Widmer to Retire in 2006

By ALEXANDER MANSHEL '05

Headmaster Eric Widmer has announced that he plans to retire in 2006. During Mr. Widmer's tenure, the school has become more selective, more diverse and has built up an endowment worth millions of dollars. He has overseen the construction of three dormitories, the Koch Natatorium and the Koch Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology. Mr. Widmer has helped Deerfield establish a national and international reputation as one of the world's most competitive boarding schools.

When asked to summarize the school's growth throughout his time as Headmaster, Widmer said that "the overall quality of the school has greatly improved, which is thanks to the quality of the students who wish to come here, the faculty who wish to teach here and the wonderful staff that wishes to work here." But the progress that Mr. Widmer alluded to is also due to improved curriculum, facilities, fund raising and international cooperation.

Since Mr. Widmer's arrival at Deerfield, the school has added several courses to the Deerfield curriculum, including Chinese, Middle Eastern history, the Cambridge seminar and next year's Arabic program.

The most obvious change that Mr. Widmer has made around campus is the vast expansion of Deerfield's academic, athletic and residential facilities. For students who live in John Louis, Louis Marx or Harold Smith, have played tennis on the new courts or swam in the Koch Natatorium, these additions are part of our everyday life at Deerfield.

There are also several positions on the staff and faculty that have recently been added, in part, by the leadership of the Headmaster. These include the Wilson Fellowship, the Lambert Fellowship, and the position of Dean of Spiritual and Ethical Life.

However, in order for such vast expansion in curriculum, facilities and staff to take to place, a similar expansion in fund raising must occur. After its bicentennial, Deerfield began a capital campaign called "Strength of Heart: The Campaign for Deerfield." When results were tallied, the school had raised as Mr. Widmer puts it, "more money in less time than any school our size had ever accomplished." He continued that, "We achieved the highest percentage level of giving our Annual Support program of all the schools we typically compare ourselves with."

Another milestone of Mr. Widmer's leadership is Deerfield's commitment to international cooperation and education. Deerfield's recent membership in the Round Square, and especially its hosting of next year's International Conference reflect its place among the vanguard in secondary-school global involvement.

In the 2001-2002 Annual Report, Mr. Widmer wrote, "we are all together determined that there will be no 'might have beens' to look back upon as we stride confidently forward and take advantage of this moment of great opportunity in the history of Deerfield." Mr. Widmer's time as Headmaster has been marked by great expansion and creation of the school as we know it. So, while many students often take for granted the recent accomplishments of the school, a simple look around campus or through the course catalog can illuminate just how far we've come as a community.

Looking to the Future

By PANDA EBLING '04

Scroll: What prompted your decision to retire in 2006?

Widmer: That's not an easy question to answer, at least in one sentence. Except that I thought--Ms. Viz and I thought together--that working an even dozen years at this job as Headmaster seemed about right. And as I think about it, we've done a lot in the ten year's I've been here--there remains a lot to do, a lot that we will get done in these next two years, but it seems like a good breathing point for the school, and certainly for me. The Russian word is peredishka, a breathing spell. Lenin asked for one after the Bolshevik revolution. So I'll ask for one, too.

S: What are your plans for your career after Deerfield?

W: Nothing right now. I'm looking towards the future with a very open mind. And one of the possibilities. I have to say, is to do nothing. I won't exactly be a spring chicken in June 2006--I'll be 66 years old--for many people in the world that's already past retirement age, and though I don't feel very old, I don't have any plans except to keep my options open and to think about it.

S: Which of your accomplishments as Headmaster are you the most proud of?

W: Well, once again, that's not an easy question. But in a letter that I've written to the Deerfield community I do talk in the last paragraph about the invisible things about Deerfield that are the most meaningful, which I feel so strongly about. With all the physical evidence of accomplishment over the last decade, and now with the grandest project of all, the Koch Center, still I would have to put in first place the quality of the school, the spirit of the school, those less-visible things that are so meaningful when you get down to it. So the ethos, let's put it that way.

S: Do you have any specific goals for the next two years?

W: In the year that we dedicate the Koch Center, we are going to put out a book that remembers Mrs. Boyden, which will be probably even more ambitious than the one we put out last year for Mr. Boyden's centenary. 1905 was the year Mrs. Boyden came to Deerfield, so 2005 will be her centenary year. Also at the beginning of that year, we're going to have a program which recognizes the 15th year of returning to co-education. It'll be a great program of Deerfield women coming back to see the school. But the main thing I'll be wanting to leave the school with having accomplished on Mrs. Viz's and my behalf is an effort to further endow our budget to secure the financial aid of the school for perpetuity. That's so important--so essential to maintain the quality of the school, to have enough scholarship money to make sure we can admit anybody we want here. We're almost there, thanks to the generosity of cohorts of alumni over the years, but to put it away once and for all will be a terrific thing.

S: Will you have any say in the selection process for your successor?

W: No, not at all. And if I'm asked, I probably would politely decline. Every new person, to some extent at least, is an antidote to the old person. So I am looking forward to see who will be the antidote to me.

As published in the May 13, 2004 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.