NEW ORLEANS – The Search Committee and Board of Trustees is thrilled to announce the new Headmistress of the Louise S. McGehee School. After an exciting, extensive and rewarding national search, the Search Committee recommended and the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to appoint Dr. Kimberly Field-Marvin as the 12th Headmistress of McGehee, effective July 1, 2018.
Search Committee Chair, Margo Sanders Phelps ’72 said, “From the moment I met Kim, I loved her energy, passion for and dedication to all girls’ education. She has experience in every level of school, from preschool to high school, from teacher to administrator. Kim has a warm and masterful way of exhibiting her leadership skills, while making you feel special, as though you’re the only person in the room.” Board Chair Richard Currence stated, “Kim quickly rose to the top of an absolutely outstanding group of finalists. With her twenty plus years of independent school experience, her engaging and professional manner and superior academic preparation, the search committee recognized Kim as the ‘one’ who should next lead McGehee.”
A gifted, natural born leader, Kim has an amazing education.
Her early professional work was at the Maple Street School in Vermont where she was a founder, a teacher and counselor. Kim was an integral part of the founding group of parents and worked tirelessly to build its programs. By the time Kim was ready to pursue more administrative responsibilities, she had made an indelible mark on the school. Kim has also served as a NAIS Aspiring Heads Fellow. Since 2010, Kim has worked at the prestigious all girls’ Marymount School of New York, first as a senior administrator and the Director of Communications, next as the division head of their Upper Middle School.
She is a mentor in the New York State Association of Independent Schools’ (NYSAIS) Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) and was a steering committee member for the NYSAIS self-study and accreditation.
In accepting this position, Kim reflected, “I recognize and admire the extraordinary programs at McGehee that empower young women to pursue their passions as they develop and practice their leadership skills. Particularly striking is the grace with which the school tends to the variety of needs of each of its girls. It’s clear that the learning environment and culture at McGehee encourages each girl to find her voice and work to understand multiple perspectives. After spending several days on McGehee’s campus with faculty, administrators, staff, students, parents and alumnae, I experienced the heartbeat of McGehee and knew it was home for me. What a happy, vibrant school—I am thrilled and honored.”
Kim has a stellar academic background.
She earned her Master of Arts at Middlebury’s prestigious Bread Loaf School of English as well as a Masters of Arts in Education from Castleton State College. In addition to two masters degrees, she recently earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the highly esteemed University of Pennsylvania, while working full-time. Her dissertation topic was, The Making of Me: Exploring How Early Adolescent Girls Experience Agency in an Engaging, Student-Directed Learning Environment.
With her 20 plus years of independent school experience, her stellar education and her experience at every level of school, Kim is the ideal new head of the school and a very worthy successor to Eileen Powers.