SMU vice president to lead Hockaday
Since December, SMU has been in the market for a new VicePresident for Development and External Affairs. The Hockaday Schoolfor girls announced they were appointing the current vicepresident, Jeanne Whitman, as its seventh headmistress.
Hockaday’s current headmistress, Elizabeth Lee, announcedher retirement last fall. Hockaday trustees immediately beganinterviewing applicants. Whitman, who had not applied for theposition, was contacted in November by the school to see if she wasinterested.
“I was called and asked if I would talk with [thetrustees],” Whitman said. “They had been in the searchfor some time at that point. I certainly found the possibilityinteresting from them from the start.”
Whitman said that when she began the interviewing process, itwas clear the school had an idea of what they were looking for in anew headmistress.
“This kind of position is so much about chemistry andmatch,” Whitman said. “It involves a number ofconversations to determine my points of views and my values andthey in turn decide if I fit their vision of the school.”
Lee said that the Hockaday administration is very excited aboutWhitman being appointed as the new headmistress
“We are all thrilled that she was appointed,” Leesaid. “I think she’ll add tremendous energy and bringall kinds of expertise from the college world for the Hockadaycampus.”
As vice president of Development and External AffairsWhitman’s responsibilities include university fund raising,public affairs, university events, alumni relations and universitylecture series, which include the Tate Lecture Series and the DoakWalker Award.
Her duties as headmistress, which begin in July, are similar towhat a superintendent would do for a large school, Lee said.
“[She] will be in charge of all the academicoperations,” Lee said. “She interacts with the entireschool community — faculty, students, parents, and alumni,who are a very important part of the community, as well as thetrustees.”
Whitman will also be in charge of hiring faculty and doingfundraising for the school.
“She’ll be the Gerald Turner of Hockaday,” Leesaid.
Lee, who has known Whitman personally for a number of years,said Whitman will add a lot to the campus.
