Rob Killion is serving his sixth year as Executive Director of the Common Application, Inc, a 35-year old membership association of nearly 500 colleges and universities—including Grinnell—in Washington, DC. The organization's staff of 25 manages an online application service that allows students to complete a single college admission application and forward it to any participating college—nearly 2,000,000 were submitted last year alone (3,000 to Grinnell). He splits his time between Philadelphia, where his partner is, and Phoenix, where much of his family lives.
Killion formerly served as Director of Admission at Haverford College, Associate Dean of Admission at Amherst College, and Assistant Director of Admission at Colorado College. Prior to that, he worked in Eastern Europe for the International Center for Community Journalism. He matriculated at Grinnell (’90) and at the University of Iowa College of Law (’93, ’09).
Killion is a native Iowan (JB Grinnell Scholar) and first-generation college student who learned about Grinnell from his grandparents. Donald “Mose Killion, was the long-time manager of “the Cage” (the equipment room in the athletic center) for many years, and June Killion served as a “maid” in Mears and Grinnell House on and off for two decades. They were leaders in the unionization of Grinnell's hourly workers during the 1970’s. They loved "the college kids" and were happy, if a little shocked, when their grandson became one of them. Killion is the proud owner of the chair and plaque his grandfather received at halftime of the basketball game the day he retired in 1980.
