Nearly every academic department at Concord Academy has entered the 2024-25 academic year without a member of last year's departmental faculty. Alison Lobron of the English Department, Ed Rafferty of the History Department, Enrique Alcayaga of the Modern and Classical Languages Department, Kem Morehead of the Math Department, Kim Blodgett of the Visual Arts Department, Rika Okamoto and Alex Brady of the Performing Arts Department, and Max Hall of the Science Department comprise some of last year’s notable departures.
For some students, the impact of these departures could be felt as soon as the day of Registration. Academic schedules were distributed with some surprises, particularly with regards to the history course offerings. Notably, Will Tucker, Head of the Science Department and CA’s Chemical Safety Officer, as well as science teacher and Environmental Sustainability and Justice Coordinator Chris Labosier are both teaching history courses this year. However, these courses were not present in the CA program catalog when it was first released during course selections in the spring of 2024; rather, they have been added since then. Additionally, former CA history teacher Claire Nelson has temporarily returned to cover some other courses this year, such as
The Centipede spoke with CA’s Associate Head for Teaching, Learning, and Faculty, Sarah Yeh, regarding the widespread faculty departures and last minute course changes this year. Addressing the history course changes, Yeh commented, “We [CA] had a late-in-the-game departure in the History Department, which no one, including the departing member, wanted as the time frame—it was just the way it [was].” Yeh also described how the internal covering for history courses came about: “We really wanted to take the time to do a full out search.” Yeh and her fellow administrators made the choice to not make a new hire this summer, resulting in the history classes being covered by faculty from other departments, as well as a previous CA history teacher. This decision offers time to look for a new hire that would be the right fit for CA and the role.
Though she could not speak to individual circumstances, Yeh felt that all of this year’s departures were more than understandable, remarking, “If there [were] things that we could do on our end, we [would] do everything that we [could].” CA also has many policies focused on retaining faculty, such as adult wellness programs, inter-faculty conversations, and comprehensive new faculty onboarding. Speaking to the more general trend of inconsistent faculty departure times, Yeh explained that, “One of the interesting things post-COVID is how the calendar has shifted in terms of when jobs [be]come open, when things are available.”
Ultimately, Yeh centered her approach to faculty around the community, articulating that, “What I love about CA is how much people love this place and, even if they have to step away for whatever reason, they’re working really hard to set things up in a good space for students.” Though CA may face more last-minute faculty departures in the future, Yeh raised the notion that a goodbye from a faculty member is not always forever; at least three faculty members in the past two years had departed indefinitely only to return to CA later on in their careers.