Departmental Leadership
Driving School Change from within
EFFECTIVE DEPARTMENTAL LEADERSHIP is the key to implementing any curricular change initiative, yet many department chairs have little or no formal leadership training. During this five-day residential institute, participants will learn and practice skills for using departmental time effectively, facilitating meaningful and productive feedback conversations, and guiding organizational change. In the evenings, we'll provide opportunities for informal conversation, fun activities, and great food! Ultimately, chairs will emerge with a vision statement and strategic plan for their department that aligns with their school’s mission and strategic vision.
Monday
Arrival
Register, get set up in your dorm room, meet the cohort for some goal setting, then head to a cocktail hour and gourmet dinner at Pomfret's dining hall.
Tuesday
Challenging Conversations
Spend the day learning the skills to navigate the toughest of conversations — giving feedback, coaching colleagues, and offering meaningful praise.
Wednesday
Middle Management
Dig into the challenges of middle management — navigating your role in the hiring process, guiding and inspiring your department, and implementing new initiatives — both top-down and grassroots.
Thursday
Alignment
Work in discipline-specific small groups to identify key priorities for your next 3–5 years as chair and craft language that aligns those priorities with the mission and vision of your school.
Friday
Planning
Spend the morning finishing up your strategic plan and reflecting on your experience. Before parting ways after lunch, we’ll present our plans and celebrate the good work we’ve done together!
Meet Your Facilitators
Jim Moore
Jim is the chair of the Blair Academy English department, directs the school’s yearlong squash programs, is head coach of girls’ varsity squash, and coordinates the school’s All-School Read program. Since joining the faculty in 1990, he has served as dean of college counseling, director of the summer school, academic monitor, housemaster, director of capital giving, head coach of boys’ varsity squash, assistant coach of varsity baseball, and instructor of AP Microeconomics. He completed his undergraduate work in English at Cornell University in 1985 and has since studied literature at Georgetown University and Drew University and business at the University of Rochester. Prior to working at Blair, Jim taught at The Hill School in Pennsylvania and the Savannah Country Day School in Georgia. In 1997, a career move took him to Rochester, New York, where he worked at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester and as a management consultant; he returned to Blair in 2006.
Gwyneth Connell
Gwyneth is the director of the Grauer Family Institute for Excellence and Innovation in Education at Pomfret School. A veteran of independent school education, Connell brings a breadth and depth of experience to the position. Over the course of her career, she has taught history at Millbrook School in New York and Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn; served as dean of faculty at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts; and most recently, worked as dean of teaching and learning at Blair Academy in New Jersey. She holds a master's degree in private school leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University (2007) and a bachelor's degree in American studies from Amherst College (2000). Connell is a 1996 alumna of Peddie School.