Letter to Parents

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 5.16.2012 |  5.7.2012

In this week's Parents' Letter, Dean of Faculty Kevin Mattingly provides an update on faculty at The Lawrenceville School.

Dear Lawrenceville Parents,

We have completed our hiring for next year and we remain fortunate to be able to attract and retain many of the best educators in the country. Hiring new faculty means we are saying good-bye to some of our current faculty, a circumstance we all feel ambivalent about as we wish them well in their new adventures and are saddened by their departure from our community.

Lawrenceville continues to be looked to by our educational peers as a source of school leaders. No fewer than six of our departing faculty — Peter Becker, Tommy Dillow, Jason Giffen, Gregg Maloberti, Ken Mills, and Kelley Nicholson-Flynn — will leave here to be leaders for other schools in various capacities. Other faculty leaving include Kyle Vanderhyde who will return home to Michigan to take over the family farm; Sandra Rabin and Sahoko Okabayashi, both retiring after significantly touching the lives of so many of our students during their 17-year careers; and, Kevin Smith who will be moving on to seek other opportunities in music education. In addition, congratulations are due to Devondra McMillan, who was awarded the Joukowsky Fellowship and will take a two-year leave to complete a graduate degree in Classics at the University of Georgia. One more set of good-byes will be for our six Teaching Fellows — Dani Baron, Erica Chesley Hunter Cuniff, Megan Danyliw, Mike Friedman, and Charles Wetherell — who are fledging the nest after two years of mentorship and we wish them well as they go on to teach and learn elsewhere. The new round of two-year Fellows are:

Kaushiki Dunusinghe (Math), B.A. in Mathematics, Bryn Mawr College
Anton Fleissner, (Math), B.A. in Mathematics, Princeton University
Meg Johnson (History), B.A. in Social Studies, Harvard University
Rebecca Nyquist (History), A.B. in Religious Studies, Princeton University
Belinda Sibanda (Science), B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Economics, Lafayette College
William Stone (English), B.A. in English, Yale University

It is important to note in this listing of faculty changes the loss last fall of one of our great ones, Catherine Boczkowski, who passed away on November 28, 2011. She served the school as a teacher, science department chair, dean of faculty, and mentor for 34 years, and inspired so many of us — teachers and students alike — with her passion for learning, unwavering belief in our individual capacities to achieve our best, and her undaunted courage in facing life’s challenges. She is sorely missed, but her legacy endures at Lawrenceville and beyond in so many ways.

What follows are brief descriptions of our new faculty for next year:

New Faculty for 2012-2013

Anna Andresian, Language Department: M.St. in Latin Language and Literature, University of Oxford, England; A.B. in Classics, Brown University, magna cum laude. Anna comes to us from Regis Jesuit School in Colorado and has published her own Latin text and online resources.

Clare Burchi, History Department: M.A. Political Science, Lehigh University; B.A. in Political Science. Clare currently teaches American History and World Cultures courses at the University Liggett School in Michigan, is head coach of varsity field hockey and lacrosse, and played collegiately.

Elizabeth Caylor, Science Department: M.S. in Marine Science, College of William and Mary; M.S. in Science Education, Indiana University; B.A. in Biology and Studio Art, University of Virginia. Beth has taught at both the collegiate and high school levels, and has published research in both mainstream scientific literature and education. She has been a part-time teacher in the science department this year.

John Clore, Science Department: M.Ed. in Mind, Brain & Education, Harvard University; B.A. in Molecular Biology, Princeton University. John most recently taught biology and physical science at the Gilman School in Maryland. He was the captain for the Princeton wrestling team, where he earned several team and NCAA awards.

Cindy Ehret, Admission Department: B.A. in International Studies and Russian, Dickinson College. Cindy returns to full-time status next year and will continue to be an integral part of our community in significant ways as an accomplished admission associate dean, coach, and student advisor.

Brian Jacobs, Language Department: Ph.D. in French, Princeton University; B.A. in French, Dartmouth College. Brian has eight years of collegiate teaching experience and has won several teaching and scholar awards in graduate school, including a two-year Fulbright in France.

Adam Jernigan, English Department: Ph.D. in Literature, University of Chicago; B.A. in Comparative Literature, Stanford University. Adam currently teaches writing at the University of Chicago Lab School and has 11 years experience teaching at the high school and collegiate level.

Norman Kim-Senior, Language Department: M.A. in Spanish, Middlebury College; B.A. in Spanish and Economics, Washington and Lee University. Norman comes to us from the Pomfret School in Connecticut, where he teaches all levels of Spanish, runs their digital language lab, heads a dorm, is head coach of the boys’ cross country, and advises several leadership and cultural awareness programs.

Melissa Kreppel, Mathematics Department: M.S. in Science Education, Buffalo State College; B.A. in Mathematics, Marywood University. Melissa is at the Buffalo Seminary, where she teaches all levels of math, including AP Calculus and AP Statistics. She is also head coach of the girls' cross country team and was a collegiate runner herself.

Kevin Lawrence, Admission Department: B.A. in Sociology, Northwestern University. Kevin returns to us after a year away. He has extensive experience in boarding school admissions and urban youth programs, and he will again assist in coaching our football and track programs. He was both a collegiate and professional football player.

Daniel O’Dea, History Department: M.A. in History, St. Patrick’s College, Ireland; B.A. in History, University of San Diego. Dan comes to us with 13 years of high school teaching and coaching experience, most recently at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut where he led the team to an undefeated season.

Margaret Ray, English Department: M.Ed. in Learning, Harvard University; B.A. in English, Middlebury College. Maggie has taught at Deerfield Academy and Pomfret School, coaches cross country, basketball, and track, and ran indoor and outdoor track at Middlebury.

Ilana Saxe, Science Department: M.Ed. in Biology, University of Massachusetts; B.A. in Biology, Colby College. Ilana comes to us from The American School in Switzerland, where she teaches biology, supervises a girls’ dorm, and is head volleyball coach.

Bernadette Teeley, English Department: M.A. of Arts in Education, University of Michigan; B.A. in English, University of Dayton, summa cum laude. Bernadette has experience as a high school English teacher, most recently was training for the 2012 Olympics with the U.S. Rowing Team, coached crew at all levels, and was an All-American and Rhodes Scholarship Finalist as an undergrad.

Best wishes for the remainder of the spring,

Kevin Mattingly, P'99 '01
Dean of Faculty