Announcing Director of Equity and Inclusion Position

November 16, 2020

Dear Rowland Hall Families and Friends,

I am excited to announce today that our community has received an extraordinary gift: The Cumming Foundation has donated $2.4 million to endow a Director of Equity and Inclusion position at Rowland Hall. This will be the first endowed position in the school's history and will ensure that we have a permanent, full-time leader to guide us in this important work.

Former Head of School Alan Sparrow worked closely with the Cumming family to secure this gift and articulate the vision for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at Rowland Hall, so much credit and thanks is due to him. As we launch a national search, we will be partnering with StratéGenius, a Berkeley-based firm with extensive experience cultivating, recruiting, and placing educators in DEI leadership positions at independent schools. More information about the search process will be shared soon.

At a time when pivotal conversations about racial justice are occurring across the nation, we are so grateful to the Cumming family for their generosity and leadership. Their gift supports our core value of welcoming everyone, elevates our institutional commitment to DEI, and sets a precedent for other schools in Utah and beyond.

Sincerely,

Mick Gee 
Head of School

December 15, 2020

Dear Rowland Hall Families and Friends,

As you will recall, last month we announced the Cumming Foundation made an extraordinary gift to endow a Director of Equity and Inclusion (DEI) position at our school. We are excited to share a few updates on the search with you today.

First, in consultation with StratéGenius—the search firm we have retained to help us recruit the best candidates from across the nation—we have completed the official position statement for the DEI job. We invite all of you to share this document on your social media networks or with anyone you feel might benefit from reviewing it.

Second, we have formed our DEI search committee, which includes the following members:

Mick Gee (myself), head of school - committee co-chair
Emma Wellman, Beginning School principal - committee co-chair
Jij de Jesus, Lower School principal
Ryan Hoglund, director of ethical education and interim Middle School learning specialist
Lizbeth Sorenson, Lower School faculty member
Kate Taylor, Upper School faculty member
Lisa Brown Miranda, associate director of admission
Christina Lau Billings ’98, trustee, parent, and alumna

This committee will be meeting virtually and reviewing candidate files in January, with the hope of interviewing semifinalists in early February, finalists in mid-February, and announcing the appointment in early March. As we advance through the search process, we will be engaging many different constituent groups across the school community. Your interactions with candidates and feedback will be instrumental to ensuring a successful search, so thank you in advance for your time and contributions.

We also invite you to visit the DEI search page on our website for updates and opportunities to connect with candidates later this winter. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the position or search process, feel free to contact us at deisearch@rowlandhall.org.

Sincerely,

Mick Gee 
Head of School

February 18, 2021

Dear Rowland Hall Families and Friends,

As our Director of Equity and Inclusion search moves into its final stage, I would like to invite you to meet our finalists. This search has been an exciting and rewarding process and I am pleased to share that we have three finalists who represent the best candidates from across the nation.

Each finalist will be participating in a virtual visit of the school between February 23–March 2 and will be meeting with various constituents along the way. You are invited to join Zoom meetings where you can listen to each candidate discuss their values, experiences, and vision for the future, as well as answer questions submitted by the community.

We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the candidates and to help enhance their understanding of and appreciation for Rowland Hall. For your planning purposes, the virtual meetings are scheduled as follows:

• Dawn Anderson: Tuesday, February 23 at noon via Zoom
• Chandani Patel: Monday, March 1 at noon via Zoom
• Candidate C*: Tuesday, March 2 at noon via Zoom

*Candidate C will remain anonymous until the virtual visit. 

Your feedback on the candidates is welcome via a Google form.

Please visit our Director of Equity and Inclusion search page of the website for biographical sketches of each candidate. Additionally, I encourage you to submit questions in advance of each virtual meeting.

Reaching this final stage of the search is a result of the thorough and intentional process carried out by our dedicated search committee, guided by Stategenius. With the appointment of this position, we are one step closer to elevating our institutional commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Thank you in advance for your engagement and support of this critical and exciting process.

Sincerely,

Mick Gee 
Head of School

Meet Dawn on Tuesday, February 23 at noon via Zoom.

BIO

Dawn spent nearly two decades as the Co-Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Trevor Day School in New York City. In this role she worked extensively to create and integrate DEI initiatives and programming across school operations, including curriculum development, affinity groups, events for parents, alumni, faculty, and staff, and a diversity strategic plan. Dawn has presented on JEDI topics at multiple national and regional conferences and continues to expand her education through courses at UCLA and the Brooklyn Institute of Social Research. Dawn is used to wearing "many hats" at an organization and excited by the breadth and depth of the DEI position at Rowland Hall.

Meet Chandani on Monday, March 1 at noon via Zoom

BIO

Chandani is currently the Director for Global Diversity Education and Training at New York University, where she works with faculty on curriculum and instruction that is centered in DEI. She also holds a PhD in South Asian and African literatures and has taught and written extensively on how concepts of race, identity, and belonging shift across places, languages, and cultures. Chandani is excited by Rowland Hall's inclusive educational mission and the opportunity to bring her experience in relationship building, assessment plans and frameworks, and inclusive teaching to a PreK-12 institution with strong community ties.

Meet Sheryl on Tuesday, March 2 at noon via Zoom

BIO

Sheryl Ellsworth is the Family/Community Engagement Specialist for the Utah State Board of Education. In this role, she supports and trains schools, namely administrators and teachers, in engaging families through evidence-based strategies in urban, suburban, rural, remote, and indigenous reservation communities. Prior to this, Sheryl taught in Philadelphia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. While in D.C., she played an integral role in helping her school move from the second-lowest performing position in the district to become the first school out of priority/turnaround status. Sheryl received an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University in Communications and Sociology and a master's degree from George Mason University in Early Childhood Education.