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NEW HEAD OF SCHOOL, NEW FACILITIES, and a NEW STRATEGIC PLAN Tom Farquhar has returned to Sidwell Friends and is fully immersed in his new duties as head of school. Alumni here at home and in cities across the country have had the opportunity to get together to welcome him. We’ve gathered at an early reception here in D.C. in September, at a reception attended by about 70 alumni and guests in New York City in October, and at receptions in San Francisco and Los Angeles in November. Boston alumni will greet Tom in the spring. Right from the beginning, one of Tom’s primary tasks has been to help guide the newly undertaken, year-long strategic planning process. Ten years ago, a similar process led us to a master facility improvement plan that is just about complete.
The Athletic Center was officially opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Homecoming. The renovated arts center and Quaker Meetinghouse will be finished in the spring. We look forward to giving you a tour of the new facilities when you next visit the Wisconsin Avenue campus! Now we ask ourselves some new questions: What do we want today’s youngest students to know when they graduate in 2024? What tools will they need? What do we need to do now to plan for the future? On September 25, two of our alumni, Philip Auerswald ’83 and Stephen Chanock ’74,with graduated parent Gail Paster (Emily ’92 and Tim ’96), spoke at a large gathering of trustees, faculty, and staff and shared perspectives on the changing intellectual landscape at the outset of the 21st century and the implications they see for Sidwell Friends School as we prepare our students for the future. (See the box below for their brief bios.)
including Clerk Katie Smith Sloan ’73. Finally, we were pleased with the large response—more than 925 alumni—to the Alumni Online Census and Survey! The survey yielded a wealth of useful information; summaries of some of the results are featured on the next two pages. Among the comments was a wish for more alumni writers in the Alumni Magazine. I hope you’ll enjoy the six articles written by alumni in this issue, which focuses on alumni in sports. Their stories are truly interesting—we thank them for their contributions! I hope we’ll see as many of you as possible at the annual Holiday Party here in Washington on Thursday evening, December 16!
Andrew Aurbach ’86 Alumni Association President alumniboard@sidwell.edu
Alumni were also brought into the focus group process; we gathered for an evening conversation and took the opportunity to share our views with Tom and members of the Board of Trustees,
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Philip Auerswald ’83 is an associate professor at the School of Public Policy, George Mason University, an associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, and the co-founder and co-editor of Innovations: Technology | Governance | Globalization, a quarterly journal from MIT Press about entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. He recently was a topic leader for the 2010 annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. Stephen Chanock ’74 is chief of the Laboratory of Translational Genomics in the National Cancer Institute at NIH. He is a pediatric oncologist; his professional interest has been
focused on understanding the genetic basis of cancer and related life style choices (smoking, obesity) using the knowledge of the human genome. He is currently investigating how to translate the new findings into novel biological insights and risk prediction for diseases. Gail Kern Paster has served as director of the Folger Shakespeare Library since 2002. She has served as the editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, was a professor of English at GW, and is the author of a number of scholarly articles and three books. Professor Paster has been a trustee of the Shakespeare Association of America and served as president of that organization in 2003.
Alumni Magazine
With science articles by: William Brent ’83 Baratunde Thurston ’95 Brenna Mahoney ’05 Hannah Bristol ’10 and Marisa Repka ’10
FRIENDS IN SPORTS about SFS alumni: Articles by or Steven Stark ’69 ’75 Neville Waters ’78 Peter MacDonald ’86 Hans Tresolini ‘93 Eric Singletary Thomas Kail ’95 ’98 Candace McNamee ’98 Natalie Randolph ’98 Ben Van Heuvelen Athletic Center opening of new PLUS: SFS celebrates
Current and past editions of the Sidwell Friends Alumni Magazine are available as a download through the Alumni portal on the SFS Web site: www.sidwell.edu/magazine. The Alumni Magazine welcomes letters from alumni and friends on any subject of interest relevant to the School. Letters must be signed and include the writer’s class, home address, phone number, and e-mail address. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Send letters to: alumnimagazine@sidwell.edu or to Editor, SFS Alumni Magazine 3825 Wisconsin Ave. NW Washington, DC 20016 ALUMNI MAGAZINE
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