Head's Announcement 2015

THE HEWITT SCHOOL

ANNOUNCING

TA R A C H R I S T I E K I N S E Y, P H . D .

HEAD OF SCHOOL ELECT C O M M E N C I N G J U LY

1, 2015

Dear Hewitt Community, It is my great privilege as President of the Board of Trustees to announce Tara Christie Kinsey, Ph.D. as Hewitt’s eighth Head of School effective July 1, 2015. Dr. Kinsey’s appointment comes at the end of an extensive and highly competitive ten-month search with our partner Educators’ Collaborative, LLC and led by our own Search Committee, chaired by parent Trustees Leslie Silver Geneen and Preeti Swani.

During the in-depth interview process, Tara’s energy and enthusiasm for our school and mission were evident to all; her passion for education and the empowerment of girls and young women was abundantly clear in her credentials and references. Her warm personality, infectious sense of humor, and clear compassion and dedication to helping girls and young women reach their full emotional, social, and academic potential made her a clear choice.

During these past five years, The Hewitt School has been deftly guided under the leadership of Joan Lonergan.

We will celebrate Joan’s distinguished tenure and thank her for all of her wonderful accomplishments later this spring, and we are confident that Tara will build upon the foundation laid by Joan and the Strategic Plan. The Hewitt School has selected a dynamic new leader who will also assert our emergence as a leading educational institution for girls.

Please join me in celebrating and welcoming Tara, her husband Matt, and their children: son, Sam (7), and daughter, Charlotte (5), who will be attending Hewitt. We are delighted that they are joining the Hewitt family, and we look forward to welcoming them into our community in the coming months.

Warm regards,

Juan Sabater President, Board of Trustees The Hewitt School

SEARCH COMMITTEE Chairs Leslie Silver Geneen, parent ’22

Preeti Swani, parent ’24 and ’21

Committee Members Colin Knudsen, parent ’12 Wendy Flink Levey, alumna Class of ’68, parent ’07 David Pearson, parent ’21

Juan Sabater, President, Board of Trustees, parent ’26, ’19 and ’13, ex officio Diane Spilker, parent ’18

TARA CHRISTIE KINSEY, PH.D. APPOINTED AS EIGHTH HEAD OF SCHOOL It is with great enthusiasm that The Hewitt School Board of Trustees announces Tara Christie Kinsey, Ph.D. as our next Head of School effective July 1, 2015. Dr. Kinsey’s unanimous appointment comes with an overwhelmingly strong community-wide endorsement that marks the end of a comprehensive ten-month search.

Dr. Kinsey was selected among an impressive cohort of more than 100 accomplished and highly experienced national candidates. As a finalist, and over the course of two days, Tara met extensively with all constituencies representing the entire school community: the Search Committee, Board of Trustees, Community Facilitators, Division Heads, key administrators, faculty and staff, parents, alumnae, and students.

TARA CHRISTIE KINSEY, P H .D. HEWITT ’ S EIGHTH HEAD OF SCHOOL PHOTO BY SAMEER KHAN

Regarding Dr. Kinsey’s appointment, Board of Trustees President Juan Sabater noted: “Beyond her impeccable credentials, it was very clear to the Board and our entire community that Tara possesses the skills and experience that are essential in leading a thriving independent girls’ school.

Her passion for women’s education and a forward-thinking, highly collaborative leadership style will guide Hewitt well in its pursuit of fulfilling the Strategic Plan.”

With over 17 years in education, Tara’s background is as comprehensive as it is impressive. After her graduation from Princeton with an A.B. in English, she received her Ph.D. in English from Emory University, and has a number of publications in her fields of research in Irish literature and First World War poetry. She started her teaching career at Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey, and has since taught at Emory University, Oxford University, Georgetown University, and Princeton University.

While at Princeton, in 2008, Tara joined the Office of Capital Giving as Associate Director and was appointed Senior Associate Director in 2011. During her tenure in the Office of Capital Giving, she successfully managed a team of alumni capital giving volunteers in New York City and partnered with faculty, senior administrators, and the president to solicit a number of significant gifts for Princeton’s $1.88 billion Aspire campaign.

Currently, Tara serves as Associate Dean in the Office of the Dean of the College and the Office of the Vice President for Campus Life. In this position, held since 2012, Dr. Kinsey is tasked with undertaking campus-wide initiatives to bridge and enrich student learning within and beyond the classroom. Her responsibilities include convening the senior staff meetings between the academic affairs and campus life offices, serving as the dean with front line responsibility for the management of academic and athletic affairs, establishing the Princeton Student Leadership Initiative, launching the Princeton Prospective Project, directing the Princeton Women’s Mentorship Program, and chairing the Advisory Committee on Women’s Leadership.

Regarding Tara’s leadership, Princeton University Executive Vice President Treby Williams notes: “Over the last nine years, I have had a front row seat on Tara’s work as an educator and leader. As a teacher, scholar, coach, fundraiser, dean in academic and student affairs, independent school trustee, and mentor to students, faculty and staff alike, Tara brings a breadth of skills and experiences rarely seen in one person. The range and depth of her experience have provided an extraordinary foundation for Tara to become a highly successful head of school. Upon this foundation, Tara has proven to be an excellent administrator – visionary, creative and with keen emotional intelligence – with an ability to rally the energies of the diverse constituents of a school community around its highest priorities.” continued...

Tara’s extended involvement with Princeton is robust and reflects considerable leadership and management skills among diverse and complex issues and initiatives. She served as a faculty advisor for Freshmen and Sophomores at Forbes Residential College and participated in the reviews of the LGBT Center, Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding, and the Women’s Center. She was a member of the search committees for the Executive Director for Career Services, the Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, and the Ford Family Director of Athletics. Her professional affiliations include membership on the Board of Trustees at The Pennington School in Pennington, New Jersey.

According to Hewitt Board of Trustee member and Search Committee Co-Chair Preeti Swani, “Tara’s leadership in providing meaningful student experiences and supportive environments at Princeton really stood out for us. Her background clearly indicated to us that she is an inspired leader with the initiative and willingness to foster a community where every girl is both challenged and nurtured. Overall, our entire community was moved by her deep and abiding commitment to empowering girls and young women to discover and realize their full potential.”

William Hill, former colleague, and English teacher/8th Grade Dean at the Collegiate School, lauded the appointment: “Hewitt is now the fortunate beneficiary of a leader who is, at once, sensitive, direct, honest, intelligent, and compassionate; a leader who is genuinely interested in and unflaggingly committed to all aspects of the community in which she works; a leader who possesses, in spades, warmth, curiosity, enthusiasm, a willingness to listen, and a ready sense of humor…I couldn’t be more pleased and excited for Hewitt.”

The Board of Trustees, charged with fiduciary leadership, has a profound love for this school. It is the Board’s feeling that Tara’s appointment is instrumental in continuing the strong forward momentum of the school expertly led over the past five years by Joan Lonergan, and looks forward to honoring Joan and thanking her for her exemplary leadership this coming spring. The Board also recognizes Tara’s passion and commitment for the advancement of girls’ education, and believes that her warm, engaging personality, coupled with a genuine enthusiasm for Hewitt, will mesh with the school’s close-knit community.

Leslie Silver Geneen, Hewitt Board of Trustee member and Search Committee Co-Chair, echoed this sentiment: “As parents in the search process, many of us were drawn to Tara’s clear understanding of the need to build a community where girls are supported in the pursuit of their goals and aspirations, whatever they may be. Among all the candidates, she had the keenest insight into how best to balance academic rigor with the challenges and stresses placed on girls’ education in the 21st century.”

Sincere thanks are due to Leslie Silver Geneen and Preeti Swani along with the other members of our Search Committee who devoted months of great care in order to ensure the successful outcome of this venture. Hewitt’s future is in remarkably capable hands. In the coming months, Joan, Tara, the Board of Trustees, and the school’s academic and administrative leaders will work together to ensure a smooth transition. We look forward to warmly welcoming Tara, her husband Matt, who is Associate Director for Planning and Administration in the Office of the Executive Vice President at Princeton University, and their children: son, Sam (7) and daughter, Charlotte (5), into the Hewitt family.

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