Dan Love Appointed <br>New Dean of Faculty

After guiding New Hampton School through the application to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, Dan Love will embrace a new challenge.  

New Hampton Head of School Andrew Menke recently announced that Love would be the school’s next Dean of Faculty. Love already is making the transition into the role, but will officially assume his new duties July 1.

“Dan is articulate, bright, and thoughtful and a committed educator,” Menke said. “He’s intensely dedicated to improvement, growth, and evolution and in his oversight of curriculum transformation has demonstrated that he can articulate a vision and see it through to implementation.”

Love’s appointment follows a national search that brought a host of qualified candidates to campus throughout the fall and winter.

“While NHS has attracted talented administrators and faculty from outside, this was an opportunity to promote from within and demonstrate our commitment to growing our own talent,” Menke said.

In addition to being the point person for the school when the Head of School is off campus, Love’s principal responsibilities will include faculty recruitment, professional development, and evaluation.  

“I’m excited to work more directly with the New Hampton School faculty because I think the people here are the ones that make the difference in our students lives,” Love said. “And we need to work to invest in our faculty, so that they can better serve our students and our school. My job as the Global Curriculum Coordinator was about creating programs and the Dean of Faculty position is about supporting people in those programs.”

Love is completing his third year at the school. He arrived in the fall of 2007 as a history teacher, dorm parent, and coach and quickly made an impression with his ability to connect with students and fellow teachers.

“More than anything, he’s a master teacher,” Menke said. “And what better person to lead our faculty.”

Longtime science teacher Barbara Guardenier thinks Love is the ideal person for the position given his professionalism and his experience as an advocate for teachers.

“He’s the type of person you can go to and express yourself, and even if he doesn’t have the same point of view he won’t take offense,” Guardenier said. “He’s a good listener. And he’s already proven that he can work effectively with the Head of School.”

In March of 2008, Love was named NHS’s Global Curriculum Coordinator and has spent the last two years integrating mission-driven curriculum changes into all aspects of school life. During his tenure, he helped the school earn its International Baccalaureate Diploma Program authorization, paved the way for the school’s first international exchange with a school in China, and helped introduce 12 new courses for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Love said he has been approached in the past to be a principal at various schools, but it was only when the NHS job became available that he recognized a good fit.

“It was the right fit because I really like working with the teachers here,” Love said. “They are a diverse group. They are excited about the momentum here, and are committed to our students.”

A 1993 graduate of Colorado State (BA, Political Science) who earned his masters in education at Chapman College, Love brings a variety of experiences to his new position. He has worked all around the world and taught in numerous educational environments. He taught history in public school in Phoenix, Arizona, before heading to Europe where he taught history, philosophy, and economics to juniors and seniors in an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program School in Milan, Italy. He then moved to Mexico City, where he was head of the American School Foundations History Department and the senior IB History teacher. He also spent five years as a mountaineer instructor for Outward Bound.

“I’ve seen a diversity of schools and different levels of change and consistency,” said Love, who lives on campus with his wife Amy and two young sons, “and I’ve seen it over a deepening amount of time.”