The Putney School
Based on its founder's principles, the school continues to emphasize academics, a work program, the arts, and physical activity. Its curriculum is intended to teach the value of labor, art, community, ethics, and scholarship for individual growth.
Campus
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Putpan.gif/200px-Putpan.gif)
The original buildings on Putney's campus were overhauled or constructed by Putney work camp attendees, students, and faculty in 1935. The Currier Center is a departure from Putney's customary white, colonial-style architecture, instead using stone and concrete walls in an angular design. It is used for dance, music, movie-making and visual-art presentations. The Field House, which opened in October 2009, was designed as a "net zero-energy building".
There are ten dormitories on campus: Old Boys, Huseby, New Boys, Keep, Noyes, White Cottage, JR, Old Girls, The Heights, and Gray House. A few faculty members live in each dormitory.
Academic program
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In 1995, the Boston Globe described Putney as combining "a New England work ethic and a strong academic program." It is a member of the Independent Curriculum Group and in 2009 received a 10-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Tuition
Tuition for the 2023-24 academic year is $74,500 for boarding students and $45,400 for day students.
Notable alumni and faculty
Alumni
According to The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory, alumni of The Putney School include (graduation date shown, where applicable):
- Sam Amidon, musician
- David Amram '48, composer
- Tim Asch '51, anthropologist, filmmaker
- Carlos Buhler '72, mountaineer
- Peter L. Buttenwieser, educator, philanthropist, member of the Lehman family
- Tim Caldwell, Olympic cross-country skier, son of John Caldwell
- Jonathan Crary, art historian
- Dave Cole '96, sculptor
- Carlton Cuse '77, television writer/executive of LOST
- Tim Daly '74, actor
- Alicia Dana '87, U.S. Paralympian
- Lydia Davis '65, writer, Man Booker International Prize recipient
- Thulani Davis '61, playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter
- Anna Dewdney '83, children's book author and illustrator
- Barnaby Dorfman '86, inventor, technology products
- Mahdi ElMandjra '50, Moroccan futurist, economist and sociologist
- Kai T. Erikson '49, sociologist
- David Griffiths '60, physicist, teacher
- William B. Gray, U.S. Attorney for Vermont
- Andrea Gruber, soprano
- William Hinton '36, author, agricultural advisor, People's Republic of China
- Joan Hinton '39, atomic physicist, dairy farmer in China
- Lee Hirsch '90, filmmaker.
- Jeffrey Hollender '73, CEO of Seventh Generation Inc.
- Reid Hoffman '85, web entrepreneur, co-founder of LinkedIn
- Felicity Huffman '81, actor
- Jeffrey Jones '64, actor
- Kathleen Kennedy Townsend '69, lieutenant governor of Maryland
- Kerry Kennedy '77, lawyer and human rights activist
- Bill Koch '73, Olympic cross-country skiing medalist
- Steven Kunes '74, TV writer and producer
- Mike Ladd, hip-hop artist
- Jonathan Lash '63, Hampshire College president
- Ellen Hamilton Latzen '99, actor
- Téa Leoni (Pantaleoni) '84, actor
- Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, '52, journalist, critic, novelist
- J. Anthony Lukas '51, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author
- Sally Mann '69, fine-art photographer
- Jared Martin, actor
- Joanna Miles '58, Emmy award-winning actress in The Glass Menagerie
- Adrian Morris, painter
- Errol Morris '65, filmmaker
- Nell Newman '78, co-founder/owner, Newman's Own
- Heather Nova '83, musician and songwriter
- Eli Noyes '60, film animator
- Ken Olin '72 actor, director and TV producer
- Priscilla Paetsch '50, violinist, composer
- Bob Perelman '64, poet, literary critic and professor
- Jonathan Piel '57, science journalist, past editor of Scientific American
- Tyler Rasch '06, television personality
- Noel Rockmore '47, painter, portraitist
- Martha Rockwell '62, Olympic cross-country ski racer
- Jonathan Rosenbaum '61, film critic
- Demetria Royals, filmmaker
- Jonathan Schell '61, author
- Wallace Shawn '61, actor, playwright
- Lucy Shelton '61, soprano
- Harper Simon '90, singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer and son of Paul Simon
- Alexis Stewart '83, television host, daughter of Martha Stewart
- Peter Willcox '72, Greenpeace activist, Arctic Sunrise captain
- Ellen Winner '65, professor specializing in the psychology of art
- John Bell Young, American concert pianist
Faculty
Some Putney faculty members (subject taught in parentheses) had careers that extended beyond their teaching.
- Eric Aho (art), American painter
- John H. Caldwell (mathematics), Nordic skier on the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, author and Nordic coach of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team
- Chard deNiord (English, philosophy), Poet Laureate of Vermont
- Eric Evans (English) Olympic canoeist
- Fernando Gerassi (art), artist
- Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. (history), environmentalist, publisher, and executive
- Margarete Seeler (art), German-born American artist, designer, educator, and author
References
- ^ "Putney to Welcome New Head of School". The Putney School. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
- ^ "Putney at a glance". Website. Putney School. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
- ^ "Our 9 Fundamental Beliefs". The Putney School. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
- ^ Barton, April (May 12, 2021). "Why one Vermont school is considered among the 50 most influential high schools". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
- ^ Feloni, Richard. "The billionaire founder of LinkedIn attended a progressive Vermont boarding school that skipped AP classes in favor of carpentry and blacksmithing". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
- ^ Lloyd, Susan M. (1987). The Putney School, A Progressive Experiment. Yale University Press. pp. 21–3, 31. ISBN 0-300-03742-2.
- ^ "Our Field House's Green Features". The Putney School. 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
- ^ "Campus Map". The Putney School. Retrieved 2024-04-30.
- ^ Cohen, Muriel (January 1, 1995). "Putney - A Vermont School that Dared and Succeeded". The Boston Globe: A42.
- ^ State Board of Education (May 19, 2015), Renewal of approval to The Putney School, Putney, VT to serve students in grades 9-12 (PDF), State of Vermont Agency of Education, retrieved 2015-11-11
- ^ "Tuition and Financial Aid". The Putney School. Retrieved 2024-01-05.
- ^ The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory. Bloomington, Indiana: University Publishing Corporation. 2008.
- ^ Robidoux, Carol (January 21, 2015). "Olympic Skiing Runs in Lebanon Lawyer's Family". Bar News. New Hampshire Bar Association.
- ^ Poniewozik, James (April 29, 2010). "Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof". The 2010 TIME 100—Artists. TIME. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (2013-05-23). "World's most concise short story writer Lydia Davis wins Booker International Prize 2013". Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- ^ "Class of 1964 Obituaries: William Barton Gray". HR 1964.org. Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1964. 1994. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
- ^ "Felicity Huffman, actress charged in college-admission bribery case, has Vermont ties". Burlington Free Press.
- ^ Aspen (30 August 2016). "Christopher Lehmann-Haupt '52". putneyschool.org.
- ^ "Elm Lea Circle | Community | The Putney School". www.elmleacircle.com. Retrieved 2024-03-27.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Martha Rockwell Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
- ^ Walker, Shaun (24 November 2013). "Arctic 30 captain re-evaluates protest methods after Russian jails Veteran Greenpeace skipper Peter Willcox was also captain of Rainbow Warrior – which was bombed by French agents in 1985". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
- ^ Cuerdon, Don (Fall 2015). "Putney Post". Putney Post. p. 23. Retrieved 2021-04-15.
- ^ Bloom, Paul (2018-09-06). "What We Know About Art and the Mind". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
Further reading
- Lloyd, Susan McIntosh (1987). The Putney School: A Progressive Experiment. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03742-2.
- Sadovnik, Alan R.; Semel, Susan F., eds. (2002). Carmelita Chase Hinton and the Putney School. Founding Mothers and Others: Women Educational Leaders During the Progressive Era. Palgrave. ISBN 0-312-29502-2.