Dr. Erin McNamara Horvat

A member of the senior leadership at Drexel University, Dr. Erin McNamara Horvat serves as Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement overseeing policy, procedures, and professional development for the entire faculty lifecycle across all schools and colleges.  Dr. Horvat joined the Provost's office at Drexel in 2016 following a 20-year career in higher education as a professor of Urban Education at Temple University where she also held several administrative posts over the years including Program Coordinator, Assistant Dean for Research and Development, and Department Chair.  

An ethnographer and sociologist of education, her research agenda explored how race and class shaped access throughout the educational pipeline, focusing especially on the role of social and cultural capital in shaping families' interactions with schools, students' college experiences, college access, and high school dropout and reentry.  She has been deeply committed to working with out-of-school youth through her support of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School as a longtime board member and four-year board chair.  

A native Californian and proud Philadelphian, Dr. Horvat earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.  She holds an MA and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Los Angeles.  She has worshipped at St. Martin-in-the-Fields for over 20 years, raising her two young adult daughters in the church. She served one term on the Vestry at St. Martins and taught Sunday School to the youngest parishioners for over 10 years. Erin began her service to the Episcopal church as an acolyte at her childhood parish All Saints-by-the-Sea in Santa Barbara, California. She is an avid oarswoman and enjoys the outdoors, gardening, and all aspects of food, especially cooking and eating at home with her husband and extended family.