Announcing Maybeck's New Director for Fall 2024
The Board of Directors is thrilled to announce the appointment of Elizabeth (Beth) Pillsbury, Ph.D., as Maybeck’s next School Director. Supported by unanimous recommendation and approval by both the Search Committee and the Board of Directors, Beth will join Maybeck on July 1, 2024.
Beth is a historian, teacher, and ceramic artist, and is currently the Director of Experiential Education and Summer Programs at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, NY. Beth has a deep love of the outdoors, which has driven her environmental activism, her historical research, and her art. She spends her free time hiking with friends, discussing the contemporary political landscape with her father, layering sand and iron-laden soil into clay, and practicing yoga and Pilates.
At Riverdale, Beth has overseen and facilitated experiential education initiatives and is dedicated to connecting the academic core to rigorous immersive experiences in grades 6-12. In her position as the director of Summer Programs, Beth helped create systems to support and expand Riverdale’s summer and interdisciplinary programs to include research programs in the humanities and applied sciences.
Beth is committed to helping build educational experiences that offer meaningful and inclusive approaches to learning and attend to all students’ diverse backgrounds and needs. To further this work outside of Riverdale, Beth serves as the Chair of the Inclusion Committee on the Independent School Experiential Education Network (ISEEN) board and co-facilitates the ISEEN School Change Professional Affinity Group. She serves on the board of Living City Project, a small non-profit organization that engages students in urban-planning internships and summer and gap year programs. She also volunteers with a group of professors and teachers in Cleveland in creating professional development opportunities that support teachers in exploring challenging topics in US History with a focus on examining race, racism, and Black activism.
Beth has deep connections to the Bay Area and is excited to be a part of a community that is as warm and kind as Maybeck. She believes the best schools are ones like Maybeck, which not only reflect the diversity of the community, both in their staff and in the student body, but also honor different cultures, traditions, identities, and learning styles. Maybeck’s history and commitment to championing diversity, equity, and inclusion is essential to teaching the whole student. For Beth, being at a school that is committed to this work is of fundamental importance.
The Board and Search Committee identified Beth’s expertise in experiential education, commitment to social justice, and history of working closely with teachers in program design as tremendous assets for shepherding Maybeck’s mission into the future. She will be building on the strong foundations laid by Bill Webb’s decade of compassionate leadership.
The Board would like to recognize Emeritus Board President and Search Committee co-chair Dale Rose and Search Committee members Jordan Greenwald and Giulietta Aquino for their perseverance and frank assessments of the candidates; Arry Kaur for her flexibility, poise, and attention to detail throughout the process; the staff for rearranging their lives around the scheduled visits; and all of you who took the time to meet and respond to our request for community input. Maybeck has shown itself to be a school where all voices matter and where a dynamic and committed educator like Beth Pillsbury would want to be School Director.
Sincerely,
Gretchen Griswold
President, Board of Directors
A Letter from Beth
Dear Maybeck Community,
I am so excited and honored to join Maybeck High School in 2024! I would like to thank the Search Committee for constructing such a thoughtful and engaging search process, for sharing their knowledge, their humor, and the joy that permeates Maybeck High School.
When I first learned of Maybeck, I was immediately drawn to the school’s radical roots and innovative approach to education. I have spent much of my career thinking about how to create educational programs that challenge and inspire students. I believe that well-designed immersive experiential education allows students to see new possibilities for themselves and for the world. Maybeck’s commitment to student-centered experiential programs makes it exceptional among independent schools in this country.
Maybeck is a magical place. I love that Maybeck students and staff are intentional about developing a sense of community in small classes, in clubs, in special programs, and even in policy decisions. I love that Maybeck’s approach to service learning invites students to make a deep connection with communities outside of the school doors. Maybeck students make a real impact in the world. And it matters a lot to me that the students and staff are diverse, inclusive, and most significantly, kind.
I can’t wait to join this beautiful school and to support staff and students in continuing to develop and deepen the school’s already robust academic and experiential programs. And over the next ten months, I am eager to learn all that I can about Maybeck’s community, programs, and traditions.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Pillsbury, PhD
P.S. I am looking forward to going camping with everyone this fall!
