Rebekah Westphal will replace Jodi Warren as Dean of Admissions following the announcement of her retirement, effective July, according to an email sent to the community by Head of School Coreen Hester Feb. 10.
Currently, Westphal is the Assistant Dean of Yale College. She has also worked at institutions across the U.K., U.S. and Canada, according to Hester’s email.
Warren said she has been in contact with Westphal, and given her prior experience in admissions, she is optimistic about this changeover.
“We have a really strong admissions team, but she’s done lots of admissions before,” Warren said. “It will be different from what she’s done in the past, but I feel confident about the transition.”
The search process for the new Dean of Admissions began in October, following Warren’s retirement. The search panel was comprised of the Senior Leadership Team, Hester and incoming Head of School Matthew Horvat l and members of the Student Council, according to Warren.
Hester, who led the process for the position, said the search involved various stages such as “contacting recruitment agencies” to make a final decision.
“We then did an initial interview with her, and then we had four finalists come through,” Hester said. “Members of the community then gave feedback through a survey, which we looked at to determine that Rebekah was the top candidate.”
Student Council President Darren Morris (’23) said he and other students completed a form assessing the candidates to which they were introduced.
“There were a lot of different criteria,” Morris said. “We judged them from one to 10 on how they fit it, which included their leadership skills, their educational experience and then there was little box for any extra comments or feedback.”
It was a lot about having that transparency between the student body and what’s going on behind the scenes in the school, which is something I really admired about the whole process.
— Marcus Chae ('24)
Marcus Chae (’24), who also participated in the process as a member of StuCo, said he appreciated that students were involved in finding the new dean.
“It was a lot about having that transparency between the student body and what’s going on behind the scenes in the school, which is something I really admired about the whole process,” Chae said.
Hester said Westphal will likely visit campus alongside appointed Head of School Matthew Horvat later this year, but an introduction to the student body is more likely to occur when classes begin in September.
Although Hester said “change is a great thing,” she said she will also greatly miss Warren, whom she has worked with at the school since 1995.
“She really breathes orange and black,” Hester said. “Everybody in the whole school community knows her – she has been amazing.”
Likewise, Warren said the transition process is “bittersweet,” as she will miss the school community with which she has interacted.
“What I really love about ASL is just the people and the kids,” Warren said. “That’s really a 35-year highlight as well as what I think I will miss most about the school.”
