Trustees Pass Major New Financial Aid Initiatives and Commons Renovation Plan

During its winter meeting, held January 25–27 on the Andover campus, the Phillips Academy Board of Trustees approved two bold new financial aid initiatives and released three facilities projects for construction, one of which is the long-anticipated renovation of Commons.

The board also approved an operating budget of $86 million for 2007–2008, a $5 million increase from the current year’s budget of $81 million. The approved budget includes all the major elements proposed by senior administrators, including compensation increases for both faculty and staff. In keeping with the goals of the 2004 Strategic Plan, the increases are designed to allow the school to maintain its competitive position and attract the most talented candidates.

“This winter’s Board of Trustees meeting was exceptionally productive in advancing the goals of our Strategic Plan,” says Head of School Barbara Landis Chase. “The decisions made during this weekend will have profound implications for every aspect of Academy life.”

Financial Aid Milestones

On the financial aid front, the board noted that the percentage of students receiving financial aid has increased from 36.5 percent to 41 percent since the adoption of the 2004 Strategic Plan. The board also took the following measures:

• Adjusted the elements of future financial aid awards. To make an Andover education more affordable to a wider range of students, the Academy will no longer offer student loans as part of its financial aid awards. A family’s estimated financial need will be met with a grant award. The policy will apply to all new awards to both new and returning students for the 2007–2008 academic year.

• Increased the financial aid budget for the 2007–2008 academic year by 9.5 percent in order to continue to support 41 percent of the student body. This significant increase follows 8 percent increases in FY07, FY05, and FY04 and an 11.3 percent increase in FY06 needs.

• Instituted a program that, as part of the financial aid package, will provide a computer to those students admitted for September 2007 who have the greatest financial need.

These important changes to the financial aid program will support Andover’s leadership in enrolling the most talented students regardless of their family’s financial status.

Facilities Improvements

Of all the facilities improvement projects approved by the trustees, the largest is the $30 million renovation of Commons. Design plans will preserve the historical integrity of the existing building while adding such enhancements as a café, new state-of-the-art food preparation and serving facilities, a new north plaza area, a new west terrace, and an improved Ryley Room. Plans for the Commons renovation project are being developed by Schwartz/Silver Architects.

To date, the Office of Academy Resources (OAR) has secured $12 million in funding for the Commons project. Construction is scheduled to begin in December 2007 and is expected to take 15 months to complete. During that time, dining services will move to temporary quarters in the decommissioned Smith ice rink, which will be refurbished to provide a comfortable dining area for students, faculty, and staff.

“This newest renovation plan for Commons combines almost all of the best elements of the previous plans we reviewed,” reports Chase. “We will be able to keep the worn marble staircase, the richly carved wood paneling, and all the things about the existing structure we cherish so much, and create the kind of community space that will enrich our campus life.”

In addition to releasing the Commons renovation project for construction, the trustees took the following actions:

• Approved a plan to install artificial turf in Phelps Stadium. OAR has
secured full funding for the project, and installation is expected to take place this summer.
• Approved the creation of interdepartmental faculty space in Samuel Phillips Hall in order to promote collaboration between the Division of World Languages and the Department of History and Social Science.
Construction will take place during the summer.

As these three projects move toward construction, Secretary of the Academy Peter Ramsey reported to the trustees that fund-raising efforts continue on behalf of the planned renovations to the Addison Gallery, now in the design phase, and Bulfinch Hall.

Other Business

During the course of the weekend, the Board of Trustees had the opportunity to hear reports from or participate in sessions with several working groups, among them the Global Perspectives Group, the Non Sibi Day Planning Committee, the Working Group on the Composition of the Student Body, and the Pandemic Preparedness Planning Committee.

Finally, the board offered its appreciation to Charter Trustee Thomas Israel ’62 for his recent gift of $5 million to the school, $2 million of which will support the Commons renovation project, $1 million of which is earmarked for the Addison Gallery
expansion project, and $2 million of which will support efforts yet to be determined

—Stephen Porter

Kuta Gets the Call to Run PA Athletics

Mike Kuta is Andover’s newest athletic director and chair of the Department of Physical Education. The 26-year veteran of PA took over the Academy’s top fitness and sports spot in March. He succeeds Martha Fenton ’83, who had announced her intentions to relinquish the role earlier this academic year.           

Kuta came to Phillips Academy as a teaching fellow and intern in the athletic program, serving as junior varsity football coach and varsity track coach. He became an athletic trainer and a physical education instructor in 1983 and more recently has taken on duties as PA’s strength and conditioning coordinator and challenge course manager. Kuta has served as the director of the Afternoon Activities Program for Phillips Academy’s Summer Session for the past 16 years and as the coordinator of the Andover Soccer Camp since 1996. He has been involved with house counselor and proctor/prefect training workshops, as well as curriculum development for PA’s physical education course, and has had a hand in writing numerous manuals for procedures and safety guidelines. He has a BS degree in physical education and athletic training from Northeastern University.

Kuta, whose six-year appointment will run through June 2013, says he plans to address how the Academy’s sports and exercise requirement can aid students in areas of development other than physical fitness. “A regular exercise program helps our students better meet the rigorous academic demands and associated stresses,” he says. “Sports and exercise help students manage their time, promote efficient study skills, and relieve stress while contributing to a regular sleep pattern.  It is this potential for restoration, both mental and physical, that I feel is underrated.”

PA Hires New Director of Academy Communications

Tracy Manforte Sweet, most recently the assistant vice president for public relations at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., has assumed the responsibilities of Andover’s director of academy communications. She began her new role in March.

Head of School Barbara Landis Chase offered Sweet a ringing endorsement: “Clearly she has the experience, energy, and enthusiasm to communicate the Academy’s story beyond Andover Hill. She will bring these same talents to guide the many aspects of internal communications within the Phillips Academy community.”

“I am so impressed by the life and vibrancy of Phillips Academy,” says Sweet. “I look forward to leading an integrated communication program that underscores the essence of the Academy, the relevance of its mission, and the opportunity it presents to students.”

Sweet served as assistant vice president for public relations at Saint Anselm College for the last five years. Her accomplishments included oversight of the college’s Web site redesign, creation of award-winning campaign communications, and the establishment of graphic identity standards. She was also instrumental in shaping the college’s strategic plan, Aspirations in Liberal Arts Education, into a public presentation for alumni and friends of the college.

Sweet previously served as a senior writer/editor for the University of New Hampshire, and prior to that was a newspaper reporter covering issues in higher education. Her work has appeared in Parade Magazine, the (Manchester, N.H.) Union Leader, the Providence Journal, and the Boston Globe. A native of North Kingstown, R.I., Sweet was an All-American gymnast who went on to compete at the University of New Hampshire. She graduated in 1992 with a BA degree in communication.

PA Launches New Piece of History 100 Curriculum

This academic year, students in the Academy’s History 100 classes have taken a hands-on (and heads-up) approach to learning about the past.

Department of History faculty member Emma Frey and teaching fellow Ethan Bennett, along with Malinda Blustain, director of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, received grant support from the Abbot Academy Association this past fall to purchase a model trebuchet. The device—based on a model named Warwolf used by Edward I (Longshanks) of England in AD 1304—works something like a catapult, making use of weights, counterweights, and a swinging arm to propel projectiles through the air. Trebuchets hail originally from ancient China and date as far back as several hundred years BC. Although the model trebuchet used in History 100 classes stands about six feet tall, medieval versions of the weapon sometimes towered more than five stories in height. It has been hypothesized that the counterweights may have weighed up to 30 tons, enabling the machine to hurl a 200-pound projectile more than 1,000 feet!

Frey and company knew the contraption would be an intriguing and educational addition to History 100, officially titled When Strangers Meet. The goal was to illustrate the multicultural development of technology, as applied to the nomadic Mongols’ need to develop siege weapons to attack the fortified cities they first encountered upon expansion into China. The Mongols used captured Chinese and Persian engineers in their technological drive to develop more powerful weapons to defeat sedentary adversaries.

Bennett and Donald Slater, an educator and assistant collections manager at the Peabody Museum, spent a dozen hours constructing the model trebuchet. Then, on a cold Tuesday in January, students enrolled in History 100 took to the outdoors, where they competed in contests that had them launching various fruits and vegetables at a mock castle. Students aimed to find the right ratio of weight and counterweight to produce a successful shot.

Slater worked with students prior to their attempts to storm the castle, showing them how to load the trebuchet and fire its contents.

“The Peabody Museum is a big fan of hands-on learning,” says Slater. “By incorporating artifacts and modern day replicas of ancient devices such as the trebuchet into our education program, we hope to connect students to the past by appealing to as many of the five senses as possible. Although our model is only a fraction of the size of a medieval trebuchet, and it hurls grapefruit instead of 300-pound stone balls, by operating this contraption students can discover firsthand the technology behind this siege engine.”

Only $200 of the $3,440 allotted by the Abbot Academy Association was used to purchase the trebuchet, which is available to physics classes, as well. Additional funding afforded a visit to PA from a Higgins Armory Museum educator. Located in Worcester, Mass., the Higgins Armory—according to its Web site —is “the only institution in the Northeast dedicated to the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of arms and armor.” The institution’s educator provided students an opportunity to examine up close the armor and weaponry of medieval times.

—Scott Aubrey

PA music ensembles dazzle audiences in Italy

Once again, music instructor William Thomas made some big plans for spring vacation. This year he took a group of 120—including more than 80 members of the Academy Cantata Choir and Chamber Orchestra and numerous faculty chaperones and adult soloists—on a 12-day trip to Italy to perform the choral masterpiece Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn. Distinguished soloists accompanying the group included Barbara Kilduff-O’Farrell, soprano; Aaron Russo ’94, countertenor; Frederick Taylor, tenor; and Vincent Stinger, baritone, who played Elijah. Stinger taught voice at PA for about 10 years in the 1990s.

“What’s so wonderful about these two Andover ensembles is that youth from every quarter are truly represented,” notes Thomas, director of the Academy Cantata Choir and Chamber Orchestra. “We have a real economic, cultural, and ethnic cross-section of musically gifted students. The opportunity for additional rehearsal and repeated performances of such a challenging work provides the means for extraordinary insight and musical growth. The added bonus of traveling with friends and fellow musicians is a cultural and educational opportunity beyond measure.”

The group departed on Saturday, March 10, for three days in Venice, two days in Florence, three days in Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast, and three days in Rome, staying in a mix of hotels, convents, and monasteries, and traveling by motorcoach between each city. Concerts were performed in the 17th century Church of Santa Maria del Rosario/Gesuati Church in Venice, Saint Andrews Cathedral in Amalfi, and Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome.

Prior to their departure the group attended seminars about Italian art and artists led by instructor Ruth Quattlebaum; they also received Italian language coaching from the students in Foro Italio, a language and culture club led by music instructor Peter Lorenco. While in Italy the entourage participated in various guided tours of historic and cultural attractions and enjoyed free time daily for independent excursions. Just before heading back to Boston, the travelers had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

The Academy Cantata Choir and Chamber Orchestra tour annually. In recent years they have performed in Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Montreal, Hawaii, and China.

All the Views that Are Fit to Air…

For the second time this school year, 17-year-old Alexander Heffner broadcast his radio show to a worldwide audience via the Internet. Heffner, a New York native who is an upper at Phillips Academy, covered President Bush’s State of the Union address on January 23 with pre- and post-address analysis from call-in guests including Michael Barone, a columnist for US News & World Report; Peter Baker, a White House correspondent for the Washington Post; Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Tulane University; Thomas Edsall, a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism; John Harwood, national political editor at the Wall Street Journal; Carl Leubsdorf, Washington bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News; Roland Martin, executive editor of the Chicago Defender; Bryan DeAngelis, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan, a Democrat from Massachusetts; Scott Rasmussen, president and CEO of Rasmussen Reports; Frank Rich, columnist for the New York Times; Chuck Todd, editor-in-chief of the Hotline; Helen Thomas, Washington columnist for Hearst Newspapers; Karen Tumulty, national political correspondent for Time magazine; Frank Sesno, former Washington bureau chief for CNN; and Byron York, White House correspondent for the National Review.

“I think it went exceptionally well,” says Heffner, who compiled his lineup of political heavyweights from previous interviews he conducted in the last two years. Heffner, the radio station’s political director, broadcasts The Political Arena with Alexander Heffner on Thursday evenings over the school’s intranet on the student-run WPAA Radio Network.

“I see my role as informing my fellow classmates, faculty, and others listening by offering key perspectives on public affairs, from both the right and the left. I hope [the show] advanced public discourse, especially among young people, because politics affects all our lives,” Heffner says.

Heffner also broadcast an election night special with politicians and political analysts to a worldwide audience via the Internet on November 7. This year, he is planning two new series, “Presidential Campaign Forum 2008,” with potential and declared 2008 presidential candidates, and “Conversation with America’s Governors.” Live coverage and archived interviews are available at www.wpaa.com.

—Cindy Cantrell  

This article was reprinted, with permission, from the February 4, 2007, edition of the Boston Globe.

Faculty summer experiences enhance teaching and curriculum

Since 1975 Kenan Grants have been awarded annually to support a broad range of faculty pursuits in research, scholarship, creativity, and academic excellence. PA’s 2006 Kenan Grant recipients spent part or all of last summer immersed in a variety of special projects.

Ed Quattlebaum, a history and social science instructor, continued his study of three despots: Catherine the Great, Mao, and Hitler.

His careful reading of Sebag Montefiore’s biography of Prince Potemkin and of extensive correspondence between Catherine the Great and Potemkin laid the groundwork for a trip to the Black Sea port of Odessa in the Crimea.

“The letters provided a window on the Empress of Russia’s highly charged relationship with the prince, as well as her conduct of politics,” explains Quattlebaum. During Catherine’s 34-year reign, some 200,000 square miles were added to Russia’s territory—including the Crimea, which became the empire’s first warm-water seaport.

Stops along the way in Istanbul, Sevastopol, and Yalta enriched Quattlebaum’s understanding of the area—and the prize Catherine so cleverly maneuvered to obtain. His travels also enhanced his understanding of the roles these historic places play in both American and European history.

Several years ago, Henry B. Wilmer Jr. ’63, French instructor and director of PA’s all-digital Language Learning Center, developed an LLC Web site, which quickly became a popular resource for PA faculty and students, as well as those in academic communities nationwide. Along with describing LLC services, the site provides numerous teaching materials and a gateway to the LLC’s online lab—a virtual presence that continues to grow rapidly.

Last summer Wilmer updated the off-campus, public portions of the site and created a similar, though more complete, interactive site on PAnet. “Students can now access nearly all of our audiovisual learning materials from virtually any computer,” he says, adding that instructors will find useful materials and suggestions for teaching with technology.

In the process of designing these sites Wilmer explored emerging technologies, which inspired him to pilot new approaches to online recording in his recent French 300 classes.

Art instructor Gail Boyajian used her Kenan Grant in conjunction with a spring 2006 fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation in Genoa, Italy. “My project at the foundation was to do research and make studies for a large painting of Genoa, incorporating historical figures, native plants and birds, and local architecture,” Boyajian says. “I discovered many interesting things about the history of landscape design in that part of Italy and documented my discoveries with photographs, drawings, and a small painting study.”

Upon her return to Andover, she undertook the final painting (above), which was executed on an aluminum panel, a material with which she had never before worked. “It was a wonderful gift to be able to devote my summer to this single challenging and intricate painting,” Boyajian says.

Genoa Capriccio was exhibited in the faculty art show in fall 2006, and later in a one-person show in Boston.

French instructor Natalie Gillingham Schorr ’62 began work on a book and 20-minute CD of essential French phrases, along with their cultural contexts and connotations. “These materials are specifically designed for novices to learn shortly before a trip,” Schorr explains. “Whereas typical travel phrasebooks are loaded with expressions and function as dictionaries to be thumbed through during a trip, this collection and its companion CD will focus only on key words and the most useful and versatile expressions for active use.

“The essential phrases appear in order of usefulness so travelers with limited preparation time can prioritize. Each phrase is accompanied by cultural insights that explain the situations in which it can be used. This gives the traveler the confidence to speak up,” says Schorr.

English instructor Kevin O’Connor completed an article on Irish literature titled “‘You could not have a green rose’: Joyce’s and Deane’s Rewriting of Yeats’s Irish Symbol.” O’Connor then attended a five-day conference of the International Association for the Study of Irish Literature in Sydney, Australia.

“About 125 teachers and writers from all over the globe presented papers and participated in panels each day,” says O’Connor. “Papers focused on major writers like Yeats and Joyce, as well as newly emerging writers and critical issues. Given the Australian setting, the cultural legacy of the Irish Diaspora was of special interest.” Thomas Keneally, author of Schindler’s List and The Great Shame: And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World, gave a reading, as did other notable Australian writers.

“This experience brought new energy and insights to my fall 2006 elective Yeats and the Irish Tradition,” says O’Connor. “Conversations with Irish literature professors from various colleges and universities also got me rethinking future elective curricula.”

Caroline Odden attended the Dave Pelz Scoring Game School in Homestead, Mich., in July. A former NASA scientist, Pelz is considered one of golf’s top authorities on the short game (distance wedges, pitching, chipping, sand play) and putting. According to Odden, his analytical approach to golf instruction especially appeals to science-types.

“I have been coaching golf for the past three years, and teaching physics for the past 10,” she says, “so Pelz’s golf school seemed like a perfect fit.”

The fastest way to lower one’s handicap, contends Pelz, is to improve skills within 100 yards of the hole. “My short game definitely improved, but then my long game started to fall apart,” laments Odden. “Golf is like that.”

PA golf coaches planned to put more emphasis on the short game this season and hoped to utilize some of the new drills Odden learned last summer.           

Japanese instructor Teruyo Shimazu’s interest is traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Her two-year Kenan Grant allowed her to take an intense online course last July and August to prepare her for a summer 2007 internship at a University of Beijing-affiliated medical school.

“Surprisingly, Chinese medicine is actually teaching me a lot about science, which I enjoy,” Shimazu says. “In addition, I am continuing to learn more about the culture and language embedded in this subject, and I am studying hard to improve my Chinese speaking skills.”

Shimazu believes being a student again will help her be a more interesting and effective teacher. She also wants her classes to realize that learning is not only for students in school, but also for anybody, at any stage in life.

“In the future, my new knowledge and experiences may help me organize interdisciplinary courses, perhaps in preventive health and Asian culture,” she says.

Twenty Kenan Grants were awarded for 2007. Faculty projects include learning conversational Hindi, taking master trumpet lessons, creating a visual record of colonial and early-nation ruins in Haiti, participating in an Earthwatch project, researching World War I, and conducting art explorations of the Dalmatian Coast.

—Jill Clerkin

Kenan Grants are made via the William R. Kenan Jr. Fund, a PA endowment established in 1975 by the Kenan Trust of New York.

Using words and music, not violence, to promote human rights

Those Andover community members attending a special All-School Meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day were held in rapt attention as activist, musician, and award-winning author Chris Abani spoke of his horrifying experiences as a political prisoner in his native Nigeria. At times, the audience’s silence was deafening and its tension palpable; many wept silently. Yet the crowd also erupted with laughter at the guest speaker’s candid observations about human nature, prejudices, and political correctness.

When only 18, Abani was imprisoned for six months because a novel he had written in 1983 at age 16 was perceived as a threat to national security. He was beaten regularly—and if his regular beating was missed, he feared even worse.
It was after his release from prison that Abani chose to become a political activist, participating in peaceful demonstrations as part of an anti-government theatre group. “We would stand before armed soldiers and lock arms and sing and read poetry,” said Abani, shaking his head as if now in disbelief. “When the bullets flew, the troupe would scatter.”

He was arrested several more times, repeatedly tortured, and sentenced to death. Although several of his fellow inmates did, in fact, die in prison, Abani was released in 1991 and later emigrated first to the United Kingdom and then to the United States, settling in California.

Despite his travails, Abani still speaks with hope and humor, believing that “the most radical, revolutionary act is to love.”
“We are all prejudiced,” said Abani. “We discriminate against people based on their hair, weight, clothes, sexual orientation, skin color, physical or mental limitations…. We must move beyond our prejudices to embrace our differences.”

While praising the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Abani cited King as just one example of a less-than-perfect person who did amazing things, who stood up at the right moment and did what had to be done. “We all have the power within us to make a difference,” he said.

Abani challenged PA students to eschew political correctness—an attitude that, he claimed, is a way of blanketing an issue so it is never discussed. In closing, he read a searing passage from his award-winning novel Graceland—a portrait of postcolonial Nigeria through the eyes of a teenage Elvis impersonator—and performed a melancholy tribute on his saxophone to a fellow prisoner who was tortured to death at age 14.

Currently a creative writing instructor at the University of California–Riverside, Abani’s latest work is Becoming Abigail, a novella about a Nigerian girl forced by her family to work as a prostitute in London.

—Jill Clerkin

From the Newsroom

Have you checked the Phillips Academy Web site lately? Here are excerpts from articles first published online, all of which spotlight the caliber of Andover students:

For the third year in a row, the College Board has recognized Phillips Academy for the quality of its music theory and physics courses, a recognition earned by the number of PA students who scored well on recent Advanced Placement (AP) exams in those subjects.

According to the College Board, no other school in the world of a similar size to Andover had a greater percentage of its student body achieve a grade of 3 or higher on three different AP exams: the AP Music Theory exam, the AP Physics Mechanics C exam, and the AP Physics Electricity and Magnetism C exam. Andover’s statistics were compared to those of other “large size” schools that enroll 800 or more students in grades 10 through 12.           

Making the honor particularly noteworthy is the fact that Andover is the only school in New England, and just one of 12 schools of any size in the world, to be recognized by the College Board for earning such a distinction on three or more AP exams.

A team of four students from Phillips Academy won first place in the 19th Invitational High School Programming Contest held at St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., on March 2, 2007. Sixteen teams from secondary schools in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Massachusetts participated. Teams consisted of up to four members and were given a set of eight problems, a computer, and three hours in which to solve as many problems as possible. The Andover team was the only one to solve all eight problems correctly, and it did so in record time. It was Andover’s first time participating in this competition.

Ending a 45-year drought, the Andover boys’ swim team finished the 2007 season with an exclamation point, capturing the New England Prep School Championships. Twenty-seven prep schools from the New England area competed, but the contest quickly turned into a duel between Phillips Academy and its longtime rival Phillips Exeter, which had won 15 of the last 16 championship contests. When the final results were tallied, Andover won by a wide margin—382 points to Exeter’s 322….  Andover’s success relied on the depth of its team, placing 15 swimmers and one diver in the point-scoring consolation or championship finals.

The Phillips Academy Model United Nations Team captured second place in the 44th North American Invitational Model UN Conference held in Washington, D.C. Eighteen Andover students won awards, and Phillips Academy was named Outstanding School by finishing second in the nation…. More than 2,500 students from 114 high schools across the country competed.

The Model UN program gives students an opportunity to participate in mock UN sessions, acting as delegates for countries to which they are assigned. They write, debate, and negotiate to get resolutions passed to further their countries’ various agendas.

Be sure to check www.andover.edu for all the latest news and multimedia views from Phillips Academy.

Rising to the Challenge

No, Phillips Academy didn’t forget to pay its electric bill. These two students—Alex Wong ’07 and Nana Matushita ’09  —used a flashlight to navigate the stacks of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library as part of the Green Cup Challenge, an effort to decrease the energy consumption at PA and other peer institutions. For four weeks in early 2007, Andover and 14 other schools across seven Northeastern states worked together to curb global climate change. By challenging each other to reduce electrical use, the schools prevented an estimated 381,202 pounds of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the air. PA lowered its power consumption by approximately 3.7 percent over the four-week period. Prior to and during the Green Cup, student leaders worked hard to educate the Andover community about global warming and to suggest means to reduce consumption. The library, for example, initiated a practice of leaving lights off in the stacks when not in use.

Supporting gender research, keeping the Abbot legacy alive

The Brace Center for Gender Studies has completed its 10th year at Phillips Academy. Here, faculty member Tony Rotundo—who serves as co-director of the center alongside his wife, fellow PA history instructor Kathleen Dalton—offers an overview of the center’s goals and accomplishments.

The only gender center at a secondary school in the United States, the Brace Center for Gender Studies began with a generous gift from Donna Brace Ogilvie ’30. A start-up grant from the Abbot Academy Association and contributions from others helped the center open in 1996.

The Brace Center aims to provide scholarly resources, student research opportunities, and faculty development in gender studies. While the range of topics for these learning opportunities has been global and broadly historical, issues of gender as they relate to adolescence have frequently been a focus.

The learning opportunities offered by the Brace Center have proceeded in many forms. Brace Student Fellowships have supported the research and public presentations of nearly 50 students over the past decade, while nearly two dozen faculty members have used Brace Faculty Fellowships to deepen knowledge about gender, especially as it relates to pedagogy and course content. Various other forums and fellowships have sponsored community discussion on gender as it relates to topics from student leadership to love and friendship.

The center’s Hearsey Resource Room supports these efforts, as well as research papers on gender for regular academic courses; its hundreds of gender-related volumes are integrated into the online catalog of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library.

The center also has sponsored a wide variety of special gender-related programming. Gender experts from outside the PA community, including Judith Jordan ’61 and Allan Johnson ’64, have been guest speakers. Separately and with other offices and departments on campus, the center has presented films, panels, and performing artists on topics ranging from girls’ boarding schools to race and manhood.

Located in historic Abbot Hall, the Brace Center also works to keep alive the history and traditions of Abbot Academy through exhibits and programs. Every weeknight, students are invited to Abbot Hall for open study hours. In the Abbot tradition of Tiffin Time, light refreshments are served.

The Brace Center acknowledges the recent history of gender at Phillips Academy through the McKeen Award, which honors a PA faculty member for special contributions to the quality of coeducation at Andover. Past recipients include Joe Wennik ’52, Marion Finbury, Carroll and Elaine Bailey, Ted and Nancy Sizer, Jean St. Pierre, Don and Britta McNemar, ’Cilla Bonney-Smith, and Susan Lloyd.

With gender issues alive in the news and vital to education and student life, the Brace Center continues to seek new ways to spread knowledge and raise awareness. On issues ranging from cross-cultural gender difference to declining male enrollments in college, from gender and international development to the rarity of female student council presidents at PA, the center continues to promote discussion to increase understanding of a broad range of gender issues.