Academics
Faculty
Lawrenceville teachers cultivate life of the mind by example as well as by instruction. More than 90 percent of our faculty hold advanced degrees, and many make direct contributions to their disciplines of teaching as published scholars, scientific researchers, textbook authors, novelists and playwrights, professional musicians and artists, Advanced Placement exam developers, and leading innovators in education.
Four are faculty in professional development programs at the collegiate level (Middlebury College, Rutgers University, and Columbia University) and in any given year close to a dozen of our teachers present their work at regional and national conferences. The School encourages our faculty to keep current in their fields and improve their courses; this past summer, half of our faculty received funding for conference attendance, advanced study, and course design work in the summer.
These gifted teachers drive and continually improve a remarkably rich secondary school curriculum. All our second form students take a Humanities course that allows them to explore the essential components of human cultures through the disciplines of English, history, art, philosophy, and religion. For example, we give students a chance to do real science, with help from professional scientists and researchers — and under the guidance of our full-time director of student research — through specially designed courses, off-campus internships, and independent studies. In addition, our Hutchins Scholars Program each summer provides ten of our best science students an intensive set of research experiences in our state-of-the-art labs and our 700 acre campus made up of fields, woods, and streams. Lawrenceville is also setting the standard for curricular innovation, one example being our calculus-based probability and statistics course, demonstrating a commitment to applying math in real world contexts.
The Lawrenceville faculty is augmented by the scholars, scientists, artists, and writers who inhabit the greater Princeton region—one of the most intellectually fertile places in the country. These “adjunct” faculty come to campus as performers, lecturers, and classroom guests. Lawrenceville students may also work with them in their own institutions, whether at Princeton University, a local social service organization, or a major pharmaceutical company.
With so many educational avenues to explore, and so many outstanding choices, students need close guidance, which is why academic advising at Lawrenceville is a carefully coordinated endeavor. Each student is assigned an academic advisor, who works closely with him or her, the student’s Housemaster, and the academic department to create an individualized course of study.
In Loco Parentis
Leaving home to go to high school is an enormous step, for students and their families. As a residential school, Lawrenceville offers opportunities for personal growth that simply don’t exist at schools that empty out after the last class bell rings. Lawrenceville faculty and administrators take very seriously their duty to make sure those after-class experiences are healthful, productive, enjoyable and safe.
Lawrenceville housemasters are trained to guide their charges in making sound choices about sleep, nutrition, time management, exercise and avoiding unhealthy substances. Seminars for residential faculty address eating disorders, adolescent rites of passage, warning signals of and responses to depression, and issues of adolescent sexuality. Students are encouraged to avail themselves of workshops on everything from nutritional information for vegetarians to body image and personal identity.
Finally, students are guided and supported by their peers through the schools prefect program. Prefects are selected by Housemasters in their Fourth Form year to spend their Fifth Form year living in Circle, Crescent, and Lower School Houses as senior prefects. Prefects help new students adjust to Lawrenceville, operated in support of House Councils, and work closely with Housemasters in the governance of the residential Houses.
Through House and Harkness, Lawrenceville challenges a diverse community of promising young people to lead lives of learning, integrity, and high purpose. Our mission is to inspire the best in each to seek the best for all.