By David Lim
Liz Resnick will occupy the Director of Studies position, which has been vacant since Deb Dowling left at the end of the 2009-10 school year. Resnick left her previous job as the Head of Upper School at Crossroads School to pursue a master’s in business administration at University of California, Los Angeles while working in a part-time capacity at Harvard-Westlake.
Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts describes Resnick’s role as “multifaceted.”
“[Resnick] oversees our joint Faculty Academic Committee,” Huybrechts said. “Working with other administrators, she’s responsible for the coherent six-year program. Somebody attending the Middle School, someone attending the Upper School, somebody’s got to care about the whole six-year program, especially the transition. She also works a lot training and mentoring new teachers, faculty evaluations.”
The Faculty Academic Committee oversees the curriculum and academic policy on both campuses and is made up of the deans and representatives of each department.
Resnick will work full days Monday through Wednesday and will come in for meetings throughout the week.
After Dowling departed to become the Head of Upper School at Bridges Academy on Laurel Canyon, Huybrechts interviewed a few candidates for her replacement over the past year, but did not find one that fit the job.
“Rather than scramble around and find someone to fit that position, we just waited a year and lived without a director of studies. It was hard, but we did it,” Huybrechts said.
Resnick’s move from Crossroads, which she said she still feels a “lot of affection for,” was primarily motivated by her graduate school schedule.
However, Resnick also looks forward to the differences between her new job and her eight years at Crossroads.
“I really love the notion that, rather than being a manager of teachers, my job at Harvard-Westlake is going to be as a resource, as a person who can observe, who can help people grow, who can point them in the right direction, talk about books I’ve read or professional development opportunities or conferences that might help them,” Resnick said.
“Again, none of them are ultimately my authority to act on. I’m really here as a support so I’m delighted to be in that role.”
