Academy mourns passing of K. Kelly Wise P’80, ’83, ’86, GP’21

Longtime former English instructor and IRT founder K. Kelly Wise P’80, ’83, ’86, GP’21, died Friday, August 6, 2021. He was 88.

In 1966, Wise and his family arrived at Phillips Academy, where Kelly created a filmmaking course in addition to teaching English, dorm duties, and coaching. He created the school’s first residential cluster, was chair of the English department, and later became dean of faculty, making it his purpose to recruit and hire more teachers with diverse backgrounds.

Beyond his talent and commitment as a classroom instructor, Kelly saw education as needing a shift to reflect the reality of public and private education. He was deeply concerned about the lack of diversity in the country’s teaching faculties and became the creator and driving force behind Andover’s Institute for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT) in 1990. He served as executive director until 2013.