Jamie Chan and Kyle Graham will join the deans office next year, replacing deans Mike Bird and Pete Silberman, Head of Upper School Audrius Barzdukas announced to their counselees in emails.
Chan is coming to Harvard-Westlake from Emory University, where she is an Assistant Dean in the Office of Undergraduate Admission. Chan will visit Friday to meet her future counselees.
“[Chan] truly knows of how elite colleges and universities identify candidates for admission,” Barzdukas wrote in the email. “She developed and executed Emory’s strategic student recruitment plan for leading high schools in California.”
While at Emory, Chan has been the admissions officer responsible for the Los Angeles area and has been visiting and reading Harvard-Westlake students’ applications, while getting to know the area, for the past three years.
“Ms. Chan believes in learning as a way of life, that it is worthwhile to pursue happiness and balance in school, and that it is possible to do well by doing good,” Barzdukas wrote in the email. “Ms. Chan aspires to help her students grow in mind, body and spirit.”
Graham currently works as Co-Director of College Counseling at Marymount High School. In addition to his time at Marymount, Graham worked in the Admissions Office at New York University, where he also earned a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration, and at Hamilton College, where he received his bachelor’s degree.
“[Graham] has a friendly personality, wide-ranging interests, a sharp wit and a keen intelligence — he can talk with anyone about anything,” Barzdukas wrote in the email. “It is easy to imagine students befriending him, seeking his counsel on matters important and mundane and wanting him to think well of their efforts and achievements.”
Graham also specializes in the use of technology in the college counseling process, dean Beth Slattery said.
“Having experience both on the high school side and the college side means that he is likely going to seamlessly move into the deans office because he’s got experience doing all of the things that we do,” Slattery said.
Graham said he looks forward to working closely with the diverse and talented student body.
“I care deeply about helping students and their families demystify the process,” Graham said.
