About NMH

February '06 E-news bulletin

Please be sure to visit the NMH website to keep abreast of planning, school news, and student activities.

FACILITIES PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

Work will begin on the utilities infrastructure project during spring break, March 3 to 20. This work paves the way for the visual and performing arts center groundbreaking, which will take place later this spring. Both projects will be completed simultaneously over the next two years. Chief Financial Officer Rick Wood says the infrastructure project will require minimal, if any, service interruption for the on-campus community. Stay tuned for more news on groundbreaking for the arts center.

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EDUCATIONAL AND RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS

In the five months since we opened on one campus in September, we are already experiencing the benefits of a gathered community. For example, we have witnessed greater student involvement in the arts, athletics, and farm and outreach programs; share more community events as a whole; and detect and deal with critical issues more effectively. In essence, we know each other better.

          We will continue to leverage the educational opportunities of being on one campus by more closely involving faculty in the residential life of our students and integrating house directors more fully into the academic program. To accomplish this, we are restructuring our staff, which involved a regrettable but expected reduction in force last month. As in past years, every effort is being made to support NMH community members. We are focusing on the needs of our students first and foremost as we realign our program for the future.

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PHILANTHROPY

Chair of the NMH Board of Trustees William R. Rhodes ’53 has generously fulfilled his pledge by giving his second $1 million gift in two years to support the one-campus campaign. Rhodes has consistently supported the school with leadership-level annual gifts while also creating and supporting a variety of philanthropic enterprises at NMH. In the last two decades he made a significant capital gift to renovate Beveridge Hall; established the W. R. Rhodes South Africa Scholarship to support a student from South Africa; funded the Edward and William R. Rhodes Award in Economics in honor of his father; and offered the seminal gift to support the Northfield History project, a documentation of the architectural and landscape history of the Northfield and Mount Hermon campuses.

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NORTHFIELD CAMPUS NEWS

On January 14, the Northfield campus advisors met at NMH for information updates and to discuss how the group could further assist and support the Northfield campus planning process. Approximately 30 advisors attended the day-long event, which included an introduction by Head of School Tom Sturtevant, who reminded the attendees that meeting the needs of current and future students is the charge of the school mission.

          Northfield Stewardship Committee (NSC) Chair Carol Ramsey ’70 and Director of the Northfield Campus Initiative Carol Lebo presented a PowerPoint presentation that outlined work accomplished during the last year and plans going forward. In addition, real estate consultants Dennis Bidwell and Dick Perkins provided a brokers’ update, and Bonnie Parsons of Pioneer Valley Planning Commission presented a preview of the landscape and architectural survey work she is conducting.

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