Tamara Elliot Rogers ’70 is a Charter Trustee at Phillips Academy, and has had an extensive career in alumni relations and fundraising at her alma mater, Harvard University. She currently holds a number of volunteering roles, including Dean’s Advisory Group for the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Advisory Board of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the board of the Cambridge Public Library Foundation. In her free time, Rogers enjoys visiting art museums, reading for pleasure, and walking in cities.
You joined Abbot Academy as a New Upper. What drew you to Abbot Academy for your last two years?
I attended public schools in Lowell through tenth grade. In tenth grade, my parents said I could go to a private school, but I couldn’t live away from home, so it was their idea. I think it was because I was a total nerd, and all I did was read and ask for more work and ask for more reading. A couple of cousins had gone to Mount Hermon so they knew about the schools, and the most local to Lowell was Abbot [Academy]. It was quite by chance. My parents had offered the opportunity, and I got in, and there I was.
What was one of your most memorable experiences at Abbot? Did you remember a teacher that was specifically memorable?
I would say it was the whole experience of just working with teachers who were so caring, and who offered to make suggestions about additional things to read, who took an interest in me as a person, who encouraged me academically and intellectually. That whole experience was really compelling… [One teacher,] Ms. St. Pierre, she was an English teacher. She was very beloved, and she became beloved in Andover. We shared a specific interest in “Alice and Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” which even much later in our lives we went to see a film about Lewis Carroll and the books together, well after Abbot and college. Also, the college counselor, Marion Finbury, was very encouraging and asked me to set my sights higher than I ever thought possible.
What were your thoughts when you first heard about the merger of Phillips Academy and Abbot, and have your thoughts changed since then?
I was a little sad because Abbot was small and intimate, and it had meant so much to me. But I did not have the intense reaction that some people have of intense loss. Maybe it’s because I didn’t live there, I didn’t board there, I didn’t have all my meals there. It was ’73, so I was in college at the time. I was cognizant that there were a lot of opportunities at Andover that Abbot could not offer. Andover was larger, it was better endowed financially. I had hoped, and this proved to be true, that it would educate more girls than Abbot could. I had a sense of sadness and loss, but not anything that was so profound that I thought this was terrible. I thought it would probably open up opportunities.
Who or what inspired you to take up the various volunteer roles you hold at Phillips Academy?
I had a call out of the blue sky from someone in the alumni office sometime in the ’90s, probably around ’95 or something, just asking if I wanted to become a part of alumni counsel. It hadn’t occurred to me, because in a way I thought my school was gone. I knew about Andover, but I didn’t have any sense of how that could be inclusive of me personally, and I didn’t think about it. I thought “Yes, my work at Harvard was all about alumni, giving, participation, events, and volunteer work.” I also thought I owed Abbot a lot, and I could never pay it back because Abbot wasn’t there. It would be a great way to do something for the school, so I stepped in and I loved it, and I just kept it up.
How has your role at Abbot as President of the Abbot Academy Association shaped your career as a whole?
That was way back, and the Abbot Academy Association, which is now called the Abbot Academy Fund, was a funding organization. It was very interesting for me because I had always been on the side of soliciting money, asking for money, trying to inspire people to give. The Abbot Association was giving grants, and so to be able to be on that side, looking at and evaluating proposals and suggestions from faculty and students, was very fascinating intellectually. It also enabled me to learn more about the school, and I’m a junkie for learning about schools: private schools, public schools, universities, colleges, I just find it so interesting. It informed me generally about the foundation side.
What inspired you to major in the History and Literature of England? Could you tell us what was most memorable to you about this subject?
I always loved literature. As I mentioned, I was in love with “Alice and Wonderland.” I thought I could live in a place where everyone spoke in poetry and you saw all sorts of weird things from the time I was really small. I loved literature, and I really liked history, and I think it’s because of its narrative. Both history and literature are narratives. My entire career has been about people’s narratives. In admissions, you’re looking at essays people write, doing interviews, understanding them, getting to know them, thinking about them. In fundraising, interestingly, it’s the same thing. You’re thinking about what might motivate someone to be interested in supporting students, faculty, or research, so it was the narrative piece. The literature was a natural love. The history part informs the literature in a way, and also I had some wonderful professors at Harvard who had us read original historic material. I just learned so much about how things are interpreted differently over time.
Out of all of the roles and occupations you have held in alumni relations and fundraising, do you have a favorite?
I would say I really loved admissions, because I just learned about so many students all across the world: about their motivations and what inspired them. People would sometimes say, “don’t you feel bad because so few students are actually admitted to Harvard?” The answer is no, because they’ll go somewhere else, and there are so many wonderful colleges. It gives you hope for the future when you see students like you and your classmates, and others, and realize they’ll be populating many colleges and universities, and then, they’ll be populating the world. It’s hard to feel hopeless, even in the face of tough things, when you see a younger generation. It’s hard to pick out one thing that I like best, but there is something about students that is very inspiring.
Looking back on your career and experiences, what would you say is your proudest accomplishment to date?
It’s not a single accomplishment, but when I retired, I got a lot of letters. Even later in my career I got emails and notes from younger people who worked with me, and women who felt I influenced their career. Seeing students, I’ve read their applications and maybe come to know them. It was seeing the longevity of the work, and feeling that there was a positive influence, just as other people had a positive influence on me. That was so meaningful to me. It wasn’t a single thing. Although I must say, when we finished the Harvard Campaign at that very large number, it certainly felt pretty good, but it didn’t have the same sort of emotional feeling.
Outside of your work and career, what do you like to do in your free time?
My husband and I love art museums and we belong to a lot of art museums, and so we just go and look at art a lot. I obviously read a lot. I do have a lot of volunteer work that does take time, and I love city walking. I walk for miles and miles in Cambridge and Boston, and I never get tired of walking in cities. I’m also on volunteer boards in addition to Andover’s.
Is there still a place in the world that you would want to visit?I would love to go back to India. It was fascinating. It was both the most foreign and familiar place I’ve ever been. It’s familiar because it looks just like what you see in the media, on televisions, in literature, in paintings. It looks exactly like that, and it’s a utterly foreign country. It has this effect that’s so profound. You see things that look so real, as if you know them but you know nothing and you have to learn. I really adored that. There are probably other places I’d like to go that I haven’t been. I haven’t been to Ireland, and yet I love Irish Literature. But I’ve been to many countries, so I’ve been extremely blessed.
