David R. Dougherty is the 10th Headmaster of The Hill School in its 161-year history. Mr. Dougherty has served the internationally recognized college preparatory boarding school for 18 years, since arriving with his wife, Kay Dougherty, in 1993.
Under Headmaster Dougherty's leadership, The Hill School's accomplishments have been sweeping and impressive, in areas ranging from academics and admission to facilities and residential life. While guiding new endeavors, the Headmaster has ensured the robustness of valued Hill traditions such as community chapel services, seated meals, a dress code, and athletics participation for all students as part of the School’s curricular commitment to educating the entire student, “mind, body, and spirit,” as part of its liberal arts emphasis.
Perhaps the most historic change to occur during Headmaster Dougherty's tenure to date has been the School’s move to become a coeducational school. Hill welcomed 89 girls to campus in the fall of 1998, an opening day that attracted national media attention. Today, 44 percent of Hill’s 500 students are girls.
Also, during the 2000-01 academic year, the School celebrated its 150th anniversary, marking both its founding as the "Family Boarding School" in 1851 and its pride in its dramatic progress.
The School's academic selectivity has increased significantly throughout Headmaster Dougherty’s administration, as has its socioeconomic and geographic diversity: Today Hill enrolls applicants from 27 states and 18 foreign countries, and students of color make up 32 percent of the student body. The School grants financial aid to 40 percent of its families. The loyalty of the School’s alumni is noticeable in the strong legacy presence in its enrollment, as 32 percent of the current students have a direct family connection to an alumnus. Headmaster Dougherty and his wife, Kay, travel extensively to meet with alumni, parents, and prospective families, from San Francisco to Great Britain, and Korea to the Philippines.
In November 1998, the Trustees and Headmaster Dougherty launched The Campaign for The Hill School -- the School's first major comprehensive campaign -- so that The Hill's major priorities could be fulfilled while maintaining the School's financial discipline. In his travels across the country, Mr. Dougherty spoke with alumni regarding the need to raise $70 million by 2002 so that The Hill could sustain and advance excellence in every aspect of the School. At the close of the Campaign in June 2003, the goal was surpassed, with a total of $84.5 million.
Many campus additions and renovations have occurred according to the campus master plan produced with Mr. Dougherty's foresight and through the generosity of gifts obtained during fundraising efforts. The School renovated dormitories, athletics fields and facilities, and the Elliot Menkowitz, M.D. Health Center in preparation for its coeducational student body. In addition, the beautiful Academic Center opened in the fall of 1998; The Dell Village dormitories welcomed residents in the fall of 1999; and a wider, improved Dell Road entrance greeted students in the fall of 2000. A high-speed campus data network was installed, connecting all dormitories, faculty homes, and academic buildings, thus expanding opportunities for "teaching moments." This initiative was followed in the fall of 2000 by the provision of laptop computers to all teachers and a requirement that all students have laptops as well.
In October 2001, The Hill celebrated the dedication of the David H. Mercer Field House and Jerry Day ’37 Squash Center, the first components of an athletics facility expansion plan. A new fitness center was dedicated during Parents Weekend in the fall of 2004. The Edward Tuck Hall Arena and Thomas Eccleston, Jr. Rink -- a new, indoor collegiate-sized ice hockey rink -- was dedicated on December 2, 2006. Wrestling programming and facilities were enhanced in the winter of 2010, and a new baseball field currently is under construction and expected to be in use in the spring of 2011.
The Hill established the Humphrey Family Writing Center in 2009, renovating a beautiful space in the John P. Ryan Library and appointing Tony Reid, Hill class of 1975 and former editor for the
Washington Post, as its director, charging him with helping to ensure that each Hill student graduates with the ability to write clearly, concisely, and confidently. Since then the Writing Center has hosted a “Writers at Work” series of guest writers who inspire Hill students and teachers alike.
Also, in the fall of 2009, Hunt Upper School opened as two dormitories, both with significantly enhanced faculty apartments and student common rooms: the west side now houses boys, and the east side, girls – a move that integrated The Hill’s main Quadrangle living and learning space.
The Alumni Memorial Chapel was completely refurbished in 2004, and the chapel organ is being completely restored to sustain the beloved chapel traditions of music and community worship. In the summer of 2010, during Hill’s annual Reunion Weekend, the School dedicated a completely restored and refurbished Memorial Room, also located in the library. The Memorial Room, first constructed in November 1919, was created to remember alumni who served in the Armed Forces. And, the Class of 1960 Alumni House, a beautifully restored Victorian property on High Street in Pottstown, will open in June 2011 and serve as a welcoming meeting place for alumni as well as parents and friends, as well as an office space for the School’s Advancement staff.
The Hill, with Mr. Dougherty’s prescience, helped in October 2009 to organize a “visioning summit” on campus with Borough of Pottstown leaders and facilitators from the internationally recognized Urban Land Institute. This important gathering led the ULI to issue a report that will be used to guide Pottstown’s revitalization. As noted in the ULI report, The Hill is, indeed, an entity committed to staying in Pottstown; the Headmaster has pledged his and the School’s support in efforts that both honor our shared community history and advance a cohesive, positive, and ambitious -- yet achievable -- vision for Pottstown’s shared future.
Mr. Dougherty was integrally involved with creating the annual Sixth Form Leadership Award, first presented in 1999, and offered to a Hill alumnus proven to be an exemplary leader and true role model for students in his or her vocation, with past recipients representing excellence in fields including government, industry, education and letters, the arts, and community service. The Headmaster also has emphasized The Hill's broadened international emphasis; Mr. Dougherty encourages ongoing faculty and student exchanges with the Charterhouse School in England and Maru a Pula in Botswana.
Among Headmaster Dougherty's early initiatives at Hill was creation of an Honor Code and Honor Council. The Hill's Honor Code, written to promote an environment of mutual, school-wide trust and respect, reflects the School's Motto, "Whatsoever things are true," a phrase at the heart of The Hill's educational philosophy since its founding in 1851.
Headmaster Dougherty takes pride in maintaining an active role in supporting The Hill's faculty, the School's most treasured resource. He recruits proven master teachers who are committed to shaping students' lives not only in the classroom, but also in the residence halls as dormitory parents and on the fields as coaches. Throughout his time at The Hill, one of Mr. Dougherty's top priorities has been the the enhancement of faculty salaries and benefits.
Prior to his appointment at The Hill School, Mr. Dougherty was the headmaster of North Cross School, a coeducational K-12 school in Roanoke, Va. Previously, he had spent 21 years at The Episcopal High School, where he was an English teacher, varsity baseball coach, assistant headmaster, and dean of the faculty.
Mr. Dougherty graduated from The Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., in 1964. He went on to earn an A.B. from Washington & Lee University, an M.A. in English from Georgetown University, and an M.Litt. from The Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College.