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Plushie fairy spreads joy one surprise at a time

Patrick Garrity — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:02:16 +0000

An �鶹��ý student with a love for crocheting and a wish to spread good vibes has launched a personal mission delivered one plushie at a time. Tucked into nooks in the library, classrooms and elsewhere around campus are handmade “comfort buddies” to offer a lift on hard days.

“In the past, I crocheted things as gifts for my friends on their birthdays, and the plushies I made always received a lot of love,” says the student, who wishes to remain anonymous. “I want the people who find the plushies hidden around campus to experience a similar spark of joy, knowing someone out there other than their family/friends cares about them.”

“I reached out to CAPS after attending a session with Dr. Lee and feeling the impact that the one single session had on my mental health, and I really appreciated her help. I decided after that meeting that I wanted to raise awareness about this wonderful resource we have on campus, so I reached out to Dr. Lee asking if I could place crochet plushies in the CAPS waiting room. My hope is that my plushies will brighten people’s day and that those who take a plushie will tell their friends about CAPS, spreading the word about the adults on campus who are available to support us.”

I want the people who find the plushies [to know] someone out there other than their family/friends cares about them.

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#iam�鶹��ý: Jonny ’26

Emma Ward — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:19:32 +0000

An �鶹��ý internship brings students beyond the classroom and into real-world experiences.

From a business development internship with an oyster farm to studying orthopedic surgery, �鶹��ý’s Internship & Fellowship programs are top-notch. Each summer, a group of rising seniors takes what they’ve learned at the table and brings it with them to their field of interest. Hear from Jonny Civitarese ’26 as he shares his experience studying genetics at the University of New Hampshire’s Hubbard Center for Genome Studies.

What was your internship program?

I was a research intern at UNH’s Hubbard Center for Genome Studies.

What did your day-to-day look like during your program? Was it fast-paced meetings? Research-based? Give us a glimpse into a typical day.

We had meetings every Monday morning. In each meeting, we would present each of the projects and their progress for that week. The meetings were often fast-paced, and you had to be prepared to share specifics of your progress from the week prior. Afterwards, my days would vary. While I was working on my own project, I would spend a lot of time independently working on my code or a population genetics report. I would also help out with the lab portions of other projects.

Going from collaborating with my classmates in Harkness to collaborating with my colleagues in meetings felt like an almost seamless transition.

How did you find your way to this program? What pulled you to this industry?

At the time of applying, I was taking BIO586: Molecular Genetics and was hoping to take one of the 600-level research courses in the spring. I had a bit of prior research experience in a professional chemistry lab the summer prior, and I really enjoyed that experience and was hoping to build on it. Ms. Rankin, the internship coordinator and my genetics teacher, encouraged me to apply since it was close to home and would build on my interest in genetics and genomics! I knew I wanted to go into research because I’ve seen firsthand how impactful novel research, biological and otherwise, can be.

In what ways did �鶹��ý prepare you for this internship? Was there a specific course or mentor that helped you get ready for your experience?

I think �鶹��ý prepared me for my internship in many different ways, so many that I couldn’t name them all in a five-page essay.

One of the main ways was collaboration. Going from collaborating with my classmates in Harkness to collaborating with my colleagues in meetings felt like an almost seamless transition. Just as your colleagues rely on you to finish your specific assignments so that they can get their work done, your classmates rely on you to do your assignments and participate so that they can learn from you.

I think BIO650: Malaria best prepared me for this experience. You have to apply for the class and only a select few students are accepted. It’s not a requirement to apply for the internship, but it taught me many of the bioinformatic and lab skills that I found very helpful in my internship. We even toured the Hubbard Center for Genome Studies in my Malaria class, so I got to meet my future colleagues months before starting my internship!

What was your biggest takeaway from your experience or from the industry you were a part of?

Problem-solving is EXTREMELY important. I can’t stress that enough. I learned that firstly, you will run into a lot of problems, and secondly, you often may not know how to solve them.

When I was working on my own project, I must have run into problems with my code at least 100 times over the course of my internship, which would sometimes take me hours to fix (even if it was adding an extra space, which actually has the capability of messing up numerous lines of code). I remember one time we were trying to extract DNA from a protist, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much research about specific extraction methods for protists, and so we spent multiple days trying extraction techniques for plants, bacteria, and numerous different kinds of eukaryotes until we found one that worked. You definitely have to lean on your colleagues.

How has this experience shaped your perspective on your future career path? Did it help you understand whether this is an industry you’d want to pursue long term?

It showed me that I absolutely want to work in labs while I’m in college. Additionally, I learned about working in academia and the biotechnology industry, as HCGS was, in my view, a mix of both. They have their own projects, publish papers, and work under a university, however, another major way of accumulating revenue is sequencing for other lab projects outside of the university. I learned that academic research can often be slow-paced and methodical, whereas having assignments from other labs (some of which are at major research universities such as Johns Hopkins) can speed things up quite a bit. I think I’m more suited for a faster-paced environment.

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#iam�鶹��ý: Anika ’26

Emma Ward — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:27:57 +0000

An �鶹��ý internship brings students beyond the classroom and into real-world experiences.

From a business development internship with an oyster farm to exploring genome studies at the Hubbard Center, �鶹��ý’s Internship & Fellowship programs are top-notch. Each summer, a group of rising seniors takes what they’ve learned at the table and brings it with them to their field of interest. Hear from Anika Sivarasa ’26 as she shares highlights from her bioengineering internship in Scottsdale, Arizona.

What was your internship program?

I participated in the Patient-Inspired Bioengineering Internship at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, where I got the opportunity to intern in a lab developing a drug-delivering millirobot. My project focused on optimizing the magnet system that controls the millirobot, helping to make it viable for clinical use.

What did your day-to-day look like during your program? Was it fast-paced meetings? Research-based? Give us a glimpse into a typical day.

My first two weeks were spent exploring the lab’s ongoing research projects, studying the theory behind magnetic microrobots, and learning how to use simulation software. In the mornings, I decided which configurations I wanted to simulate, created setup diagrams, and derived expressions for the values I wanted to measure. My mentor encouraged me to manually compute values for simpler test cases to “sanity check” my results; it was tedious, but eventually came in handy!

How did you find your way to this program? What pulled you to this industry?

I first became interested in medical robotics when I saw a YouTube video of a soft robot navigating through a human’s colon to perform a surgical procedure. I didn’t know Mayo Clinic would have any medical robotics labs, though, and applied to this summer program because I was amazed by Mayo Clinic’s research impact, from injectable liquids that could seal off blood vessels to a wound-healing patch. After I got the internship, the coordinator on the Mayo Clinic side connected me with the director of the medical microrobots lab, whose projects perfectly matched my interests.

Overall, I think having foundational experiences in robotics, math and physics allowed me to take on a larger role during my internship.

In what ways did �鶹��ý prepare you for this internship? Was there a specific course or mentor that helped you get ready for your experience?

Understanding the 3D magnetic forces and torques on the magnetic millirobot required concepts from the multivariable calculus class I’d taken and built on concepts I’d learned in physics. In fact, my current physics class is covering these topics applied to other components, like motors or generators. My computer-aided design skills from robotics also helped when modifying millirobot models and creating a simplified human body model to display my results. Overall, I think having foundational experiences in robotics, math, and physics allowed me to take on a larger role during my internship.

What was your biggest takeaway from your experience or from the industry you were a part of?

The most important thing I learned was how to self-guide my research instead of relying on my mentor for tasks. I initially had no clue how to map a real-life millirobot’s operating conditions to a simulation environment, but I ended up trying out so many original ideas, including a completely different actuation system that I later realized would overheat extremely quickly.

How has this experience shaped your perspective on your future career path? Did it help you understand whether this is an industry you’d want to pursue long term?

This internship definitely made me want to pursue something related to medical devices in the future. I was already pretty sure from robotics that I wanted to go into engineering, but in this internship, I enjoyed being able to apply engineering to something that could reduce medical complications caused by standard tools like catheters. It was also valuable to hear my mentor’s thoughts on working in this interdisciplinary field while having a background in a “core” engineering field, since he had studied electrical engineering before specializing in biomedical engineering, which is what I’m thinking of doing.

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Founders’ Day, John and Elizabeth Phillips awards announced

Sarah Pruitt — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:55:19 +0000

Alumni Association President, Trustee and Awards Committee Chair Sam Brown ’92 has announced the selection of Jan Woodford ’40, ’41, 44, ’49, ’51, 52, ’53, ’59, ’60, ’62, ’70, ’71, ’78 (Hon.) to receive the 2026 Founders’ Day Award, and Samuel P. “Terry” Goddard III ’65 to receive this year’s John and Elizabeth Phillips Award.

Established by the Trustees in 1976, the Founders’ Day Award is given annually in recognition of longtime service to the Academy.

Jan Woodford retired in 2025 as senior adviser of campus events in �鶹��ý’s Alumni Relations office, having served the Academy and its alumni for nearly four decades. She began her career in the fundraising office but later moved to Alumni Relations, where she eventually managed reunion events for 14 reunion classes. During her tenure, she received honorary membership in 13 classes — more than any other community member — and attended or managed more than 750 events (including reunions, memorials, building dedications, graduations and many more).

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Woodford also spearheaded �鶹��ý Salutes, an annual programming initiative launched in 2019 that honors members of the �鶹��ý alumni community who currently serve in the armed forces or are veterans and connects them with current students.

Woodford will receive the award and speak during assembly on May 15.

The John and Elizabeth Phillips Award is given annually to an Exonian who has contributed significantly to the welfare of community, country or humanity.

This year’s recipient, Terry Goddard ’65, has dedicated his life to public service, working to increase transparency in government, enhance consumer protections and encourage citizens’ participation in the political process.

After beginning his legal career prosecuting fraud in the Arizona’s attorney general’s office, Goddard served four terms as mayor of Phoenix, Arizona and went on to become Arizona state director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2002, Goddard won election to the first of two terms as Arizona’s attorney general. In that role, he focused on promoting consumer and civil rights, fighting drug cartels and pursuing cases against predatory mortgage lenders.

Following the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC (2010), which opened the doors to unlimited election spending by wealthy individuals and groups, Goddard waged a determined fight to remove “dark money” from the state’s political system. In 2022, 72% of Arizona’s voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. 211, an initiative establishing the nation’s most comprehensive election spending transparency law, after Goddard succeeded in his fourth attempt to get it on the ballot.

Outside of the political realm, Goddard has taught graduate level courses on urban affairs and other topics at Arizona State University and served as president of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, which administers the canal system bringing water from the Colorado River to central Arizona. He has also championed historical preservation efforts, working for some 40 years to revitalize and return to public use the historic Phoenix First Baptist Church, renamed the Monroe Abbey.

Goddard will receive the John and Elizabeth Phillips Award and speak during assembly on Oct. 30.

Nominate an Exonian

Help us celebrate those Exonians who have demonstrated exceptional service by nominating fellow alumni for the Founders' Day Award or the John and Elizabeth Phillips Award.

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Ana Glidden ’12: The Next Frontier

Adam Loyd — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:03:37 +0000

Ana Glidden ’12 is looking for signs of life well outside our solar system — 40 light-years away, to be exact, on the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e. A postdoctoral researcher in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences and the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Glidden was the first author of “JWST-TST DREAMS: Secondary Atmosphere Constraints for the Habitable Zone Planet TRAPPIST-1 e,” published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters in September.

The researchers used a method called transit spectroscopy, by which astronomers look at light from the host star as it passes through the planet’s atmosphere to determine the atmosphere’s composition. The team compared data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with models Glidden helped develop to assess whether TRAPPIST-1 e might be habitable. As yet, the answer is not clear, but the research is far from complete.

“Our initial observations are one of the most detailed looks at a rocky, habitable-zone exoplanet to date, a steppingstone along the path in the search for life outside the solar system,” Glidden says.

Glidden’s earlier analysis had shown that if the planet had an atmosphere, carbon dioxide would be the most observable gas. Though none was detected on TRAPPIST-1 e, she says, it doesn’t mean there isn’t any at all. The team continues to use transit spectroscopy to explore the characteristics of the planet.

Glidden has an impressive portfolio of astrophysics research. After earning a bachelor of science degree in physics from MIT, she worked as a software engineer, assisting with camera testing for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an MIT-led NASA mission that uses the transit method to find exoplanets. That work led Glidden to shift her focus from active galactic nuclei and high energy astronomy to characterizing distant planets. She earned a doctorate in planetary science at MIT.

At �鶹��ý, Glidden’s general interest in science led her to astronomy. On the recommendation of Physics Instructor Tatiana Waterman, Glidden enrolled in John Blackwell’s introductory course, where she studied data from the Kepler planet-finding mission and learned about the classification of light curves and finding planets using the transit method. She was invited to participate with Blackwell in the NASA Infrared Processing and Analysis Center Teacher Archive Research Program (NITARP) at Caltech, using ultraviolet satellite images and ground-based optical images to make correlations between the color and luminosity of the hot gas around supermassive black holes at galaxy centers.

Glidden, who is studying the TRAPPIST-1 system of seven Earth-size planets that span the habitable zone, says nothing like that system has ever been found. The team is currently observing the innermost planet, TRAPPIST-1 b, and TRAPPIST-1 e in succession. The studies will allow Glidden and her colleagues to better characterize the exoplanets, as they continue to seek an answer to the age-old question: Are we alone?

“The different ingredients that are necessary for life to form and evolve are mind-boggling,” Glidden says. “We’ve found over 6,000 exoplanets and there have been none like Earth, which makes you realize just how special Earth is.”

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 issue of The �鶹��ý Bulletin.

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Grief and Grace

Adam Loyd — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:02:08 +0000

Each fall, faculty members take to the podium in Phillips Church, in front of peers, students and friends, to deliver meditations. There is no template or paradigm for a meditation. Most are personal and evolve from thinking about life and one’s place in it. One of the earliest published collections of meditations states, “The meditations may well signify the best of what �鶹��ý seeks to nurture within its community: clear cogent expression, observation and contemplation, respect for others, and a sense of the complex interrelatedness of humankind.” Here is an excerpt from the meditation Courtney Shaw shared with the community this fall.

I have lived long enough to know grief and grace on a first-name basis.

“Mrs. Shaw, your daughter is what we consider gifted and talented.” That was code for I would spend first through fourth grade in the C.L.U.E program, Creative Learning in Unique Environments. I loveeeeed CLUE. I met several politicians, the old Sammy Sosa was my pen pal, and Beowulf was my favorite read!

I didn’t realize this opportunity would come at the cost of being an outcast among my peers. It was also in this program that I learned some people shouldn’t teach young minds. Ms. Flatt was the fourth-grade CLUE instructor and, having had enough of my many questions, told me there was no purpose in answering MY hypotheticals because I wasn’t leaving Memphis.

Turn to your neighbor and say, “Don’t let someone with no vision tell you how to see.”

I remember being so embarrassed because the class was all of, like, six kids. I nervously laughed to keep from crying and was on mute for the rest of the day. I rode the bus home. I remember that at every stop, I would question every word she said to me, analyzing her choice of vocabulary. My brain processes information like a web. You say one thing and I immediately see visuals. When my mom walked through the door and hung her lab coat on the coat hanger and my dad unpacked his uneaten lunch items, I rattled off what Mrs. Flatt said. As I talked, I watched my 6-foot-6¾-inch dad smirk and then exit the kitchen to sit at the dining table for my mother’s response. My mother is one of the wisest people I know. A preacher ordained in ’95. She turned to me: “Well, Courtney, what did you think of what she said? Is it true?”

“Uh, no.”

“Who is she to you?”

“She’s my new CLUE teacher.”

I don’t remember much else other than my parents meeting with the principal and Mrs. Flatt. I finished the year out and didn’t return to public school until college.

I carved ‘Life is what you make it' on every school notebook I had because I learned then the choice was mine to make the life I wanted.

Middle school was riddled with its own fun challenges. Mrs. Hiller was cool until she couldn’t find my homework in the homework tray. I asked her to re-check the tray, but she wouldn’t even look, so I was forced to stay behind to complete it. The consequence? Missing break — a time when I could eat and play an intense game of foosball. The break was also a time for the teacher to get a break and for the teacher’s aide to come in. In walks Ms. Newsome. “Courtney, are you OK?”

“No, Mrs. Hiller won’t check the tray and I know my work is there. It’s unfair. I asked and she wouldn’t even look. This feels wrong.”

Man, don’t you know Ms. Newsome gets up, walks out of the class to find the principal. The intercom comes on: “Courtney Shaw, you are needed in the principal’s office.” I take the walk of shame and enter her office where she hands me the phone. It’s my mother: “We’ll handle this at home.” Gyaaaaaaaaat dang mane, I knew exactly what that meant.

When I returned to class, my peers and Mrs. Hiller were walking in from break and a student knocked over the homework tray. Whose homework was at the bottom of the tray? Courtney Shaw’s. My teacher’s response, “Oh here it is.” No apology, no call back home. Grief.

High school was even better! I carved “Life is what you make it” on every notebook I had because I learned then the choice was mine to make the life I wanted. But what you do with the things you DIDN’T MAKE will show you HOW to live.

I was one of five Black students in my school of 500. I, like some teenagers, was angry at my parents for sending me to that school. A bunch of smart kids. Most of them wealthy. Then there was me, full financial aid.

The first time I got called n—– was outside my locker during third period. Followed by a kid in my grade asking if I could bring the fried chicken and watermelon to our Christmas class party.

Grief was when my only outlet, the choir, decided we would sing a Negro spiritual for our road performances … when three of the choir members, including me, are only a few generations removed from slavery.

Grief was being mad at all of this and directing it to my parents. You know, the ones who grew up during Jim Crow and were literally bused to integration.

And grace was them listening to a 14-year-old rant for four years about a high school that was heaven compared with what they endured.

Eighteen years ago, I sat where many of you sit now, Class of 2026. I wasn’t sure where I was going to college. My grind for college was a tad different than my peers’. My parents told me and my sisters, when I was 10, that they weren’t paying for us to go to school. “We got scholarships and worked, so can you. I had my heart set on Vandy until I saw the package Vandy had for me. Yeah, no.

That’s when I pivoted. I fell in love with not only a school that was a good distance away, but a school that wanted to pay me to be there. I took my talents to Middle Tennessee State University, where I excelled and by April of 2012 was set to graduate in May. My plan was to return in the fall to pursue my master’s through an assistantship that would cover the admissions costs.

I was sitting at my internship and decided to call and check the receipt of my grad application. “I’m sorry, Courtney. I don’t see it anywhere.” I was crushed. My face flushed. Tears welled. Plans completely thwarted. I got up from my desk and told my boss that I needed a moment to gather myself. I had to have been in that bathroom for about 15 minutes. I let it out, gathered myself and returned to the office. I sat down at my desk. As I opened my email, my boss stood in the doorway. “I forwarded you a position for a one-year paid internship. Take a look at the description, if you are interested, reach out.”

I sent the email. The hiring personnel responded. Boom, we had a 30-minute call scheduled for that Wednesday. That Wednesday, 30 minutes turned into an hour and a half. That hour and a half turned into my becoming the health education intern at the Academy.

The funny thing is, the day I moved into Webster, my acceptance letter to the grad school arrived at my home. My intern experience at �鶹��ý could be described by my current students as interesting. I spent many nights leaving Lamont heading back to Webster, questioning if I made a mistake coming here. Whether you are a student/kid or staffulty/ adult, this place can be hard. Through the many challenges I faced, it was my perspective, supplied by grace, that I look back and credit, through all of those hard situations, places, times and people, for molding me into the educator I am today.

I guess you could say, 18 years later, I am thankful to still be in a space to learn, and hope you always remember that if you can change your perspective, you can change your life.

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 issue of The �鶹��ý Bulletin.

Courtney Shaw served an internship in the Health and Human Development Department during the 2012-13 school year. She joined the Academy as an instructor in 2021 and is currently the chair of the Department of Health and Human Development.

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Sharon Bradey Named Director of Squash

Adam Loyd — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 20:00:40 +0000

Sharon Bradey, �鶹��ý’s new director of squash, says her career has been defined as much by lasting relationships as by points won.

Her parents helped run a squash club in Adelaide, Australia, while she was growing up. The club was close enough to home that Bradey ran or biked there nearly every day. “As long as I got home before the sun went down, I could go back the next day,” she says. “Only once did I learn that lesson.”

During the 1980s, squash was booming in Australia. Saturday morning junior clinics regularly drew a large crowd of children competing for court time. By the time Bradey turned 12, she was playing on a team with women who were decades older. Surrounded by “extra mums,” The Kid, as she was called on the court, quickly learned what it meant to compete and to belong. “You played your heart out because you didn’t want to be sitting off the court waiting,” she says.

Bradey spent her teenage years traveling across Australia for junior tournaments and balancing schoolwork with an increasingly demanding squash schedule. At 18, with savings from working part time, she joined the professional tour as a six-month experiment. “There wasn’t much money in it,” Bradey says. “I knew I had to perform well to make enough to travel to the next tournament.”

That experiment turned into a decade-long career that took her around the globe. She was ranked as high as 12th in the world.

After Bradey stepped away from professional competition, she spent the next 30 years coaching at colleges and clubs, including The Harvard Club for 25 years. She also coached national teams in Spain, Denmark and Israel. Her global experiences have helped shape her philosophy as a coach. “Excellence matters,” she says. “But people matter more.”

In 2025, Bradey was inducted into the South Australian Squash Hall of Fame, an emotional homecoming that reunited her with family, mentors and teammates. “Squash has given me a lifetime of relationships,” she says. “I love seeing former players come back as adults, as parents, as coaches themselves. When you realize you have been part of someone’s journey, that’s the sweet spot.”

Now an American citizen and one of the longest-serving female professionals in club squash in North America, Bradey sees �鶹��ý as the place where everything aligns. “To be able to do what I love, in another country, and feel so connected to a school and its students — I’m meant to be here. I believe that.”

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 edition of The �鶹��ý Bulletin.

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Emma Finn ’22 Awarded Rhodes Scholarship

Adam Loyd — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 19:58:24 +0000

Emma Finn ’22 was named one of 32 U.S. Rhodes Scholars in November. The scholarship provides full financial support for two to three years of postgraduate work at the University of Oxford for students focused on exemplary academic study and public service.
A senior at Harvard University, Finn is completing a double major in mathematics and classics as well as a concurrent master’s degree in statistics. At Oxford, she plans to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy in statistics or statistical machine learning, focusing on understanding “creativity” in generative models like image-based diffusion models.

There are so many researchers at Oxford I admire. The opportunity to collaborate with them on work that excites me is a dream come true!

Finn also hopes to work with ethicists and policymakers to design tools to help regulate artificial intelligence fairly. “I’m especially excited to be a part of the community of Rhodes Scholars and to be surrounded by people who are driven to make the world a better place,” she says. “I hope to learn from them about the challenges they think are most pressing and work in partnership with them to identify technologies that might address those issues.”

This article was originally published in the winter 2026 edition of The �鶹��ý Bulletin.

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Memorial Minute: Jacquelyn Harvey Thomas

Emma Ward — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:01:03 +0000

Jacquelyn Harvey Thomas

Academy Librarian; Rupert Radford ’15 Faculty Fellowship (1989); James H. Ottaway, Jr. ’55 Professor Emerita and Chair (1990); George S. Heyer, Jr. Class of 1948 Teacher Award (2010); Founders Day Award (2021).

Jacquelyn Thomas. Just to say the name evokes an age—a bygone age in the life of the Academy—but also an inheritance that we, its present denizens, enjoy in ways that perhaps we don’t realize or that we take for granted. Nothing that Jacquelyn Thomas did was not thorough, executed to her exacting standards; this Memorial Minute will seek to do service—and tribute—to her accomplishments and to her abiding spirit and legacy. Settle in: It will last longer than a minute

Jackie (as she was known to us) was born in Mechanicsville, Pennsylvania, and spent her early life in nearby Camp Hill. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Gettysburg College, earning her B.A., and married David Thomas in 1954. In 1957, the couple moved to �鶹��ý, where David had been hired to teach Classics at The �鶹��ý (as it was called then). Their three daughters were raised on campus and all graduated from PEA—those details will acquire greater significance as we proceed. While raising those daughters—in the fourth-floor apartment of Wheelwright with a hot plate (no kitchen), where dishes were done in the bathtub—and later in Ewald and in haunted Gillman House (more on that 3 in the endnote)*—Jackie pursued, and achieved, her M.Ed. in Library Science from the University of New Hampshire.

She began her long and illustrious career at the Academy in 1971, first working as a staff person in the Davis Library before being appointed the first female Academy Librarian in 1975. During her tenure, Jackie transformed the newly constructed Class of 1945 Library (which many referred to as her library) into “the intellectual and cultural center of the �鶹��ý campus” and indeed of the surrounding town (Jim Ottaway, Jr., remarks to �鶹��ý faculty, May 2, 1990). Early on, Jackie began computerization of the Library’s collection and accelerated the presence of technology by accommodating the Library’s Telecommunication Center. She welcomed thousands of visitors from all over the world, who’d made the pilgrimage to view Louis Kahn’s iconic building. Upon Jackie’s appointment as James H. Ottaway, Jr. Professor and Academy Librarian in 1990, Principal Tom Hassan remarked, “Under her leadership, the Library has been not only a haven for scholars [conducting independent research, panel discussions, lectures, symposia], but also a venue for an array of events that broadened and deepened our [cultural] awareness.” These events ranged from musical concerts and theatrical productions to authors’ readings and scholarly lectures; they included the Lamont Poets Series (which Jackie co-founded with Corliss Lamont, and which continues to bring to campus a virtual pantheon of poets, whose first, at Jackie’s invitation, was Jorge Luis Borges). Under Jackie’s supervision, events even extended to the construction of a sand mandala in the center of Rockefeller Hall by a group of visiting Tibetan monks. Each and every event, every detail—down to the fall faculty party’s enormous shrimp bowl—bore the singular “Jackie stamp” of excellence, meticulous organization, class and style. Her response to those with ideas about enhancing the Academy’s cultural life with the use of the Library’s space or funds was ever and always her signature gruff “Just ask!”

Jackie joined the faculty in the initial days of co-education, and one of her most influential roles in the 1970s through the 1990s was as a member of the Committee to Enhance the Status of Women. That committee—which advocated for the inclusion of women faculty and staff and, beyond that, worked to support women faculty in the early years—hosted mentoring programs, professional development opportunities and even a national conference for women educators in boarding schools. Co-committee member and former Dean of Students Susan Herney recollects,

[Jackie] was instrumental in designing the various workshops we thought vital to having our voices heard and becoming a visible presence. One workshop was teaching Listening Skills, and another [called] “In a Different Voice” ([addressed] how women make decisions differently than men. [It was] led by Carol Gilligan, a psychologist at Harvard). Afterward Jackie said, “Did you notice how uncomfortable the men were in both settings? . . . Did you notice they were dropping pencils, shifting in their seats?” . . . These workshops were working [Herney went on]. Men were learning, perhaps in some cases for the first time, what listening could be and how women came at decision making differently than they did. [Jackie’s] persistence, dedication to her values, intellectual honesty and courage were key to much of what the committee accomplished in its early years. (Remarks made at Jackie’s memorial service, March 25, 2023)

Jackie was also a founding member and chair of the Child Care Governing Board which supported young families at the school, helping them to balance home life and professional responsibilities. (This at a time before the existence of Academy childcare.) Susan Herney again recalls,

[Jackie’s] doggedness in pushing forward childcare for faculty was crucial to the recruitment and retention not only of women faculty but men as well. From the very beginning, she shepherded the founding of the Harris Family Child Care Center. Unlike many women faculty at the time, Jackie had been a faculty wife, raising three daughters, living in a dorm and supporting Dave in those early years in the ’50s when they arrived at �鶹��ý. This gave her a much broader and keener perspective on the needs of both women faculty and staff. (Ibid.)

Under her leadership, the library has been not only a haven for scholars, … but also a venue for an array of events that broadened and deepened our [cultural] awareness.”

Jackie served on a host of other faculty committees that touched virtually every aspect of academy life: Department Heads, Funds Committee, Lamont Poets Committee, IT Governance Web, Academic Technology Committee, Admissions, Alumni Affairs and Development, Appointments and Leaves, the Blackboard Implementation Team, Bookstore Advisory Committee, Calendar Committee, CDAP Governing Board (Chair), Child Care Study Group, Co-education Committee, Curriculum Committee, Faculty Life and Responsibility Committee (Co-Chair), IT Governance Instructional Technology, Junior Studies Working Committee, Lowenstein Committee (Chair), PEA History Project and the Technology Steering Committee. Add to this her roles as adviser to Library Proctors, Day Student Adviser and coach of club tennis. To say that Jackie was contiguous to the school’s beating heart would not be an overstatement. On the occasion of her having to travel off 6 campus for a school evaluation, she wrote to Dean of Faculty, Andy Hertig, “Don’t make any far-reaching decisions without me.”

Later in her career, Jackie oversaw the production of a number of publications including pieces on the Bennett Fellowship, a volume of Memorial Minutes and Collected Letters from the Friends of the Academy Library; she produced an informational pamphlet on the Library, as well as a booklet on its architecture and history. Upon her retirement in 2010, the academy established the Jacquelyn H. Thomas Fund for the Class of 1945 Library, which continues to benefit academy life through the acquisition of books and other materials and support of Library programs. In 2021, she received one of the Academy’s highest honors, the Founders Day Award, for “exceptional service to the academy.” It was a fitting conclusion to and culmination of her sixty-four-year association with the school.

Jackie died peacefully on January 21, 2023, at Riverwoods in �鶹��ý. She was predeceased by her husband, David, and is survived by her daughters and their families. She survives in the legacy she left us. We feel her presence when we enjoy what’s good about this place; when we aspire to make what’s good, better; in those moments when we achieve (or hope to achieve) that rare quality she embodied: excellence.

I move that this Memorial Minute be submitted to Jackie’s family and be spread upon the minutes of the faculty.

Respectfully submitted,

Todd Hearon

*Jackie enjoyed telling of the ghost of Gillman House, where she and Dave lived when the house was a boarder residence: The inexplicable sound of a ball bouncing in the basement that would stop when they opened the door; the invisible force that grabbed an electrician’s hand as he reached into a wall—and that sent him fleeing across campus, vowing never to return.

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Exonians in Review: Winter 2026

Patrick Garrity — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 14:23:07 +0000

The latest publications, recordings, exhibitions and films by �鶹��ý alumni and faculty.

Surgeons and Something More: The History of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania
Clyde Barker ’50, with Elizabeth D. Barker, The American Philosophical Society Press, 2024

Murder at Seascape
Tom Ehrlich ’52, Pegasus Publishers, 2025

One: One Earth, One Humanity, One Future
Winslow Myers ’58, with Libby Traubman Creative Initiative Publications, 2025

Thomas More and Liberal Education: Christian Humanism in Practice
Elizabeth Brooke Blackburn Carpenter; George S. Blackburn ’60, editor, self-published, 2024

A Vet’s Story
Mark Helfat ’69, self-published, 2025

Surfing the Interstates: 1973 Hitchhiking Memoir
André J de Saint Phalle ’69, self-published, 2025

Master of Rome: A Life of Julius Caesar
David Potter ’75, Oxford University Press, 2025

The Last of the Giants: An Ultra Running Graphic Novel
Doug Mayer ’83, with William Windrestin Helvetiq, 2025

“Half-Heard in the Stillness,” essay
Jeremy Faro ’92, The Threepenny Review, fall 2025

Rainbow Gold: Building a Business That’s Both the Journey and the Destination
David B. Hampson ’96, MindStir Media, 2025

The Catholic Church and Transnational Moral Norms in the Philippines: Contraception, Human Trafficking, and Religion
Jonathan T. Chow ’99, Routledge, 2025

The 7-Minute Citizen: Your Power, Your Rights, Your Democracy
Wes Chaput ’06, Wheatmark, 2025

Protected: Birth Control’s Remarkable Story and Uncertain Future
Katie DeAngelis Quimby ’09, Bloomsbury Academic, 2025

FACULTY

“On Heartbreak: The Beautiful Half of a Golden Hurt,” essay
Willie Perdomo, instructor in English, Poetry Foundation, November 3, 2025

Submit your work

Alumni are encouraged to advise the Bulletin editor (bulletin@exeter.edu) of their own publications, recordings, films, etc., in any field, and those of their classmates, for inclusion in future Exonians in Review columns. Please send a review copy of your published work to the editor to be considered for an extended profile in future issues. Works can be sent to: �鶹��ý, The �鶹��ý Bulletin, 20 Main Street, �鶹��ý, NH 03833.

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