Bernadette Teeley Appointed Lawrenceville School Dean of Academics

The Lawrenceville School has appointed Bernadette Teeley, who currently serves as chair of the English Department, as its next Dean of Academics effective July 1, 2023. In this role, Teeley will oversee all aspects of academic life, balancing respect for tried-and-true practices while nurturing a climate of pedagogic and curricular innovation that ensures an exceptionally engaging, highly challenging, developmentally appropriate learning environment for Lawrenceville students.

 

“Teeley is a strategic thinker who will use data to define issues and solutions that will reinforce our Harkness teaching culture, experiential learning, cultural competency, cutting-edge teaching technologies, and ethical decision making,” said Emilie Kosoff, Assistant Head of School and Dean of Faculty.

 

In her role, Teeley will continue to enhance the Lawrenceville experience for students and faculty. She will partner closely with Dean Kosoff to ensure that a Lawrenceville education meets the very highest standard, by any measure, and that the pedagogy in Lawrenceville classrooms and the content of the course offerings remains forward-thinking and directly relevant to the world that our students navigate.

 

Since her arrival at Lawrenceville in 2012, Teeley has been a leader of significance as chair of the English Department, executive director of Lawrenceville Summer Scholars, Carter Head of House, and head coach of the girls’ rowing team. In each of these roles, she has created learning environments that simultaneously challenge and support students as they build resilience and empathy, and grow as thinkers and problem solvers.

 

 

Teeley holds the Oscar H. McPherson ’01 Distinguished Teaching Chair and from 2015-18, held the Rawleigh Warner ’09 Junior Faculty Chair. In 2022, she was named a Salzburg Global Fellow for her ongoing research and international policy recommendations in the areas of transforming education systems to meet global challenges, socio-emotional learning, literacy, service learning, youth forums, global project networks, faculty wellbeing, and disparities in educational attainment in the U.S. education system. She earned a master’s degree in higher and post-secondary education policy from the University of Michigan and holds a bachelor of arts degree in English with a secondary education teaching certification from the University of Dayton.

 

“As a student-centered educator who understands the daily challenges of working with teens at this moment in our society, I’m inspired to take this step in service to the teaching faculty and students,” Teeley said. “I look forward to working with and supporting my colleagues to ensure that each of our students finds a pathway of success through Lawrenceville.”