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November 3, 2005
ANDOVER, Mass. —During its fall meeting, held Oct. 27-29 on the Andover campus, Phillips Academy’s Board of Trustees heard reports from a variety of academy constituencies, deliberating on numerous items of importance to the school’s academic, fiscal, administrative and physical plant programs. Among other things, the board endorsed a plan to expand Commons and agreed to hire an architectural firm to further investigate the feasibility of expanding the Addison Gallery.
The trustees kicked off their weekend of meetings on Thursday with morning and afternoon sessions with the Deans’ Council. During those sessions, the board discussed the Wickenden Report on administrative structure, Strategic Plan implementation strategies, and the recommendations of two faculty task forces that met during the summer, as well as facilities planning items.
The agenda included a presentation to the board by consultant Jim Wickenden on his organizational recommendations, as well as lengthy discussions with Director of Facilities Michael Williams about proposals for the renovation and expansion of Commons and about the impact of rising energy costs on the school’s budget. The Strategic Planning Committee and the two summer task forces joined with the Deans’ Council and Board of Trustees for lunch in the Underwood Room.
Among many other topics of discussion during the three-day session were:
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the FY05 budget, which ran higher than projected because of the high cost of energy and the faculty severance (“early retirement”) pay plan, but was balanced through the application of reserve funds and an increased draw against the endowment;
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the FY06 budget, which is expected to assume in the vicinity of $1.36 million in excess energy costs, to be offset by increased revenues, cost-savings throughout the budget, and energy conservation measures;
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the future of the faculty severance (“early retirement”) pay plan; and
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the future of the International Academic Partnership, including its organization and funding.
Acting on the recommendations of the Trustee Building Committee, the board made two important facilities decisions. The first was the decision to accept, with a fund-raising contingency, Option C, one of four building schemes set forth for the expansion of Commons, and to authorize the Office of Academy Resources to begin raising money for the project.
The four schemes presented to the board ranged from a renovation-only of Commons to a large expansion of the facility, with estimated prices from $20.7 million to $49.4 million. Option C, the Intermediate Expansion plan, carries a cost of about $40 million. It calls for the renovation of existing spaces, as well as a 41 percent increase in the size of Commons.
Aspects of the plan include the construction of a 320-seat dining pavilion at the east end of the building; the relocation of the Commons playground; the creation of a terrace off the Ryley Room; and an expansion to the south that enlarges the serveries and creates added meeting space. Under this plan, the capacity of the Ryley Room would grow from 237 to 472 people.
The motion is contingent upon the receipt of an $8 million lead-naming commitment for the east pavilion. This gift is separate from the $10 million anonymous pledge already received toward the basic renovation of Commons. If PA fund-raisers are unable to secure a new naming gift of $8 million or more, the project will revert to Option B, which omits the east pavilion.
The second facilities decision was to authorize the hiring of the architectural firm Machado and Silvetti to enlarge upon an existing feasibility study for the expansion of the Addison Gallery of American Art. The motion further calls for the study to be made in recognition of and with sensitivity for the Elson Art Center.
Honorees and Benefactors
At Friday night’s Trustee Dinner, members of the campus community paused to toast Richard M. Goodyear ’59, who is retiring after 16 years of service on the board. Board President Oscar M. Tang ’56 read a resolution in Goodyear’s honor and, bowing to Goodyear’s reputation as a skilled musical parodist, a chorus from the board and OAR sang his praises in comic tribute.
The Friday dinner also featured presentations by Dean of Faculty Temba Maqubela and Dean of Studies Margarita Curtis to five members of the faculty selected for prestigious teaching foundations. The honorees were Clyfe Beckwith, instructor in physics, who was named to the Richard J. Stern Instructorship; Emilio Mozo, instructor in Spanish, named to the Garrigues Class of 1915 Foundation; Craig Thorn, instructor in English, named to the Emilie Belden Cochran Teaching Foundation; Catherine Tousignant ’88, instructor in English, named to the Elizabeth Rogers Instructorship; and Stephen Wicks, instructor in art, named to the Samuel Harvey Taylor Foundation.
On Saturday morning, after enjoying breakfast with current students, the trustees joined with the scores of other alumni volunteers who were on campus for the academy’s annual Leaders’ Weekend. In a plenary session, the groups discussed the visiting students displaced from their home schools by Hurricane Katrina; the implementation of PA’s Strategic Plan; and the reports of the two summer task forces.
Saturday’s luncheon featured the presentation of Distinguished Service Awards to several alumni, as well as the recognition of those whose names were recently added to the Benefactors’ Wall in George Washington Hall, which lists Andover’s most generous donors in terms of dollars given. Currently, the minimum lifetime contribution qualifying one for such recognition is $1 million.
Receiving Distinguished Service Awards were Betty M. and Richard D. Lindsay ’48, Barry C. Phelps ’49, Deborah Williams Troemner ’49, Tamara Elliott Rogers ’70 and David J. Winton II ’71 (in absentia).
The newly recognized benefactors were Walter H. Haydock '71, Kuni and Michael Schmertzler ’70, Stephanie and Alfred J. Shuman ’57, W.R. “Tim” Timken Jr. ’56, and the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation.
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