AROUND THE QUADS | OF NOTE | FACULTY & STAFF
Five faculty members were honored for 20 years of service to the school at the Community Honors Banquet in June. They were mathematics teacher Andrew Bartlett, English teacher Berrie Moos, history teacher and archivist Karen Parsons, librarian Gail Ryan, and philosophy, psychology, and religion teacher David Newell. History teacher, varsity coach, and dorm head Elizabeth Leyden received the Austin Wicke Prize at this spring’s Community Honors Banquet. The prize, given in memory of Austin by his parents, is awarded each year to a Loomis faculty member with less than 10 years of service “who has demonstrated a dedication to the discipline of teaching and a commitment to fostering the growth and development of young persons.” Dean of Faculty Ned Parsons described Liz as “an educator [who is] as dedicated to her discipline and her world as she is to her students.” Always interested in innovation, Liz has been instrumental in the redesign of Loomis’ existing yearlong economics course into five discrete but interrelated economics courses. Liz is working on her master’s degree at Wesleyan, and she is interested in implementing a new course on immigration. As a coach, she “holds her players accountable and supports them when they struggle,” Ned said, “and she runs her dormitory the same way.” Always looking for ways to be more involved, Liz works with and nurtures Loomis students even beyond the classroom, playing fields, and dormitory. She has traveled with them during her spring breaks to the Dominican Republic and Florida to build houses for people in need. Science teacher Alice L. Baxter received the Dom Failla Award for Teaching Excellence at May’s Com-
munity Honors Banquet. The annual prize, named in honor of retired philosophy and religion teacher Dominic S. Failla, recognizes teachers of extensive service to the school, who epitomize Dom’s commitment to his students’ growth and intellectual development, commitment to teaching and learning, and more generally to the life of the mind. Over the years since 1979, Alice has taught myriad science courses, served as the head of the Science Department and of Mason Hall, and led the faculty for 17 years as Dean of Faculty.
David Newell, who has been teaching philosophy at Loomis Chaffee since 1992, received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Student Council at the Spring Awards Assembly. Each year students are invited to submit nominating essays about their favorite teachers to the council. “Mr. Newell maintains excellence in every class he teaches,” stated senior presenter Monica He. Four faculty members — Andrew Matlack, Barry Moran, David Newell, and Mark Williams — received endowed instructorships in recognition of their excellence in and dedication to teaching at the Community Honors Banquet. Created for a faculty member with fewer than 20 years of service, the Clark Foundation Instructorship in Mathematics was awarded to Andrew, who will keep it for seven years. The following senior faculty members will hold their instructorships for the remainder of their tenures. Barry was chosen for the Herbert Savin Instructorship in Mathematics; David, a philosophy teacher, was appointed to the Independence Foundation Instructorship; and Mark was named to the Carol Joseloff Taub and Joan Joseloff Kohn Instructorship in History.
This year a prize at the inception of the instructorship and an additional sum each year toward professional development were added to the instructorship program.
Each year the school recognizes staff, faculty, and administrative faculty for their “significant contributions to the success of the academic year.” For their exceptional contributions during the 2011–12 school year, six Service Awards were presented at the May Community Honors Banquet. The recipients included nurse practitioner Bernadette Hirst for her expertise in the ImPact Program and her role in the implementation and daily execution of best practices in the treatment and management of concussions on campus; electrician Robert Hansen for his “professionalism, work ethic, and positive attitude,” especially during the freak October snow storm; mathematics teachers Andrew Bartlett, who writes a letter a day to the family of one of his students apprising them of their child’s current progress, and Allison Beason, who provides extra time to those students struggling with math to help them return to solid footing, “for going above and beyond daily class expectations”; Director of the Work Program Peter Gwyn for his woodsman expertise and willingness to trim damaged campus trees, “making the campus a safer place in the wake of the October snow-pocalypse”; and Director of Athletics Robertson “Bob” Howe for his “unqualified commitment to the Loomis Chaffee community and his willingness to take on any job that needs doing” as illustrated when he pitched in to feed five hungry teams who returned to campus after the dining hall had closed for the evening.
Biology teacher and dance photographer Jeffrey Holcombe captures the graceful exuberance of this dancer along the Appian Way in Italy.
Spanish teacher Courtney Carey traveled to Cuba, Chile, Argentina, and Easter Island on a Loomis Chaffee sabbatical grant in 2011. Her tour of Cuba took her to La Havana and surrounding areas, then to Cienfuegos, the Bay of Pigs, Trinidad, and Santa Clara. “We learned much about the history, architecture, society, and economics; it was fascinating to watch the start of private enterprise on the island,” she notes. Her travel to her native country of Chile included visits with old friends and a commercial ferry trip from Chiloé through the thousands of islands and fjords that form southern Chile. The next leg of her trip went to Punta Arenas and the Strait of Magallanes, Torres del Paine, and El Calafate and Lago Argentino in Argentina. After returning to Santiago, Chile, she traveled to Easter Island “to learn about the moais, the ahus, and so much more. Theories and legends about Rapa Nui’s origins and history abound prior to the 15th century as there is yet no hard evidence to substantiate anything,” she says, adding, “The local population consists of 3,000 lovely, friendly people.” Biology teacher Jeffrey Holcombe presented the artistic retrospective “Dancing the Appian Way” in May in the Hubbard Performance Hall. His series of environmental dance photographs is an interpretation of the ancient Roman highway extending from Rome to Brindisi on the Adriatic Sea. Jeff says the photographs, made in collaboration loomischaffee.org | 17