the Harvard Management and Leadership Program, the ACE Women in Leadership Program, and the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy Program. She currently serves on the board of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) and is active in higher education leadership and advocacy.

Dr. MacLeod Walls is also the author of numerous refereed books and articles on British modernism and its intersections with classical rhetoric and Women’s Studies.  Her collection of the BBC Talks of E.M. Forster, co-edited with Drs. Mary Lago and Linda Hughes (University of Missouri Press), is a groundbreaking study of primary documents of rhetorical import that reveal complex and surprising reactions from literary and cultural figures navigating Britain’s struggle to defeat the Nazis during the Second World War.