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Faculty News
BARBARA BELL DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR STEM EDUCATION FOR GIRLS
Veteran Vision: Barbara Bell uses knowledge gained in a 28-year Navy career to help launch girls into STEM disciplines.
Reprinted with permission from Vanderbilt Magazine Written by Jan Read, Photo by Susan Urmy
As director of the Center for STEM Education for Girls at Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, retired Navy Capt. Barbara Bell, Ed.D. ’18, wants to give girls the confidence and knowledge to excel in technical careers long dominated by men. A 28-year veteran and one of the first women graduates of both the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Bell is uniquely positioned to deliver on that promise. “My goal is for girls to know that they are good at math and science, that they can code, and that they can learn the engineering design process and employ it to design a project,” she says. Bell recently led the STEM Summer Institute programs at Harpeth Hall for middleand high-school girls from across Nashville, allowing them the hands-on experience to do just that. The younger students developed concepts for safe lighting that would allow girls in rural Kenya to study after dark. The high-school students worked to design safe, environmentally friendly ovens for the same population. “It was exciting to see them understand the problem and work together to develop solutions, and also understand that the failures along the way were learning opportunities,” Bell says. Bell charted a path to the U.S. Naval Academy in high school. She graduated in 1983 with a degree in systems engineering—among the first wave of women admitted into the academy—and received her “wings of gold” as a naval flight officer a year later. Buoyed by her success, she set her sights on the elite Test Pilot School. Despite Bell’s outstanding record, her career adviser was less than enthusiastic about her chances.
Undaunted, Bell was accepted as the only woman in her class and graduated in the top three. She later returned to the school as its first female instructor. During her Navy career Bell earned a master’s in astronautical engineering, held a wide range of positions, and flew more than 1,600 hours in 35 types of aircraft. She is sharing the lessons she learned in her military career in a new book she’s writing, Flight Lessons: Learning to Fly. After retiring in 2007, Bell was consulting in the aerospace industry when she realized she was ready to do something different. She earned a master’s in theology in 2015. But she had long considered herself an educator, often visiting classrooms to demonstrate the science and technology behind an aviator’s flight gear. Research into leadership and education programs led her to Peabody, where she enrolled in the Ed.D. program. “Most of the students in my 22-person cohort flew in every other weekend for classes,” Bell says. “I was impressed by their dedication and their willingness to pursue their degree. We learned a tremendous amount from each other.” One focus of the cohort’s research was on helping underrepresented populations up and over the bridge from high school to higher education, especially in STEM fields. “I feel exceptionally fortunate at this stage in my career to be in the position to help launch the next generation of women STEM leaders,” Bell says. “They are the gateway to the future.”
ALICE BRYANT MIDDLE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN
Harpeth Hall is proud to share that Middle School Librarian Alice Bryant was asked to co-chair the 2019 American Association of School Librarians Conference which took place in November in Louisville, Kentucky. In her distinguished role as co-chair, she helped organize over 100 exhibitors and 200 speakers and presenters. She contributed a tremendous amount of time and work that helped create an informative and well-attended conference, and helped elevate Harpeth Hall on a national level. Ms. Bryant also published an article about the conference in the September/October 2019 issue of the Journal of the American Association of School Librarians. Thank you, Ms. Bryant, for representing our school and our Library so well!
LEADERSHIP TEAM Several members of our Leadership Team will be pursuing new opportunities in the 2020-2021 school year. We are grateful for their time at Harpeth Hall and wish them well!
JENNIFER ADAMS DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND INCLUSION Jennifer Adams joined Harpeth Hall in 1999 as Middle School Counselor and was named Director of Counseling in 2006. Through the years, she has helped countless students and families. Jennifer was named Director of Community Support and Inclusion in 2016. Jennifer’s belief that connecting faculty across disciplines in our school and with peers across the country strengthens our community and enriches our curriculum. We are a better school because of her work on our anti-bias curriculum and her leading role in our equity and inclusion initiative. Jennifer has set a high standard for our community’s approach to tolerance and worked every day to support fully all underrepresented students and families in their Harpeth Hall experience, particularly in integrating all newcomers, students, parents and faculty, into our school. Jennifer is excited about her next chapter and the opportunity to use her many skills in counseling and school administration to continue to help students, teachers, families, and schools. We are deeply grateful for all that Jennifer has given to Harpeth Hall for the last 21 years.
SUZANNAH GREEN DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS Suzannah Green joined the Harpeth Hall community in 2016 as Director of Strategic Communications. In her time at Harpeth Hall, she and the Communications team greatly increased the annual content produced for Harpeth Hall audiences. She updated and re-tooled Hallways, and redefined the school’s newsletter communications and processes. She also created Inside the Hall to provide parents a glimpse into our Middle School and Upper School classrooms each month. She grew the website, increased our use of video, and created a social media strategy for Harpeth Hall. Most recently she has worked with Admission and Advancement on a branding and messaging refresh that includes the redesign of the Admission viewbook and supporting materials for the 2020-2021 school year. of color each year. In addition, under her
Suzannah’s creativity and contributions can be seen in each aspect of our Communications materials. From the website to newsletters to videos, our content has been updated and made fresh. Suzannah has helped our school communicate well through many crises and emergency situations in the past four years. Her contributions and leadership are greatly appreciated. Suzannah looks forward to a quiet summer with her husband and two small boys. She will be pursuing a new opportunity at the end of the year.
KAREN SUTTON DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS Karen Sutton joined the Harpeth Hall community in 1997 as a Middle School English teacher and varsity volleyball and basketball coach. She led teams to win the school’s first volleyball state championship and the school’s first of two basketball state championships. She was named Director of Athletics in 2005, and during her time as director, she instituted a no-cut policy for Middle School Athletics, implemented a Strength and Conditioning program, and increased the overall participation of athletics in all grades. During her tenure, Harpeth Hall athletic facilities improved greatly with the addition of the turf field, the Athletic and Wellness Center, the new tennis courts, and the new softball and practice fields. For 23 years, Karen has been the representative of our school and athletic program both internally and externally in the independent school community in Nashville, and we are grateful for all of her good work to advance our program. Karen has recently accepted a new position for the next Academy. She will assume a role in Advancement as Major Gifts Officer, she will assist in Athletics, and she will serve as the Head Varsity Volleyball Coach. WELLESLEY WILSON DIRECTOR OF ADMISSION AND FINANCIAL AID Wellesley joined the Harpeth Hall community in 2015 as Director of Admission and Financial Aid. Under her direction, we have increased our overall enrollment numbers, and more specifically, we have increased our number of students
school year at her alma mater, Brentwood direction, we have moved to a paperless admission process and have broadened the list of schools from which we admit students. Wellesley’s understanding of the power of a girls’ school is reflected in her commitment as an advisor. She has shepherded freshmen and sophomores with humor and an even perspective. A highlight of her time at Harpeth Hall was her great success as chair of the People of Color Conference in 2019. She has led the Admission and Financial Aid team with a strong sense of purpose and an ability to balance the many facets of a selective admission process. Her broad-mindedness has expanded Harpeth Hall’s reach and has encouraged more families to consider Harpeth Hall as the best option for their daughters. Wellesley has recently accepted a new position as Director of Admission and Financial Aid at the Lakeside School in Seattle, Washington. While we are sad to see Wellesley go, we also wish her the very best with this new opportunity. Lakeside is a 100 year-old, well-respected 5-12 school.
FACULTY RETIREMENT
There was an addition to the list of beloved retiring faculty, and we wanted to include the notice here.
ANNE RIEGLE Anne Riegle has decided to retire from Harpeth Hall at the end of this 2020-2021 school year. While Anne’s enormous contributions to the Middle School during her fifteen-year tenure are impossible to fully detail, her legacy remains as a champion for middle school girls and a highly respected colleague and teacher. A consummate educator, Anne inspires a love for literature and writing in her students and serves as an esteemed mentor to others in her department and grade-level team. In 2014, Anne was awarded the Lulu Hampton Owen Chair in recognition of her “excellence in scholarship, unusual ability to communicate with students, excitement about teaching and learning, and commitment to the moral and intellectual development of students and dedication to the life of the school.” We will all miss Anne’s incredible sense of humor, tireless work ethic, and passion for learning. We are grateful to Anne for all she has done to strengthen our program.
