MERCERSBURG ACADEMY Mercersburg, Pennsylvania DIRECTOR OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION Start Date: July 1, 2021 mercersburg.edu Mission At Mercersburg Academy we embrace the values of hard work, character, and community while learning to balance independence with interdependence and individual humility with collective pride. Our students commit to a life of learning, seek to understand the spiritual nature of human existence, and develop a determination to lead and serve the world. Vision Mercersburg will boldly reimagine excellence in education by creating an interwoven academic and residential experience that will inspire our students to lead and serve in a complex, changing world. OVERVIEW Over a century ago, Dr. William Mann Irvine set forth a vision for Mercersburg Academy that was rooted in the importance of character and community. Today, Mercersburg—an independent coed college-preparatory boarding and day school for grades 9-12 and postgraduates—embodies those values in a way that reflects the complexity and texture of our ever-changing world. The culture of Mercersburg is kind and accepting, which facilitates students’ exposure to an incredible breadth of programs and opportunities. This culture also ensures that the Mercersburg experience is positive, respectful, and nurturing, and one where adult presence and mentorship frame and support positive peer interactions, promoting a healthy and safe environment for students to learn and grow. Students seek out a Mercersburg education because they are ready to be challenged in their endeavors both in and outside of the classroom, and be a part of something bigger than just themselves. At this time, Mercersburg seeks a new Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Over the last few years, and under the leadership of the current Head of School, the topics of diversity and inclusion have become of the utmost importance to the Mercersburg community; the community is acutely aware that these topics must be addressed and explored in an ongoing fashion, from every vantage point. Accordingly, strong candidates will be compelling and effective communicators and collaborators. They will appreciate that the subjects of diversity, equity, and inclusion do not have endpoints or finish lines; rather they are values that must be woven thoughtfully into every aspect of Mercersburg life. Finally, strong candidates will be able to leverage the work that Mercersburg has begun in this space and use it as a springboard to ensure the school’s students, faculty, staff, curriculum, and culture continue to learn and grow at every turn. CARNEYSANDOE.COM 2 Fast Facts Total students: 445 Students who board: 378 (85%) Domestic students who identify as a person of color: 33% International students: 21% Total faculty: 101 Faculty who hold advanced degrees: 73 hold a master’s; 5 hold a doctorate Student/teacher ratio: 4:1 Families that receive financial aid: 50% Endowment value: $295M SCHOOL HISTORY Mercersburg’s proud history and rich traditions date back to 1836, when the Academy’s predecessor, Marshall College, was founded in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Marshall College moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1853, but the preparatory department of the college remained on its original site. It was chartered as Mercersburg College in 1865. In 1893, Mercersburg’s Board of Regents elected Dr. William Mann Irvine to lead the institution. Within months, Dr. Irvine renamed the school Mercersburg Academy and reorganized it as a college-preparatory school based on the Exeter model. Dr. Irvine launched the new school in the fall of 1893 with 40 boys, four instructors, and four acres of leased ground. Mercersburg rapidly grew in size and stature, gaining regional and national recognition as a top college-preparatory boarding school with strong ties to Princeton University. Through the Depression and World War II, the Academy prospered. In 1969, Mercersburg embraced coeducation, and the campus and the school’s offerings continued to grow. New building projects dominated the latter half of the 20th century with the completion of Lenfest Hall, the Academy’s 45,000-volume library, the Burgin Center for the Arts, and the Simon Student Center. During this time Mercersburg established formal exchange programs with schools in five different countries and completed two enormously successful capital campaigns. CARNEYSANDOE.COM 3 THE SCHOOL Head of School Katie Titus introduced Courageous Conversations in 2017 to help guide the campus dialogue about race, gender, politics, and other cultural touchstones. As a result of these Conversations, in the spring of 2019, a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ) task force made up of Mercersburg Academy faculty, staff, and students met under the following charge: At Mercersburg, we value diversity and believe in cultivating a safe community where everyone is encouraged to be their authentic selves. In a world where social norms are evolving rapidly, how might we at Mercersburg improve our policies, practices, and programs to strengthen our community as it relates to diversity, equity, and inclusion? During the same year, four external DEIJ professionals in independent schools visited Mercersburg over a two-day span and provided valuable input to the Mercersburg DEIJ task force, which then produced a report that included observations, findings, and recommendations. The school’s task force identified faculty and staff training as the highest priority. As Mercersburg entered into its accreditation process, this training was highlighted as the singular focus of the Sustaining Excellence accreditation protocol, which prompts a school to identify a strategic initiative, conduct a research project on the implementation of the initiative, and present its findings to other schools. The school community understands that there is no box that can be checked to accomplish anti-racism; this will be an ongoing practice for all communities, especially those founded on privilege. The school has already identified areas of opportunity for its curriculum to evolve to be more reflective of a diverse and changing world. One such area is the work of the history department. In the spring, a history class on race was presented to the Academic Office; that course was approved as an elective and will be the first official course propelling Mercersburg in its initiative to move Beyond the AP. Advanced Studies in Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. will be offered this academic year. In addition, in a memo to school leadership, Jay Bozzi, chair of the history department, wrote, “We will not allow ourselves CARNEYSANDOE.COM 4 to address the vital concerns of the day (racism) with antiseptic detachment, but will actively use the events, questions, voices, and figures of the past to promote an understanding of and engagement in the present. Such inquiry is a critical endeavor for all of our students, and we want to ensure that those courageous conversations are a consistent experience in all of our history classes.” Finally, Jennifer Smith ’97, dean of academics, will lead the academic department heads through a curriculum audit next year to develop a comprehensive plan for how to diversify our curriculum further for a contemporary and future world across all departments. ACADEMICS Mercersburg’s curriculum offers 170 courses from its eight academic departments. Students may also pursue their passion through individualized projects. When building courses, faculty practice the concept of “backward design”—keeping the end goals of each student in mind. Planning begins—whether the subject is chemistry, history, Spanish, or multivariable calculus—with an essential question: what are the ideas and concepts students should understand and master after successfully completing a course? From there, faculty and staff build a flexible strategy that will maximize learning. Ninth and 10th grades focus on skill development so that students establish a significant foundation in all disciplines, preparing them for more independent and in-depth work in 11th and 12th grade. Mercersburg limits the amount of homework for ninth and 10th graders to no more than 45 minutes per class each night (due to the school’s COVID-19 response, students only have two classes). In the 11th and 12th grades, students do more independent, in-depth, project-based, and experiential work. With most graduation requirements finished by the end of the 11th-grade year, students can explore their interests and passions during their senior year. All students must successfully complete one of Mercersburg’s two capstone experiences for upper-class students: MAPS or Springboard. These CARNEYSANDOE.COM 5 capstones foster original thinking and allow students to proliferate their own ideas while producing compelling work in preparation for college. A two-year program that begins in 11th grade with a competitive application process, Mercersburg’s Advanced Program for Global Studies (MAPS) gives highly motivated students exposure as young scholars. MAPS expands and transcends the existing curriculum, seeking to encourage and inspire students to redefine their potential. Students are empowered to become creative and discerning thinkers, independent and self-directed learners, and compassionate and engaged global citizens. In 11th grade, MAPS students enroll in Thought, Knowledge, and Belief, a course that considers the role of morality, intuition, reason, philosophy, religion, and ethics in human affairs, as well as political theory and current events.