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Faculty Housing: New Initiative Begins with Lead Gift From Vicky Thompson Winterer ’61

A commitment of $5 million has been made to the Infinite Horizon campaign by Vicky Thompson Winterer, Class of 1961, to reimagine Emma Willard’s faculty and staff housing. The project is anticipated to include two phases and the first will add 10 new dwellings to the northwest corner of campus.

"As long as Emma Willard offers a residential boarding experience, there will be a need for amazing teachers and other adults to be present on campus around the clock,” said Winterer of the inspiration for her gift. “I hope this initiative will make the Emma living and learning environment that much more attractive to those who might call Mount Ida home!”

A renovated and expanded housing offering was identified as a key priority in the Leading with Purpose five-year strategic plan to enhance Emma Willard’s already dedicated and diverse faculty. At the core of any residential campus—and especially at Emma Willard—is the belief that having teachers and their families present on campus strengthens the living and learning environment for students writ large. Adding 10 new faculty homes will expand Emma Willard’s residential team and enrich the on-campus community responsible for creating a “home away from home” for all students but especially boarding students.

The initiative has also emerged as an important part of Emma Willard’s environmental sustainability efforts, with architects and campus planners exploring the most efficient options for new construction. Including the planned second phase, the complete faculty housing initiative will add approximately 50,000 square feet to the school’s physical plant. Bringing this amount of space online has spurred the school to consider “passive building” strategies to ensure the lowest environmental footprint and the most sustainable operations. Approaches to passive building include features such as design envelope (i.e. continuous construction to reduce losses associated with heating and cooling); sourcing of low-embodied-carbon materials; high-efficiency lighting and HVAC systems; and utilizing existing topography and tree canopy to provide natural ventilation and solar control, respectively. The vision for these dwellings is to make them as efficient as they are attractive to future residents.“

Expanding our faculty housing is a key objective in our strategic plan and it will allow us to fully realize our objective to create a vibrant and engaging residential experience for Emma Willard,” shared Head of School Jenny Rao. “Moreover, having more faculty homes available gives Emma Willard a recruiting advantage in being able to attract talented faculty from across the country and globe whose move to Troy can be made easier when we can offer a place for they and their families to live.”

Site plans for the new faculty housing units offer a park-like vista looking north, surrounded by a grove of pine trees and maple-lined pathways. Both the first and second phases of construction will put the new dwellings in proximity to existing housing in the Duplexes, Manchester, Simpson, and Wilson. Achieving the balance of personal privacy with the feeling of a close-knit neighborhood was identified as a desired attribute by faculty through the initial design phases.

“When I think back to my time as a student, the opportunity to interact with faculty and their families was one of the standout experiences for me as a boarder,” explains Vicky. “It’s not just about being exposed to a wide variety of people, although that is important; it’s the enriching experience of getting to know someone through the daily interaction you have in a residential campus community.”

Vicky Winterer—who served the Emma Willard School community as a Board Trustee from 1986 to 2000 and was co-chair of the Campaign for Emma Willard in the 1990s—now helps lead the Infinite Horizon campaign as one of its honorary co-chairs. Vicky’s combination of volunteer and philanthropic experience in education has helped the campaign move steadily toward its lofty goals.“My passions and pursuits remain primarily educational. I think that’s probably due to the richness my own education has brought to my life, and I want to ensure that richness continues in the lives of others. Emma Willard really opened the whole world to me, and that’s why I’m eager to help out in any way I can.”

The first phase of the faculty housing initiative has begun with initial site planning and design concepts completed. A goal of $10 million has been set for phase one with philanthropy to the Infinite Horizon campaign making progress possible on this important initiative. Available funding at the time of construction will determine Emma Willard’s ability to achieve the milestone of constructing the school’s first truly “passive” building.

renderings of proposed faculty housing

Clockwise: Exterior: New faculty housing will focus on creating a community feeling in the fields east of Wellington-Lay, carefully balancing the intimacy of individual dwellings with the proximity and social opportunities of a neighborhood. Site plan: A two-phase plan will provide immediate housing for 10 families, with a goal of 22 units by the end of theproject. The proposed site follows the path between Wellington-Lay and the Gatehouse, across from current housing in the Duplexes and The Mews. Interior kitchen: A contemporary “open-floor” kitchen and living plan highlights the opportunity for each resident to put their own decorative touches on the new spaces, while low-embodied-carbon (LEC) materials have been proposed for the fixed furnishings. Living space: With views of the Back 40, the proposed housing designs will bring the outside in, creating a refreshing space to call home and a close walk to campus along tree-lined paths.