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The van Otterloo, Henderson, and Brewer Faculty Chair Year Program
Not many high school teachers are able to take a yearlong sabbatical to pursue their professional and intellectual interests. Yet that’s exactly the kind of opportunity Holderness School gives to one lucky teacher every year, thanks to The van Otterloo,
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Henderson, and Brewer Faculty Chair Year Program.
Now in its 25th year, the Chair Year was the brainchild of former Head of School Pete Woodward, who wanted a program to support the school’s tireless faculty. In the early 1990’s, Woodward asked then-Dean of Students Phil Peck to lead a committee of faculty and trustees to reimagine the school’s sabbatical program, which was halted in the 1980’s as a cost saving measure. In 1995, two school trustees and members of that committee, Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo P ’94, generously endowed the Chair Year. The new Chair Year program was designed to benefit both faculty and the school itself—an improvement over the school’s former, less-structured sabbatical program. To qualify for the new program, faculty were required to submit an application describing how they would use their year away from school to pursue intellectual or professional interests. “We didn’t believe in a year off but wanted the teachers to do something that they could bring back to their classrooms,” says Rose-Marie van Otterloo. “It was an instant success, and many teachers finished their graduate studies and were newly invigorated to take up teaching again after one year.”
In the quarter-century since the Chair Year program was established, numerous Holderness faculty have used the program to pursue advanced degrees or travel the country to learn from other schools and fellow educators. During the inaugural Chair Year in 1995, then-Music Director David Lockwood left campus to earn his Master’s degree in a program run jointly by the Berklee School of Music and the Boston Conservatory. This year’s Chair Year recipient, Director of College Counseling Bruce Barton, plans to visit some of the most competitive colleges and universities that Holderness students apply to, and will explore international student admission and gap year opportunities. Bruce, currently enjoying the second Chair Year of his career, says the program is an invaluable opportunity to learn and recharge. “The Chair Year program is life sustaining for longterm faculty the way water is to a thirsty plant,” Bruce says. “This is round two for me, and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting time to reflect and advance myself
Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo P ’94
in the area of spirituality and college counseling. While I look forward to returning to campus, I am cherishing every day this Chair Year affords.”
Talk to any past Chair Year recipient, and it’s clear the program is universally cherished. But it’s also a huge boon to the school, which sees the program as a way to retain talented faculty and keep new ideas flowing onto campus. During the 2018-19 school year, for example, Science Department Chair Randy Houseman spent his Chair Year pursuing a Master’s of Science in science education from Montana State University. He was also able to use the time to visit family in Texas and Arizona and spent the fall in Lake Placid, NY, so he and his wife Meredith could watch their children’s soccer and field hockey games at nearby Saint Lawrence University. Randy says his Chair Year gave him the time and space he needed to grow as an educator. “The Chair Year allows you to fully immerse yourself in learning and allows you the time and energy to reflect on the learning process,” Randy says. “This in turn makes you a better and more empathetic teacher.”
The benefits of a Chair Year extend well beyond the classroom. Just last year, for example, Director of Athletics Rick Eccleston ’92 spent his Chair Year visiting forward-thinking athletic facilities across the country. His travels took him to places as far afield as the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Center of Excellence in Park City, UT, and Mesa, AZ, where he watched Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer ’92 guide his team through spring training. The best practices he learned about training, nutrition, coach development, and athletic facilities will inform Holderness’s upcoming athletics campaign, which will revitalize athletics programs and facilities across campus. “The ability to push the vision for the future of Holderness Athletics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Rick says. “Even though I re-entered the Holderness world this fall in the midst of a pandemic, I felt rested and charged to take on any and all challenges.”
For most Holderness faculty, those challenges are never in short supply. The demands of being a teacher, coach, and dorm parent are ever-present, but a teacher’s involvement in their students’ lives is what makes Holderness so special. “The faculty set the examples and the students learn from them,” Rose-Marie van Otterloo says. “The fact that they live with the students in the different dorms, I think, makes many students feel as if they were at home.” But every so often, hardworking teachers and dorm parents need to step back, learn, and recharge. That’s why the van Otterloos helped to establish the Chair Year program—to give faculty the time and space to develop and grow, both personally and professionally.
“Not a lot of schools have a program like this,” Rick says. “If five years from now someone asked me for advice, I would tell them to make sure to do something that will fill your tank professionally but also make sure you do something to fill your tank personally and get the most out of the time. It was just a tremendous gift. I can’t express that more.” n
