Gunn promotes educator as second female head of school since 1850
WASHINGTON — The Frederick Gunn School has hired one of its own, Emily Raudenbush Gum, as the 12th head of school for the 2023-24 school year.
Gum, who is the school’s assistant head for teaching and learning, will replace Peter Becker, who is leaving Gunn at the end of this academic year to become the next head of school at The Taft School in Watertown.
Gum will begin July 1. She’s the second female head of school since the school was founded in 1850. The first was Susan Graham, who was the 10th head of school from 1991-2012.
“Emily joined Gunn in 2018 as the assistant head for teaching and learning and since then, she has demonstrated a record of unmatched accomplishments, driving the school forward as a hub of innovation and excellence,” Board Chairman and alumnus Patrick Dorton said in a letter to the community.
A committee drawn from the school community, selected Gum after a global search, according to the school. Their work was supported by the global leadership advisory firm of Spencer Stuart.
“Throughout the search process, the committee was guided by the survey responses of our community, which decisively defined the characteristics and priorities expected for our next Head of School,” Dorton said. “Academic excellence, visionary leadership, and integrity were strongly represented in the survey results, along with an expectation for a leader who would be committed to listening, belonging, approachability, and an ongoing engagement with the educational values Frederick and Abigail Gunn put forth 173 years ago. We have found this leader in Emily.”
As a member of the school’s senior team, Gum has been engaged in strategic planning and initiatives, the school said.
“One of the most transformational impacts of her leadership has been to define school founder Frederick Gunn’s educational philosophy for the 21st century as four pillars — learning yourself and how to learn; risk taking and innovation; a sense of rootedness and place; and public character and active citizenship,” the school said. “Commitment to the pillars has created a strategic program alignment across all facets of the Gunn community — in the classroom, on the field, throughout the school’s residential life experiences, and across all aspects of its key programming initiatives.”
Prior to joining The Frederick Gunn School, Gum served in leadership roles with the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia and its affiliate foundations over a 13-year period. During her tenure, “she achieved a multimillion dollar fundraising initiative, managed daily operations and annual budgets, accomplished branding work focusing on inclusivity, edited The Hedgehog Review, launched a social impact nonprofit, and wrote and spoke about ethics, character education, contemporary social and political theory, religion, questions of identity and diversity, and educational theory,” the release said.
A graduate of The Hill School in Pottstown, Pa., Gum earned a master of arts degree with joint honours in international relations and theological studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Gum then earned a master’s of philosophy in theology and religion with distinction, from the University of Oxford in England, the release said.
She’s nearing the defense of her doctor of philosophy in theology and religion at the University of Oxford, where she has presented her thesis, “The Role of Identity Formation in the Education of Children,” the release said.