> Russ Weigel Retires As Head of Loomis
Russ Weigel Retires As Head of Loomis
| Russell H. Weigel, sixth head of The Loomis Chaffee School, announced today that he will retire at the end of the 2007-08 school year. Weigel, who took the post in 1996, will have served the school for 12 years when he leaves in June 2008. "Serving as head of school at Loomis has been the most rewardingexperience of my professional life," says Weigel. "I have been privileged to lead an extraordinary academic community." A former professor of psychology at Amherst College, where he taught for 23 years, Weigel is a native of West Hartford, Conn. He earned degrees from Bowdoin College (B.A.), George Washington University (M.A.) and the University of Colorado(Ph.D.). At Amherst, he served as chairman of the Department of Psychology and, in his final years there, as dean of freshmen. Under Weigel's leadership, Loomis strengthened its already strong academic programs significantly. This year, 14 seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists - more than at any other time in the school's history and more than any other private school in Connecticut. The school had 73 Advanced Placement Scholars this year; in 1996, 14 students achieved that distinction. Eighty-five percent of the members of the Class of 2006 were admitted to colleges deemed most competitive or highly competitive by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges. Weigel led the school through the most successful fundraising campaign in its history. Our Best Selves: The Campaign for Loomis Chaffee concluded on December 31, 2006, and raised more than $114 million, placing Loomis among a handful of secondary schools in the country that have raised more than $100 million in a single campaign. The school's endowment now stands at $155 million, more than three times its size in 1996. During this period, the school more than doubled the annual budget for financial aid from $2.3 million to $5.4 million, which is awarded to 30 percent of the student body. During Weigel's tenure, the school's physical plant expanded greatly, and existing facilities have benefited from extensive improvements. The school added a girls dormitory, a new admission building and six new classrooms, and completed an extensive renovation of the athletic center to include a world-class squash pavilion, a fitness center and a double gymnasium and all-school convocation center. Modernization and expansion of the Clark Center for Science & Mathematics will begin this spring, and plans are in the works to create a music center, utilizing funds raised during the campaign. "Russ Weigel will leave a rich legacy of decency, sound judgment and devotion to the ideals of our founders," says Christopher K. Norton, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. "Because of his goodness, we will look back on the Weigel years with a profound sense of achievement and enrichment." This spring, the school will begin an international search to "find and recruit the best candidates," says Norton. "The search for a head is an opportunity for a school to take stock of itself and an occasion to look toward the future as the school plans to celebrate its centennial in 2014." The Loomis Chaffee School was chartered in 1874 by five siblings who has lost all of their children and selflessly determined to found a school as a gift to the children of others. Since it opened its doors in 1914, the school has offered educational opportunities for boys and girls regardless of religious or political beliefs, national origin or financial resources. Academically challenging, the school promotes active learning and close faculty-student bonds within a respectful and civil community. |