Center for Career Exploration

Rachel Edwards Harvith serves as the inaugural Assistant Dean for Careers in Arts and Media. She provides industry-specific insight and creates programming and partnerships to support students exploring careers in arts and media. Prior to Brown, Rachel was the inaugural Director of the Arts, Media, and Communications Career Community within Grinnell College's Center for Careers, Life, and Service. Over her six-year tenure at Grinnell, Rachel developed partnerships and programs with campus stakeholders and alums; created industry-specific career resources; advised students and recent alums; and promoted the specialized professional needs of students in the arts and media.

Outside of her work in higher education, Rachel is a theatre artist with a specialty in new play development. She worked for 11 years in Chicago as a freelance director and dramaturg, co-founded Mortar Theatre Company, and served as the Associate Artistic Director of Chicago Dramatists. She has had the pleasure of helping over a hundred playwrights, ranging from Samuel D. Hunter to Rohina Malik to Dana Lynn Formby, develop their work. Onstage she loves venturing outside realism to reveal deeper human truths. Offstage she loves coaching students, inspiring them to transform their academic, creative, and civic interests into concrete goals with action steps. Rachel received an MFA in Directing from the University of Iowa and a BA in Theatre from Grinnell College.