HMAE
The Centennial Conference
That Was Then, This Is Now
Looking Back, Looking Forward
The Centennial Conference
That Was Then, This Is Now
Looking Back, Looking Forward
November 13-15, 2011
Celebrating our 100th Anniversary, this year's HMAE conference will begin at its customary time, 4:00 p.m., on Sunday (November 13) and conclude at its customary time at noon on Tuesday, (November 15).
As Co-Chairs of this fall's conference, we are delighted to give you in this letter a preview of the program that awaits you at the Chauncey Center, when we will extol the past and present life of HMAE, its history, its incomparable players, their vision, wisdom, leadership, and wit and the grand legacy they have left for us to continue to shape, to animate, and to sustain into the future. Hence, this year's theme:
That Was Then, This Is Now
Looking Back, Looking Forward
Our keynote speaker, an exemplary scholar and leader in the tradition of HMAE's founders, Shirley Tilghman, President of Princeton University, will begin our program. She will be followed by our opening reception and dinner in the welcoming ambiance of Lawrenceville School, where our cherished camaraderie, a hallmark of HMAE gatherings, will commence anew in the original spirit of HMAE, "to provide an opportunity for the furtherance of mutual acquaintance among heads of secondary or elementary schools…for the interchange of ideas of common interest or looking toward the advancement of standards."
Monday will open with voices of remembrance of the founding "mothers" of HMAE from Boston, Washington, and New York, a panel whose members were students of, worked for and with, or ultimately succeeded the founding heads while the tenures of their forbears were still vibrant in their schools' memories. With the power of their own respective presence and authority as unparalleled women leaders, Millie Berendsen, Evy Halpert, Kiki Johnson, and Ginny Wing, all revered headmistresses in their own rights, will regale us with stories, heretofore known and unknown, about the icons who preceded them.
Following the co-education and inclusion of girls into many of the former boys' schools, the membership of HMAE was expanded and enriched in the early 70's, as it welcomed heads of coed schools, both men and women, in significant numbers. Whence HMAE has come into the present, on which the future hinges, our speakers, leaders in their respective fields, include Claire Gaudiani, whose experience and expertise extends beyond academia to a vital focus for all of today's leaders, "Women and Finance," her topic with us in Princeton.
Next, Michelle Norris will carry out the theme in the context of her career as well known NPR correspondent and author. A shared commentary on "Contemporary Culture & Challenges for Parents of Girls" will be presented by Anna Quindlen, renowned columnist and author, and Debra Spar, President of Barnard College. Monday's post- prandial entertainment will be a re-enactment of highlights in the lives of HMAE leaders and their schools, led by the NAPSG Executive Director, Bruce Galbraith, Master MC (and performer) of music, stage, voice, stand-up comedy, and headship!
With a focus on the present and the future, the Centennial Conference will culminate on Tuesday morning with a panel of HMAE former and current heads who are recognized as leading mentors of their younger colleagues. Barbara Chase, Bruce Stewart, and Blair Stambaugh will share their perspectives on their roles and the imperative to groom those who follow them. We anticipate that several of the current leaders they have nurtured will share with us more about encouraging leadership now and in the future, as HMAE heads into its second century. We hope that everyone will join us in November at the Chauncey Center for this milestone event, which, like all its annual precedents, will nurture personal and professional friendships and reward us with collegiality and renewal and, as one member added, "the tools to do our jobs well."
Burch Ford
President, National Coalition of Girls' Schools
Belmont, MA
Aggie Underwood
Vice President / Managing Associate, Carney, Sandoe & Associates
Boston, MA
Please feel free to check with Diana Beebe (), our Executive Director at HMAE if you have any questions. Likewise, feel free to be in touch with either of us if you have any comments or questions about the program.
