News

Caroline Nolan to Leave Tang Institute Next Year

At the end of this academic year, Caroline Nolan will be leaving her position as the Currie Family Director of the Tang Institute. Nolan has been involved with the Tang Institute, then referred to as the Andover Institute, since its development and founding in October 2013.

Head of School John Palfrey said, “I have worked with Ms. Nolan for a long time… She’s somebody who I think is completely devoted to the best form of leadership and teaching on a school campus.”

As the Currie Family Director, Nolan oversaw all activities of the Institute, shared updates with campus community, managed the operating budget, and led fundraisers. She worked closely with other departments, including collaborations with the Associate Director of Educational Initiatives, the Precourt Director of Partnerships, and the Office of Information Technology.

In addition, Nolan worked with the Dean of Studies, Dean of Faculty, Chair of Interdisciplinary department, and other senior administrators. According to Clyfe Beckwith, Nolan’s co-worker, Dean of Studies, and a member of the search committee, the new Currie Family Director must guide the Tang team with strong leadership, just as Nolan had been for years.

“[Nolan] is, for one, an absolutely terrific person. She is extremely dedicated, works many long hours, and is so thorough and empathic. I have learned from her how to organize, how to run meetings, all the details that go into decisions… My favorite moments are our weekly checkup meetings here in the office because we get to talk about work. We get to check up [and] I learn from her,” said Beckwith.

The process of choosing a new director is still in the application stage, with the deadline approaching on January 29. Once the applications are submitted, the human resources department will forward them to the search committee. The search committee’s task is to then read through and process the applications.

Beckwith hopes that the new director will start as soon as possible and work with Nolan until she leaves.

“A hope is that there will be some overlap, the new director working side by side with Ms. Nolan for at least sometime. The hope is that the new director would start sooner rather than later with as much of an overlap as possible, and then be in place when Ms. Nolan leaves at the end of the academic year,” said Beckwith.

In terms of the Tang Institute’s future, Beckwith hopes that the team will continue their inventive work.

Beckwith said, “We hope to continue the good work that the [team] has established so far. At the moment, because [the Tang Institute] is a center of innovation, likely we will innovate a new innovation… but we’re going to plan to do it within the framework that we have established in the last four years.”

“Anytime there’s a leadership transition one should see it as an opportunity, and as somebody new comes in to look at what’s been successful, [they] build on that and then make some adjustments as appropriate. So, one of the things I like about the Tang Institute is that it’s a little unknowable,” said Palfrey.

Caroline Nolan declined an interview with The Phillipian.