Stephen C. Farrell Assistant H ea dmaster an d Dean o f Facu lty
The Dean of Faculty’s Office continued to focus on a number of major initiatives to improve faculty life at Choate during 2012. We have worked hard on improving the faculty in two areas: ensuring an appropriate age distribution on the faculty, as retirements have been occurring later and later, and increasing the faculty of color to ensure that the faculty more closely reflects the diversity of the student body. As we have had some attrition of our younger faculty of color in recent years, we were pleased with the addition of a Nigerian, two African-Americans, and an Asian-American to our ranks this year, moving us decidedly in the right direction. At Convocation in September, we awarded two faculty chairs for distinguished service. The Richard ’22 and Lenore Earhart Chair was awarded to English teacher John S. Cobb, and the Alan H. and Margaret L. Kempner Chair to English teacher Douglas S. James. And at a December School meeting, the Ralph Kanders Chair for Distinguished Service in Residential Life went to mathematics teacher and Edsall adviser John S. Marrinan. Choate currently has 22 endowed chairs named either for the donor or a former member of the faculty. The recipients receive a chair and a modest stipend. After a two-year hiatus of our Sabbatical Program, we resumed the program last year. Sabbaticals now require a professional development component, and the number has been increased annually from 10 to 15. A new summer sabbatical option with an increased stipend was introduced making it potentially less expensive for the School and less disruptive to student life. The Trustee Task Force on Interscholastic Athletics recently completed a comprehensive report examining the scope of our athletics offerings, coaching staff, facilities, equipment, and the definition of athletic “success.” One of the recommendations from the report, which we are implementing incrementally, is to increase support for the varsity interscholastic coaches of our signature sports. We are currently witnessing increased success in recruiting, in competitions with other schools, and in college results for athletes at the best schools (the 2012 Yale varsity
“We are currently witnessing increased success in recruiting, in competitions with other schools, and in college results for athletes at the best schools.” –Stephen C. Farrell
football team alone has seven former Choate players!). We are also dealing with specialization in interscholastic sports, and we continue to encourage broad participation in our athletic program despite the increased emphasis on yearround play. In spite of our vigilance in assessing our campus security practices, the recent shootings in Newtown, Conn., have proven that schools are not necessarily safe havens. Therefore, we have taken extra measures to ensure a safer campus environment. Last year our office worked with the Headmaster to implement a no-firearms policy, ensuring that we are a firearms-free campus as of September 1, 2013. Finally, under the direction of Trent Nutting, Choate’s Summer Programs have been strengthened: enrollment is at an all-time high; Choate faculty are participating in record numbers; we have a number of new curricular offerings; and we have successfully recruited a number of students for the regular school year. Summer Programs not only turns a handsome profit for the School’s bottom line, but has also ensured a quality educational experience for participants.