Byron P. McCrae, Ph.D., is the Vice President for Student Affairs at Maryland Institute College of Art.

He previously served as Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students at Davidson College, where he strengthened and expanded holistic student well-being resources and collaborated with faculty and academic leaders on several initiatives to promote student engagement and success. He also co-chaired institutional strategic planning at Davidson and had leadership roles in several campus traditions and celebrations.

Dr. McCrae served in chief student affairs officer roles at Hampshire College in Massachusetts and at Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania and was Associative Vice President for Student at San Francisco Art Institute in California. As a seasoned leader in higher education, he been an invited guest on a variety of panels, including The Chronicle of Higher Education's 2024 live virtual forum on new student orientation and student success and a closing plenary for the 2021 Civic Learning & Democratic Engagement conference cosponsored by the American Association of State Colleges & Universities and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

He authored a chapter for Small and mighty: Student affairs at small colleges and universities, published in 2023 and co-authored journal articles published in New Directions for Institutional Research and Journal of American College Health. He has presented on student well-being and resilience and data driven collaboration at national and international conferences. Dr. McCrae has also received two Fulbright International Education Administrator Awards, to France and to Germany.

He earned a bachelor's degree in communications arts from Salisbury University. He holds a a master's in higher education from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in educational leadership, administration, and policy from Fordham University.