Academy Chronology - Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy was founded in 1781 by Dr. John and Elizabeth Phillips, who resided in Exeter, New Hampshire. A successful businessman, John Phillips felt strongly about what we now call community service, having given much of his time to his church, the town, and to the province. First a teacher by trade, he firmly believed in educating “youth from every quarter.” He was Dartmouth College’s first major benefactor and provided financial support to his nephew’s founding of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, before establishing Phillips Exeter Academy three years later.

    
            Principals

William Woodbridge (1783 – 1788)

Benjamin Abbot (1788 – 1838)

Gideon Lane Soule (1838 – 1873)

Albert C. Perkins (1873 – 1883)

Walter Q. Scott (1884 – 1889)

Charles E. Fish (1890 – 1895)

Harlan P. Amen (1895 – 1913)

Lewis Perry (1914 – 1946)

William G. Saltonstall (1946 – 1963)

W. Earnest Gillespie (Interim Principal, 1963-1964)

Richard W. Day (1964 – 1973)

Stephen G. Kurtz (1974 – 1987)

Kendra Stearns O’Donnell (1987 – 1997)

Tyler C. Tingley (1997 – 2009)

Thomas E. Hassan (2009 – 2015)

Lisa MacFarlane (2015 -2018)

William K. Rawson (2018- )

18th Century

1719 Dec 27	John Phillips born in Andover, Mass.
1743 Aug 4	John Phillips weds Sarah E. Gilman in Exeter.
1765 Oct 9	Sarah Phillips dies.
1767 Nov 3	John Phillips weds Elizabeth (Dennett) Hale.
1781 Apr 3	Act of Incorporation of PEA.
1781 May 17	John Phillips and his wife Elizabeth sign the Deed of Gift, the “Constitution” of the Academy.
1781 Dec 18	First meeting of PEA Trustees.
1781	John Phillips gives the Academy $60,000.
1783 Mar 20	PEA opens its doors to 56 students in the first Academy Building (now on Elliot Street).
1783 May 1	Formal opening of PEA, William Woodbridge, Preceptor, and dedication of first Academy Building.
1783 Sep.	Enrollment: 56. Tuition fees: none.
1788 Oct 8	Benjamin Abbot appointed the second Preceptor.
1793 Nov 13	Trustees vote to erect a second Academy Building on land given by J. T. Gilman.
1794	Second Academy Building erected.
1795 Apr 21	John Phillips dies at 76; wills 2/3 of his estate (approx. $60,000) to PEA.
1796 May 14	Daniel Webster enters PEA at age 14.
1797 Mar 12	Trustees vote to award certificates for “good progress.”
1797 Sep	Elizabeth Phillips dies.
1798 Sep 10	Trustees vote that “No student shall wear silk of any kind” and that dress of students be less expensive.
1799 Dec 14	Military exercises in Exeter led by student group, the “Washington Whites,” at death of President Washington.

**1794:** An exterior view of the 2nd Academy Building that was built in 1794 (the “wings” on either side were added in 1821). Fire destroyed the building on Dec. 18, 1870.

19th Century

1801 Jul 9	Records of Trustees first refer to annual “Exhibitions” or “Closing Exercises.”
1803 Aug 23	First permanent Mathematics Instructor appointed.
1808 May 20	Benjamin Abbot, “Preceptor,” appointed “Principal.”
1809	First tuition fee levied — $2 per year — and remitted to “foundationers.”
1813 Feb 26	Oration by Isaac Butler complains of destruction of students’ snow fort by “rough-scuffs of the town.”
1814 Aug 14	Nicholas Gilman leaves $1,000 to PEA for instruction in Sacred Music.
1818 Jun 3	Trustees vote to have an English Department in addition to the college preparatory Classical Department.
1818 Jul 16	Golden Branch (oldest surviving Academy society) founded.
1821	Wings added to both ends of the second Academy Building.
1834	Francis E. Parker gives the Academy $130,000.
1835 Aug 20	Daniel Webster elected as Trustee; serves until his death in 1852.
1838 Aug 22	Gideon Lane Soule appointed third Principal.
1838 Aug 23	Abbot festival held on the occasion of Benjamin Abbot’s retirement after 50 years as Principal.
1841	Joseph G. Hoyt becomes Professor of Mathematics.
1841 Aug 19	Trustees vote to alter the Constitution of the Golden Branch Society to prevent meeting in secret.
1849	Tuition $14 per year.
1849 Oct 25	Death of Benjamin Abbot, second Principal, 10 years after retirement.
1852 Aug 24	An “experiment” in dormitory living begins in Williams House; rooms free, board $1.42/week.
1854 Jul 31	Adopting the plans of Mathematics Professor Hoyt, the school is divided into three classes — junior, middle, and senior. There are also a Preparatory and an Advanced Class. The former is kept as small as possible, and every effort is made to increase the size of the latter, which corresponds to the Freshman class in college.
1854 Aug 13	Trustees vote that “Use of intoxicating liquors by any student shall cause him to sever his connection with the Academy.”
1855 Aug 27	Opening of first permanent dormitory, Abbot Hall. Room rent fixed at $1.00 per year.
1856 Jan 3	Exeter’s new Town Hall dedicated; site of early PEA dramatic and musical productions.
1856 Apr 13	Christian Fraternity founded (merged with Student Council in 1954).
1857 Mar 24	Trustees vote to constitute a Faculty of the Instructors.
1858 Mar 23	George A. Wentworth appointed Professor of Mathematics.
1858 Jul 13	Trustees vote to permit students to study outside of the main recitation building.
1858 Sep 1	Moses Uriah Hall, Black student from Exeter, enters the Academy.
1859 Jan 19	Bradbury Cilley appointed Professor of Classics.
1859 Aug 29	School calendar is set at three equal terms with a summer vacation of 11 weeks.
1859 Oct 19	Baseball clubs first organized.
1860 Mar 3	Abraham Lincoln visits his son Robert Todd at PEA and speaks in Town Hall on behalf of the Republican Club.
1861 Apr 22	First Exeter student leaves for Civil War.
1862	John L. Sibley, class of 1819, gives $66,000 to the Academy.
1862 Nov 25	Jonathan Sibley establishes a Charity Fund to aid students of little means.
1863 Nov 24	Tuition increases to $10 per term.
1864	Boating first recognized at the Academy.
1864 Sep 11?	Official Register of Students records that five students entering from Kentucky “left the Academy because there was a coloured boy in their class.” It goes on to say, “I wish they could all be publicly examined in company with him.” [Presumably written by Dr. Soule. The Black student is not identified in the student register.]
1865 Sep 27	Academy students establish Episcopal Society, later becomes Episcopal Parish (Christ Church).
1866 Jan 1	New England Alumni Association forms in Boston.
1868 Jul 2	Trustees vote to hire first Instructor in Modern Languages (French).
1870	Tuition $15 per term.
1870	Dr. Soule changes the hour at which students are required to be in their rooms from seven o’clock to eight.
1870 Sep 8	John Percyville Parker, a Black student from Ripley, Ohio enters the Academy as a member of the Class of 1871.
1870 Dec 18	Fire destroys second Academy Building.
1872	Dedication of the third Academy Building and celebration of Soule Festival, honoring Dr. Soule’s 50 years of service.
1872 Nov 5	First boat club formed.
1872 Dec 17	Trustees purchase Squamscott House, a hotel, for use as a dormitory. Later named Gorham Hall.
1873 Feb. 1	Third Principal, Gideon Lane Soule, resigns after 35 years.
1873 May 22	Albert C. Perkins appointed fourth Principal.
1875	First Academy Orchestra.
1875 Jun 13	Woodbridge Odlin establishes first professorship in English.
1875 Sep 6	First meeting of PEA Athletic Association.
1878 Apr 6	First issue of The Exonian.
1878 May 2	First baseball game with Andover (PEA 12 – PA 1).
1878 Jun 12	Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers an address on education to the Golden Branch, after which he remained all night in Exeter as the guest of Dr. Gorham, class of 1837, Trustee.
1878 Nov 2	First Exeter-Andover football game (PA 22 – PEA 0).
1878	James A. Tufts appointed Instructor in English.
1879 Mar 15	The Exonian reviews first Glee Club concert, held in Town Hall.
1879 May 3	Dramatics Club presents its first “entertainment” in Exeter Town Hall.
1879 May 28	Death of third Principal, Gideon Lane Soule.
1880 Jun 22	First PEAN published. The name is derived from Pæan, the Greek word meaning “song of praise”.
1881 Nov 19	First meeting of G. L. Soule Literary Society.
1883 May 8	Resignation of the fourth Principal, Albert C. Perkins.
1884 Jul 1	Walter Q. Scott appointed fifth Principal.
1884 Nov 15	Exeter wins first tennis match against Andover.
1885 Aug 12	Ground broken for the first Academy Gymnasium.
1886 May 29	First issue of the Literary Monthly published.
1887 May 21	Trustees award first Diplomas to Senior Class.
1888-1889	Enrollment 206. Tuition $20 per term, room and board extra.
1889 Apr 20	Resignation of the fifth Principal, Walter Q. Scott.
1889 Jun 12	First Exeter-Andover track meet (PA 6 – PEA 3).
1890 Jun 24	Charles E. Fish appointed sixth Principal.
1891	Chemical Laboratory built.
1894 Sep 12	Soule Hall opens.
1894 Dec 11	PEA wins a public spelling match against Robinson Female Seminary.
1895 Mar 30	Resignation of sixth Principal, Charles E. Fish.
1895 Jun 17	Harlan P. Amen appointed seventh Principal.
1895 Oct 9	The Exonian reports trustees have made arrangements for those students whose parents have given permission to play pool and billiards in the new rooms devoted entirely to the amusement of students.
1895	Enrollment of 123 students at the Academy.
1896 Jan 21	Organization of Phi Epsilon Sigma society after Principal Amen lifts ban on fraternities.
1896 Sep 9	First E-Book published.
1896 Sep 15	Peabody Hall opens.
1897 Jun 6	First Merrill Prize Speaking Contest.
1897	Paid coaches for athletic teams first regularly provided.
1899 Sept 30	Phillips Congregational Church dedicated.
1899	Tuition $150 per year.

**1888:** The Chesley Gang, an informal student group that identified with a particular boarding house, by rooming there and/or by taking there meals there. The actual location of this house is unknown.

20th Century

1901 Feb 4	Abner Merrill, class of 1838, gives the Merrill Building on Spring and Water Streets (Site of present Merrill Hall).
1903 Jun 16	Opening of Alumni Hall (now part of the Mayer Art Center) as a central dining hall for entire school.
1903 Sep 16	Hoyt Hall built.
1903	Thompson Gymnasium built.
1903	First Exeter-Andover golf match.
1905 Mar 22	First issue of the Phillips Exeter Bulletin.
1905 Jun 20	The historic Nathaniel Gilman House given to PEA.
1905 Jun 20	George A. Plimpton, class of 1873, gives playing fields.
1905 Winter	Academy hires Miss Jessie Ford of Exeter, a trained librarian, to “scientifically classify” and catalog its 2000-volume library. The library occupies two rooms on the second floor of the Academy Building.
1906	First Exeter-Andover debate.
1907 Apr 10	“Old” Dunbar Hall burns in spectacular fire.
1907 May 18	PEA chapter of the Cum Laude Society established.
1907 Sep 25	First meeting of Student Council.
1908 Sep 16	“New” Dunbar Hall opens after the old one burns.
1908	The Southern Club forms.
1910 Apr 15	Enrollment of 516 students at a tuition of $150 per year (room and board extra).
1911 Jun	G. A. Plimpton gives “the fields beyond.”
1911 Oct 26	Cornerstone of Davis Library laid.
1912 Sep 18	Webster Hall opens.
1913 Oct 8	Death of the seventh Principal, Harlan P. Amen.
1913 Oct 8	Exeter beats Andover in football 59-0.
1913	572 students enrolled.
1914 Jun 18	Lewis Perry appointed eighth Principal.
1914 Jul 3	Fire destroys third Academy Building.
1914 Oct. 5	Cornerstone of fourth Academy Building laid.
1914 Oct 14	Hill Bridge, gift of George Hill, class of 1865, completed, connecting Plimpton Fields with the “Fields Beyond.”
1914	First Exeter-Andover hockey game.
1915 Oct 9	Dedication of fourth Academy Building.
1916 Feb 12	Students allowed to attend Friday night shows at the Ioka.
1916 May 30	F. J. Price, class of 1901, is the first Exonian to die in World War I, at Ypres.
1916 Nov 29	Negative wins in Golden Branch debate “Should Exeter Be Coeducational?”
1916-1918	Sixty-two Exonians killed in World War I.
1917 Feb 24	First drill of student Military Battalion held in Town Hall.
1918 Feb 22	Dedication of Thompson Gymnasium.
1918 Oct 2	Spanish flu epidemic at the Academy.
1919 Apr 4	First school service held in Phillips Church.
1919 Jul 8	First summer session opens with 65 students after trustees approve the recommendation of the faculty that a session of the school be held during the summer (1) to increase services and better utilize the facility, (2) to provide an opportunity to progress faster in education, and (3) to “check some of the loss in efficiency [in studies] which results from the excessive length of summer vacation.”
1919 Jan 16	Exeter Opera House on Water St. burns (home of the PEA Dramatic and Minstral Shows from 1890 to 1916).
1920	First Exeter-Andover swimming meet.
1920	First Exeter-Andover basketball game.
1920	The Lantern Club founded.
1920	The Scientific Society founded.
1920	Tuition $250 per year.
1922	Christmas Fund created. Class of 1920 votes that as many of them as possible should give 10 dollars apiece each year to their old school. The example of the Class of 1920 is followed by the classes of 1921 and 1922. The idea of this “Christmas Fund,” which has since become “Annual Giving,” is the second oldest annual fund in the U.S. [Yale created their fund in 1811].
1922 Sep 25	Trustees purchase Phillips Congregational Church from Second Parish.
1923 Jun 25	The Infirmary, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lamont, opens.
1924 May 31	Founding of General Alumni Association.
1924	General John G. Pershing and his aide, Col. George C. Marshall, visit Dr. Perry and Gen. Pershing’s son at Exeter.
1924	Edward S. Harkness gives $24,000 for new dormitories.
1925 Nov 14	Dedication of Amen, Cilley, and Wentworth Halls.
1926 Feb 21	Twenty known cases of scarlet fever at PEA.
1927 Oct 1	Saturday night film series in gymnasium begins.
1928	E. S. Wells Kerr assumes position as Dean.
1929 Nov 9	Dedication of new stadium and football field.
1930 Nov 17	Edward S. Harkness gives $5,800,000 to PEA.
1930 Nov 25	Faculty adopts a resolution regarding the Harkness gift and the institution of the Harkness System of 12 students per class around a conference table.
1930	Jeremiah Smith Hall built, gift of Col. William Boyce Thompson.
1930	Squash building built, gift of Col. William Boyce Thompson.
1931 Jun 6	PEA celebrates its 150th anniversary.
1931 Sep 23	Jeremiah Smith and Thompson Science Buildings open. Both are gifts of Col. William Boyce Thompson, class of 1890.
1931	Twenty-five additional teachers hired for the new Harkness System.
1931	Baseball and track cage built, gift of Col. Thompson.
1931 Jun 6	The Sesquicentennial Celebration of the founding of the Academy.
1932	Phillips Hall and Merrill Hall built, gift of Mr. Harkness.
1932	Exeter Inn built, gift of Mrs. William Boyce Thompson and Mrs. William Boyce Thompson Schultz (mother and daughter).
1932 Sep 21	Lamont Annex, or Contagious Ward (now Lamont Hall), opened.
1932	Wings built on the Academy Building (gift of Mr. Harkness).
1933	First Exeter/Andover wrestling match, lacrosse meet, and (indoors) track meet.
1933 Sep 20	“Flat rate” ($1,051) covering tuition, room, and board first charged.
1933 Dec 12	The Review replaces The Literary Monthly.
1934 Sep 18	Wheelwright Hall opens (gift of Mr. Harkness).
1935 Jan 7	Alumni Hall closed as a dining hall.
1935 Mar 12	Death of Jeremiah Smith Jr., class of 1888, President of Trustees from 1920-1935.
1935 Sep 19	Bancroft Hall opens, gift of Mr. Harkness. All boarding students housed on-campus for first time.
1936	First Exeter-Andover fencing match.
1937 Sep 26	Knight House acquired by PEA; third story is added to provide more dormitory space.
1938 Nov 11	Trustees vote that no member of the Academy shall be permitted to take food away from the dining halls.
1941 Sep	The Grill, with seating for 125 people, moves to Alumni Hall after the Exonian Building (across from Hoyt Hall), which housed the Grill, the Exonian offices, and the school carpentry and paint shops, is torn down in August.
1941-1945	WW II: 141 Exonians killed, 26 members of the faculty leave for the service.
1942 June	The five remaining fraternities are closed by vote of the Faculty.
1942 Dec 1	The Faculty votes Anticipatory Program to help seniors finish school before draft age of 18.
1943 Oct 27	The Exonian reports 620 students have helped 22 local farmers harvest apples and potatoes during wartime labor shortage.
1944 Feb	First Anticipatory Program graduation.
1945	Approximately $115,000 given in scholarship aid to worthy boys.
1945	James Forrestal speaks at Exeter graduation; son Michael is one of the graduates.
1945	Appointment of H. Hamilton Bissell as director of Scholarship Boys.
1945 Jun 11	Eighth Principal Lewis Perry announces retirement.
1946 Mar 12	Faculty dinner to honor retiring Lewis Perry; 250 present.
1946 Jun	Perry-Lamont Day. Thomas W. Lamont, retiring President of the Board of Trustees, and Dr. Perry speak in Thompson Gymnasium.
1946 Jun 2	William G. Saltonstall appointed ninth Principal.
1946 Sep 18	Principal Saltonstall’s first Chapel service. Academy has 731 boys from 12 foreign countries and 42 states.
1946 Nov 26	Faculty votes to drop the two-year Latin requirement.
1946-1947	New flat rate $1,250/year.
1947 Jan 18	Change in curriculum: three years of any language, ancient or modern, required hereafter for diploma. Nationwide comment on protest of editor of The Exonian over dropping of Latin as requirement.
1947 Apr 3	Campaign for $5,000,000 opens. Thomas W. Lamont gives $500,000.
1947 Sep	Academy vs. Town Tax Case settled.
1947 Sep	Enrollment of 718 boys in Academy: from every state in union but one.
1947 Oct 20	Adult Education Program for the town of Exeter begun by PEA Faculty.
1948	Campaign for $5,000,000 concluded successfully, raising a total of about $5,600,000.
1948 Jan 6	Issue of Look polls PEA students and finds them Republicans 3 to 1.
1948 Feb 2	Death of Thomas W. Lamont, class of 1888 (President of Board of Trustees, 1935-46); leaves $3,500,000 to PEA.
1950	154 PEA graduates who lost their lives in WW II honored at Chapel service.
1952 Feb 19	Principal Saltonstall made an announcement: “On a Four-S policy of sun, snow, sleep and surprise, there will be no school today.” His announcement started what would become an annual tradition known as “St. Gurdon’s Day” (Gurdon was Saltonstall’s middle name); and later “Principal’s Day.” The Exonian reported on February 23, 1952 that the day off was prompted by a drop in morale and health in the student body, and that it may become an annual event. The spring issue of the Exeter Bulletin reported to the alumni that “the announcement made history, health, happiness and hurrahs for the 741 Exeter students and their instructors. The students filed out of Chapel (the Assembly Hall) and spent the day in a variety of ways, mostly good.”
1952 Aug 21-28	National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the New England Institute for Teachers of Mathematics meet for a week’s joint session at the Academy, under the direction of Jackson B. Adkins, member of the Academy Mathematics Department. Meeting attended by more than 500 people.
1953 May 13	Retirement of E.S. Wells Kerr, first Dean of the Academy; first Academy building, on Tan Lane, designated “the Dean’s House” in his honor.
1953 May 30	Dedication of the Lamont Gallery and Art Center (formerly Alumni Hall).
1953 Dec 8	Faculty exempts seniors from the 10:30 bed hour rule and from required attendance at breakfast.
1954 Apr 13	Faculty votes to mix all four classes in dormitories.
1955 Nov 9	The Pendulum replaces The Review.
1956 Nov 15	Faculty votes “that students not be permitted to patronize any establishment in Exeter that has pinball machines.”
1957 Jan 10	Senior grill begins.
1957 Sep 16	Exeter Bookstore opens.
1957 Sep 19	First “Daily Bulletin” issued.
1959 Apr 7	New physical education program for ninth graders (“Prep Spaz”) voted.
1960 May 28	Dedication of the Lewis Perry Music Building.
1960 Sep 29	Barber shop in basement of Academy Building closed.
1960 Oct 23	Robert Frost, at 86, gives his last PEA lecture.
1961 Jan 28	Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) formed.
1961 May 31	Faculty votes to allow students to have radios in their rooms.
1961 Jul 3	Summer School becomes co-educational (187 students, including 13 girls).
1961 Sep 22	Cafeteria system introduced in dining halls, but students continue to wait on faculty tables.
1962 Oct 16	Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower visits grandson (David D. Eisenhower II, class of 1966) at PEA.
1963 Mar 4	Ninth Principal William G. Saltonstall resigns to head Peace Corps in Nigeria.
1963 Jun 10	Richard W. Day appointed 10th Principal but must fulfill an existing commitment, so does not begin his tenure until the 1964-1965 academic year.
1963-1964	William Earnest Gillespie serves as Interim Principal for one year.
1963 Oct 12	Dedication of McConnell Hall.
1963 Dec 23	The enrollment is 771 and tuition is over $2000 for the first time (day student tuition is $900).
1964 May 6	Dow House, formerly the Exeter Clinic, purchased.
1964 Nov 13	Trustees vote to join Andover in sponsoring School Year Abroad Program.
1965 Mar 13	$7,300,000 bequest of Edward C. Simmons, benefactor, advances scholarship aid.
1965 May 29	First John Phillips Award presented to Burke Marshall, class of 1940, on Alumni Day. The John Phillips Award was established by the Trustees for presentation to an Exeter alumnus “whose life and whose contributions to the welfare of his/her community, his/her country, or mankind exemplify in high degree the nobility of character and usefulness to mankind that John Phillips sought to promote in establishing the Academy.”
1966 Jan 22	First Coke machines installed in dorms.
1966 Mar 31	First group of Washington interns arrives in DC for work in Congressional Offices.
1966 Apr 22	Dramatics Association’s first performance in newly renovated Harris House, later 3-D Hall.
1966 Sep 14	Bowl of apples set out daily in Principal’s office.
1967-1971	Long Step forward raises $25,634,521 in capital campaign, exceeding its goal.
1967 Sep 17	Wetherell Dining Center opens.
1967 Oct 25	Wednesday supper dress code abandoned.
1968 Apr	Appointment of first George Bennett Fellow is announced.
1968 May 4	Faculty votes to expand Independent Study Program for seniors.
1968 May 31	Trustees vote to drop required attendance at Sunday church service.
1968 Jun 9	Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson speaks at graduation.
1968	Kirtland House moved from Elm St. to Elliot St. to make room for the new dining center.
1968 Jul 1	Bruce Dobler becomes the first George Bennett Fellow, a program established in February 1967 by Elias B. Kulukundis ’55 to provide for a writer-in-residence at the Academy.
1968 Sep 5	School year begins with first woman faculty member, Anne W. Cunningham, Instructor in Mathematics.
1968 Dec 3	Faculty votes to change school year from three terms to two semesters, permitting early graduation of seniors.
1969 Apr 1	Ground broken for new Library and Elm St. Dining Center.
1969 Jul 30	Gould House moved across Main St. to make room for new dormitories.
1969 Sep 17	Main St. and Ewald Halls open.
1969 Oct 5	Browning House purchased.
1969 Oct 15	Student silent march from Town Hall to Kensington in protest of Vietnam War.
1969 Nov 8	Dedication of “new” gymnasium. Rededicated in 1980 as Love Gymnasium.
1970 Jan 26	Death of eighth Principal, Lewis Perry, ’18, ’20, ’46 (Hon.) at 94.
1970 Jan 28	First mid-year graduation.
1970 Feb 27	Trustees announce that PEA will become co-ed.
1970 Sep 15	School opens with first female students. Thirty-nine girls, all day students, are enrolled.
1970 Oct 21	First interscholastic girls’ competition in field hockey (Exeter H.S. JV 2 – PEA 0).
1971 Feb 23	Paramount Pictures starts filming A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, class of 1945, at PEA.
1971 Apr 17	Computer installed in Academy Building.
1971 Sep	Enrollment of 128 girls at the Academy. Bancroft and Hoyt established as first two girls’ dormitories.
1971 Nov 16	Classes halted while students and faculty move 60,000 books into the new library.
1972 May 12	The Mikado performed on opening night of the new Fisher Theater.
1973 May 18	10th Principal, Richard W. Day, resigns.
1973-1974	Mary Patterson McPherson serves as first woman on Board of Trustees.
1973 Dec 20	Boy-girl ratio at PEA is 3:1.
1974 Feb 15	Dress code amended to permit boys to wear turtlenecks instead of shirts and ties.
1974 Mar 22	The Exonian reports the death of Louis I. Kahn, architect of the new library.
1974 Mar 28	Stephen G. Kurtz appointed 11th Principal.
1974 Jun 6	Harriet Sue Schwartz becomes the first female to receive the Faculty Excellence Award (student of first rank).
1976 May 21	The first Founder’s Day Award presented to H. Hamilton Bissell. The Founder’s Day Award was conceived by Stephen G. Kurtz, Principal, and established by the Trustees in 1976 to recognize exceptional service to the Academy. It is given by the General Alumni/ae Association with the advice and consent of the Trustees.
1977 Sep	Ninth grade girls admitted as boarders for first time.
1978-1981	Third Century Fund raises $25. 8 million, exceeding its goal of $22.6 million.
1978 Jun 18-30	Summer Institute on Moral Education.
1978 Jul	PEA receives the Sustained Excellence Award.
1978 Jul 3	Death of 10th Principal, Richard W. Day.
1979 Jul	PEA receives the Sustained Excellence Award.
1980 Jul 7	PEA receives the Sustained Excellence Award.
1980/81	“Ten Years of Co-education” celebrated.
1980/81	Bicentennial Year celebrated with three gala weekends.
1980 Apr 11	William L. Dunfey donates funds to further improve the status of women faculty.
1980 Jun 15-22	“Exeter Conference on Secondary School Science Education.”
1980 Sep 26	PEA hosts month-long teachers’ writing project.
1980 Oct 25	Dedication of George H. Love Gymnasium.
1981	In 1979-1980 there are 24 women on the faculty.
1981 Jan 16	Student Dining Hall workers begin to receive minimum wage by government intervention with school.
1981 Jun 5	First four-year boarding girls graduate. Ninth grade girls were not admitted as boarders until 1977-78 (above).
1982 Sep 23	Mayer Art Gallery first show is of the “Vollard Suite,” one of four sets of 100 Picasso prints in America.
1983 Feb 26	Computer Science course added to curriculum.
1983 Apr 27-29	Jorge Luis Borges reads at Exeter as the first Lamont Poet. The Lamont Poetry Program established in 1982 by Corliss Lamont, class of 1920.
1983 Jun 22-25	National conference on “Women Educators in Independent Schools.” Major conference speakers are Gloria Steinem, Carol Gilligan, Estelle Ramey, Natasha Josefowitz, Pauli Murray, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and others.
1983 Oct 15	Jukebox purchased by Student Council for Grill.
1983 Oct 29	Students participate in Anti-Nuclear Rally.
1983 Oct 29	Milton Mountain Program — a term abroad — approved by faculty for 1984-85.
1983 Nov 12	Saturday Assemblies abolished.
1984 Mar 3	Candle-light vigil held to protest Academy investments in companies with South African interests (apartheid). Vigil in conjunction with a three-day fast.
1984 Oct 13	President Reagan honors PEA as one of 60 “exemplary” schools across the nation.
1985 May 11	Education Conference draws 18 schools to PEA.
1985 Jun	Faculty approves “New” curriculum presented in report of the Faculty Curriculum Committee chaired by E. Arthur Gilcreast.
1985 Jun 23-28	“Computers in Secondary School Mathematics” conference. Major conference speakers: Zalman Usiskin (University of Chicago), Judah Schwartz and Michal (sic) Yerushalmy (Harvard), John Kemeny (Dartmouth), and Stephen Mauer (Swarthmore).
1985 Jul 1	Susan Jorgensen Herney becomes Dean of Students. She is the first woman to hold this position.
1985 Sep 21	Five-Year Plan announced for improvement of the Academy.
1986 Jul	PEA receives the Sustained Excellence Award.
1986 Mar 1	Model UN Club attends National Model UN Conference.
1986 Apr 5	Curriculum Implementation Committee releases a new course catalogue and yearly schedule adjusted from semester system to trimester system, to begin with the 1986-87 academic year.
1986 May 17	Principal Stephen G. Kurtz announces retirement in June of 1987.
1986 May 23	A significant number of students boycott the annual Founder’s Day Assembly to protest the “general disrespect” of the faculty towards students.
1986 Jun	Rules Committee revises school rules — tobacco prohibited.
1986 Oct 11	Lovshin Track dedicated to former track coach Ralph Lovshin.
1987 Feb 21	Trustees announce appointment of Kendra Stearns O’Donnell as the 12th principal. She is the first woman to hold this position.
1988 Jan	PEA Child Care Center opens for children of Academy faculty and staff.
1988	Alumni/ae of color form Excellence through Diversity committee.
1989 Sep 22	First President’s Awards given on Alumni/ae Council Weekend. The President’s Awards are given by the President of the General Alumni Association to present members of the Alumni/ae Council who, “through their efforts as volunteers for Exeter, have made outstanding contributions to the Academy.” The award honors current or recent volunteer service.
1989 Oct 7	KKK activities in Exeter shock PEA and community; Assembly held addressing safety of students.
1989 Oct 28	Grainger Observatory opens.
1989 Dec 13	Treasurer Joseph E. Fellows announced a decision to open dining halls to all full-time and regular part-time staff for lunch at no cost, after trial period from November 1 to December 13 to determine potential costs and space availability in the dining halls.
1990 Feb	“February Thaw” observed for the first time.
1990	Appointment of first Day Student coordinator, Werner Brandes.
1990 Feb 10	US-USSR Exchange Program underway.
1990 Oct 6	Dedication of William G. Saltonstall Boathouse.
1991 May 25	Students become non-voting members of Discipline Committee.
1991 Jan 26	First annual celebration of Martin Luther King (Jr.) Day.
1991 Mar 3	New Visitations policy: every evening instead of only on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
1991 Jul 5-Aug 1	First Exeter Mathematics Institute.
1991 Sep 27	Renovated and revitalized WPEA radio station resumes broadcasting at FM 90.5.
1991 Nov 16	Library celebrates 20th anniversary.
1991 Dec 7	Student assistance program commences; help offered for substance abuse.
1992 Apr 29-30	“Learning About Learning — learning differences: a challenge in selective secondary schools” sponsored and held at Exeter in cooperation with the Academic Skills Center of Dartmouth College.
1992	Boys’ first boat travels to England to compete in the Henley Royal Regatta.
1992 Nov 14	WPEA wins first annual Marconi College Radio Award for an outstanding high school station.
1993 Jul 13	PEA receives the Circle of Excellence Award.
1994 Jul	Library’s computerized catalog BIBLION goes online.
1995 Jan	Academy enters cyberspace with its own address on the internet www.exeter.edu/.
1995	Principal travels to Hong Kong and Korea to visit alumni/ae and parents.
1995-1996	“Twenty-five Years of Co-education Celebration” (gala ball and concerts).
1995 Oct 2	Residential Life Day, later called Academy Life Day, held for the first time.
1995 Nov 8	Forrestal-Bowld Music Center dedicated.
1995 Nov 11	Korean-Vietnam Memorial dedicated. Architect: Leers Weinzapfel Associates, Inc., Boston, MA; Landscape Architect: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc., Cambridge, MA; Structural Engineer: Souza True and Partners, Inc. Consulting Engineers, Watertown, MA.
1996 Jan 1	Academy begins to include same-sex domestic partners in the medical benefit plan.
1996 Apr 16	Dunbar Hall holds “Run for your Life,” a two-mile race for women, whose proceeds benefit breast cancer research.
1996 Apr 16	Academy Building facade receives new Latin inscription honoring the first quarter century of coeducation: “HIC QUAERITE PUERI PUELLAEQUE VIRTUTEM ET SCIENTIAM” (“Here, boys and girls, seek goodness and knowledge”). At the same time, the dates 1781-1970 are added to the inscription on the lintel over the front entrance: “HUC VENITE PUERI UT VIRI SITIS” (“Come hither, boys, that ye may become men”).
1996 May 13	Principal Kendra Stearns O’Donnell announces plans to retire after the 1996-97 academic year.
1996 May 18	Phelps Stadium dedicated.
1996 Sep 28	Dedication of the class of 1945 Library honoring Dr. Lewis Perry.
1996 Oct 15	Telephones installed in all student rooms.
1996 Oct 24	The Exonian reports on record rainfall and flooding that shut down Exeter.
1996 Nov 21	Forrestal-Bowld Music Center receives Honor Award in Architecture Design from the Boston Society of Architects (Boston Branch AIA). Building designed by Boston Firm of William Rawn Associates.
1997 Jan	Development Director James M. Theisen wins CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) 1997 Robert Bell Crow Memorial Award. Award recognizes an independent school advancement professional for distinguished service.
1997 Feb 7	Trustees announce appointment of Tyler C. Tingley as Exeter’s 13th Principal.

1997 Feb 19	Faculty overwhelmingly votes to adopt M.E.T.I.C. [Mid-Term Effort To Improve Classes] program originally proposed by the Student Council “to afford students and teachers the opportunity to discuss a class before the end of the term in order to improve the teaching and learning environment at Phillips Exeter Academy.” Program will begin in the fall of 1997.
1997 Feb 26	First universal voice mail message sent over Academy telephone system announces Principal’s Day.
1997 May	The American Institute of Architects confers that year’s 25-Year Award on the Phillips Exeter Academy Library, Exeter, New Hampshire, designed by Louis I. Kahn, FAIA.
1997 May 9	New school hymn, “The Hymn of Phillips Exeter,” composed by Christopher Villar, class of 1998 and another member of the class of 1998 who wishes to remain anonymous, performed for the first time at Founder’s Day assembly.
1997 May 31	Campus-wide celebration to commemorate Kendra Stearns O’Donnell’s 10 years as Principal.
1997 Jul 14	PEA receives the Circle of Excellence Award.
1997 Oct 28	PEA Dining Services receives award for Best Institutional Food Service of the year.
1997 Oct 31	75-year ground lease signed, turning over the Exeter Inn to Someplace(s) Different. The Inn is now managed by the leasing company, but ownership will revert to the Academy in 75 years.
1997 Dec	BIBLION, the Library’s online catalog system, made accessible to internet users outside campus community.
1998 May	Principal Tyler Tingley charges Program Planning Committee for Phillips Church with “writing a program statement for the church to guide the renovations of the building.”
1998 Jun 4	Class of 1998 becomes the first class to receive Exie-mail accounts, PEA’s free and permanent e-mail service for alumni/ae.
1998 Nov 14	Tapestry by Edwin Sulca presented by the class of 1998 to honor three beloved teachers, now deceased: Bette Ogami-Sherwood, Fred Tremallo, and Anja Greer. The tapestry hangs in the library.
1999 Mar	Trustees vote to approve major renovation of Cilley Hall.
1999 Spring	Harkness Discussion Group explores the “meaning and implications of the pedagogical approaches of the Harkness Plan.”
1999 May 14	Trustees announce gift from Stanford N. Phelps, class of 1952, of $15 million for a new science center. The building will be named for him.
1999 Jun 27	The Wells Kerr House (Academy’s original four-room schoolhouse) is moved to 12 Elliot Street in order to make room for the new science center.
1999 Jul	Beginning with the Summer 1999 issue of The Exeter Bulletin (volume XCIV, No. 4), an online version is made available on the Exeter.edu website, except for the Class Notes section of the magazine.
1999 Sep 8	Faculty discusses and endorses principal Tyler Tingley’s Academic Master Planning Process, later discussed by the Board of Trustees in a special meeting on 2 October 1999.
1999 Oct 2	Ground is broken for the Phelps Science Center. Cost of the total science project (including renovation of the Thompson Science Center) is estimated at $52 million.
1999 Nov 13	PEA holds first homecoming weekend during Exeter-Andover weekend. In football, Andover wins 19-7.

**1970:** School opens for the 1970-71 school year with its first female students. Thirty-nine girls, all day students, are enrolled.

21st Century

2000 May 20	Trustees vote unanimously to allow faculty in committed same-sex relationships to live in Academy housing with their partners beginning in the fall of 2001.
2000 Jun 12	Major renovation of Cilley Hall begins. While providing much-needed renewal and repair to the building, the project also launches the Harkness Initiative for Academy Life. The initiative is part of the Academy Master Plan process.
2000 Jun 25-30	The first Exeter Humanities Institute brings together English and history teachers from around the country to explore the use of the student-centered, discussion-based method of teaching known as the Harkness Method. The conference was organized by PEA teachers Marcia Carlisle, Becky Moore, Lawrence Smith and Ralph Sneeden.
2000 Jun 25-30	At its 15th anniversary, the Conference on Secondary School Mathematics and Technology changes its name to the Anja S. Greer Conference on Secondary School Mathematics and Technology.
2000 Jul 1	Barbara Eggers becomes Dean of Faculty. She is the first woman to hold this position.
2000 Jul 14	PEA receives the Circle of Excellence Award.
2000 Oct	PEA becomes the first entity in New Hampshire to have a comprehensive monitoring system with installation of a C-10 monitoring station designed to detect airborne ionizing radiation in the gamma and beta spectra.
2000 Oct 12	Dorm card access system activated at 5:00 a.m. in four card-access dorms: Hoyt, Ewald, Bancroft, and Moulton House. Students, faculty, and staff must have their cards with them to enter the dorm.
2000 Oct 17	Exeter’s first online event, “Conversation with Best Selling Author, Dan Brown ’82,” is held on the Exie-Net community page.
2000 Nov 17	Death of H. Hamilton “Hammy” Bissell, class of 1929 (Hon. ’32, ’36, ’38, ’42, ’44, ’45, ’60, P’58, GP ’95).
2001 Jan 26	Library opens CinemExeter, a collection of entertainment videos, in response to request from Student Council.
2001 Feb 23-24	College Office hosts first College Admissions Weekend to help parents of the Class of 2002 better understand the college admissions process.
2001 Feb 27-Mar 3	Ten Tibetan monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery create a sand mandala in the center of Rockefeller Hall in the Class of 1945 Library.
2001 May 19	Bell House, Exeter’s Admissions Office building, renamed Bissell House by the Class of 1951, to honor H. Hamilton “Hammy” Bissell, class of 1929, Exeter’s first Director of Scholarship Students.
2001 June 24-29	First Shakespeare Institute organized by Exeter teacher Rex McGuinn.
2001 Oct. 24-27	Trustees approve plan to renovate Thompson Science Building into new Academy Center.
2001 Oct 26-27	Events celebrating the dedication of Phelps Science Center, including the installation of “Simple Gifts,” an archway between the Phelps Science Center and the Forrestal-Bowld Music Center. The archway, created by Jim Sardonis, class of 1969, consists of two 12-foot pillars, each topped with the majestic form of a dove, and creates a grand entryway to Fisher Theatre.
2001 Nov	Academy updates campus evacuation plan in wake of September 11, 2001 New York Trade Center terrorist tragedy.
2001 Nov	Student Council succeeds in implementation of plan to place DVD players in all dormitories.
2001 Nov 2	First “Exonians In Education” colloquium, organized by English instructor Peter Greer, class of 1958, Bates-Russell Distinguished Faculty Professor, brings back to campus six alumni/ae educators: Peter Hayes ’74, Kristin Kearns Jordan ’87, Barbara Sprague Naeger ’81, Jonathan Reider ’63, Eleanor Campbell Ritter ’73, and Norman Zamcheck ’65.
2001 Nov 29	John Knowles, class of 1945, author of A Separate Peace, dies in Florida.
2002 April 23	Tyler Goodspeed, class of 2003, becomes first day student to be elected Student Council president, serving for the 2002-03 academic year.
2002 May 3	Class of 1945 Library celebrates 20th anniversary of the Lamont Poetry Program series with a Favorite Poem event.
2002 June 10	Major renovations of Amen Hall begin, modeled after the first “experiment in Harkness living” of Cilley Hall renovations in 2000.
2002 July 7	Students participate in first Access Exeter program of accelerated study in arts and sciences for students entering grades eight and nine.
2002 Sept	School opens with day students as President of Senior Class and President of Student Council for the first time (Christen Decker and Tyler Goodspeed, respectively).
2002 Sept	Amen Hall reopens after extensive renovations over the summer, modeled after the first experiment in Harkness living in Cilley Hall.
2002 Nov	Publication of Memorial Minutes: Phillips Exeter Academy, 1936-2002, edited by Jacquelyn H. Thomas and Charles L. Terry.
2003 Jan 7-12	Celebration of the reopening of Phillips Church.
2003 Nov 8	Dedication of the former home of David and Jacquelyn Thomas as Thomas House, a gift to the Academy from the Class of 1968 to honor the Thomases, “who opened their home to students over the years,” and in recognition of “the value of having faculty like the Thomases close by.”
2004 Apr 27	First Lamont Younger Poets Prize, honoring poems of exceptional promise written by juniors and lowers. Presented in the spring of the year in conjunction with the Lamont Poets series, the prize commemorates the dedication of English instructor Rex McGuinn to student poetry at Exeter – particularly his encouragement of student poets at the ninth- and tenth-grade levels.
2005 Feb 5	The Academy receives the 2005 New Hampshire Outstanding Tree Farm Award from Gov. John Lynch and the New Hampshire Tree Farm Program.
2005 May 19-20	The Class of 1945 Library is one of 12 buildings featured on a set of commemorative stamps released by the U.S. Postal Service. Entitled “Masterworks of Modern American Architecture,” the set is released on May 19, 2005, with a second day of issue ceremony held at the Library on May 20.
2005 Oct 18	Environmental Task Force begins collecting food scraps from dorms and faculty residences in order to reduce waste, decrease environmental impact and save money in waste-management efforts. This food waste will be composted on site, behind the facilities management building.
2006 Jan 30	PEA participates in the first Green Cup Challenge, a competition between schools to save energy and raise awareness about environmental issues.
2006 March	The National Association of Independent Schools honors Exeter with a Leading Edge Award for its environmental sustainability program.
2006 Mar 3	A Prayer for Owen Meany opens at Fisher Theater. Directed by Sarah Ream ’75, the play is an adaptation of the book by the same name by John Irving ’61, who returns to campus to view the production.
2006 Mar 5	Exeter Swim team wins New England Interscholastic championship for eighth consecutive year. Win marks new head coach Don Mills’ first championship with the team.
2006 Mar 28	Principal Tingley cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of the new Academy Center.
2006 July 11	Record hail storm, followed by heavy rains, causes significant damage to the Love Gym, basement classrooms in Phillips Hall, and many other places on campus. Many cars owned by faculty and staff show pockmarks caused by hail.
2006 Sept 8	The new Harris Family Children’s Center is dedicated, celebrating the move into a larger, brighter, more functional space with a substantially larger outdoor play area as well.
2006 Sept 15	The 75th anniversary of the Harkness gift is initiated with “A Conversation: Teaching with Harkness,” a discussion held in the Class of 1945 Library among alumni/ae who are current faculty members at the Academy.
2006 Sept 16	The new Academy Center is formally dedicated and named in honor of Elizabeth and Stanford N. Phelps ’52.
2006 Nov 16	Class of 1945 Library celebrates the 35th anniversary of “The Moving of the Books” with a talk about Louis I. Kahn by Carter Wiseman ’63, followed by cake, beverages and streamers in Rockefeller Hall.
2007 Jun 2	Academy 15-student math team wins first place in national mathematics contest, American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) competition, in Pennsylvania.
2007 Oct	Harris Family Children’s Center wins 2007 DesignShare Award (awarded to only 7 educational structures worldwide in 2007) for its architectural structure and purpose. Given annually, the award “focuses beyond architecture and more on the experience of learning, the learners, and how man-made and natural environments can provide learning opportunities.”
2007 Nov 7	Principal Tingley announces the Academy’s trustees have unanimously voted to offer an Exeter education free to any accepted student whose family income is $75,000 or less. This change will take effect in the 2008-2009 school year for both current and newly admitted students.
2008 Jan 24	Death of 11th Principal, Stephen G. Kurtz.
2008 Jan 28	Green Cup Challenge begins with 32 schools participating.
2008 Apr	Community Action Day replaces “Clean-up Day”, a day when students and faculty spend time working on projects of service to the community. Clean-up Day, which had actually replaced something called Environmental Day, was a day when dormitory and adviser groups would work together on specific projects around campus primarily to lend a hand to the Facilities Department.
2008 Oct 24	Trustees announce the appointment of Thomas E. Hassan as Exeter’s 14th Principal.
2011 Feb 27	Students successfully organize the Academy community to set a new Guinness World Record for the “Longest Conga Line on Ice.” Taking place at the arena in the Love Gym, 266 people took part, breaking the old record of 252.
2011 Sep 9	The Opening Day Assembly is streamed live over the internet for the first time.
2011 Oct 1	Alumni Affairs and Development office renamed: Institutional Advancement; three additional name changes: Alumni/ae Affairs becomes Alumni/ae and Parent Relations; AA&D Communications becomes Advancement Communications; Information Services becomes Advancement Operations.
2012 Feb 7	The Academy holds its first Thank-a-Donor Day.
2012 Apr 25	Community Action Day replaces “Clean-up Day” (which had replaced “Environmental Day.”) Projects focus more heavily on activities that would be of particular help to the Campus Facilities Dept. Students clean dorms and surrounding areas and supply needed support to a number of projects on campus. A smaller number of students continue to assist organizations in the community, away from Exeter. Projects coordinated by the Community Service Coordinator.
2012 May 14	Faculty votes to allow 24/7 student access to the Internet beginning in September 2012
2012 Sep 6	Trayless dining introduced in Elm St. Dining Hall, reducing Exeter’s environmental footprint by cutting down food waste, conserving natural resources and decreasing the polluting detergents, rinsing and drying agents introduced into the water table, providing a positive impact on Exeter’s sustainability.
2012 Nov 12	Academy launches “ExeterConnect: a great place to work and share online.”
2013 Mar 5	RiverWoods, a retirement community, replaces the Academy as the Town of Exeter’s highest tax payer at $2,844,688 in 2012. Phillips Exeter Academy, which for several years was the town’s top property taxpayer, came in second highest, paying $782,087 in 2012 (36 % of the Academy’s property was taxable).
2013 May 6	Academy announces the creation of the Phillips Exeter Academy Dissertation Year Fellowships to support the academic and career development of doctoral students, and promote diversity and lively intellectual exchange on campus. The fellowships are to support PhD candidates in the completion stage of their dissertation.
2014 May 22	Dedication of Civil War Memorial Plaque in the Assembly Hall, with remarks by Principal Tom Hassan, and Jack Herney, Robert Shaw White Professor of History, Emeritus. The plaque lists the names of the 38 Exonians who died in that war.
2014 Jul 1	Principal Thomas E. Hassan announces plans to retire after the 2014-15 academic year.
2014 Sep 3	Webster Hall and Elm Street Dining Hall re-open after a complete renovation.
2015 Jan 1	Lisa MacFarlane announced as Exeter’s 15th Principal.
2015 Feb 30	Academy celebrates its first Climate Action Day. Classes suspended. The all-school program included a keynote address by Bill McKibben on the topic, “The Climate Fight: this generation’s greatest battle,” followed by a choice of two workshops from a list of 22 small group workshops, all with a common theme of climate change and its effect on architecture, food sustainability and economic analysis, with optional workshops offered in the afternoon.
2015 May 11	Faculty approves a new gender-neutral student dress code.
2015 Sep	Opening of Downer Family Fitness Center.
2016 Jun	Thompson Cage is demolished to make way for construction of a new field house on the same site.
2016 Oct	Class of 1959 Music Center is dedicated. An addition to the Forrestal-Bowld Music building, it includes a recording studio, extra teaching and ensemble spaces and updated practice rooms, a new music, media and technology center, and Bowld Recital Hall (colloquially, “The Bowld”), a 250-seat performance space.
2017 Feb 8	The Academy declares its first “snow day”; all classes and appointments are canceled. Classes are again canceled because of hazardous weather on Monday, February 13. (On January 27, 2015, Principal Hassan called off classes because of wintry weather, but called it Principal’s Day rather than a snow day.)
2017 Mar	First all-gender housing options are announced, to open in fall 2017. Williams House and Kirtland House will serve to meet the needs of all students regardless of gender expression, gender identity, sex or sexual orientation.
2017 May	Christina Palmer is appointed the Academy’s first Director of Student Well-being.
2017 Jun 1	Members of the Afro-Latino Exonian Society (ALES) and other students stage a sit-in in Principal MacFarlane’s office after an assembly addressing an ALES video that shared firsthand experiences of racism at Exeter, and ALES demands for action.
2018 Jan 27	William Boyce Thompson Field House is dedicated. The new athletic facility is to provide facilities for track and field and wrestling, as well as indoor tennis courts, an infield and batting cages for year-round support to tennis, baseball and softball athletes.
2018 Feb	Lisa MacFarlane announces her resignation as 15th Principal, effective July 1.
2018 Apr	Dr. Stephanie Bramlett is selected as Exeter’s first Director of Equity and Inclusion.
2018 May 21	Bill Rawson ’71 is announced as interim Principal to succeed Lisa MacFarlane for a term of two years.
2018 Oct	The David E. and Stacey L. Goel Center for Theater and Dance grand opening. The new facility includes two theater stages (the 350-seat mainstage and the 140-seat thrust stage), two dance venues (including a 119-seat performance space), technical studios and Harkness classrooms.
2019 Jan 25	Bill Rawson ’71 announced as Exeter’s 16th Principal.
2020 Mar	Exeter announces that spring term will be virtual and closes campus to all but essential workers and faculty living on campus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
2020 May	Principal Rawson speaks to students in Exeter’s first virtual assembly.
2020 May	Sherry Hernández becomes the first person of Asian heritage to hold the position of dean of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
2020 Jun	Principal Rawson and the Trustees announce initiatives to institutionalize the practice of anti-racism at Exeter.
2020 Sep	Start of Exeter’s yearlong celebration of the anniversary of 50 years of coeducation.
2021 Apr	“From ‘Studying Her Absence’ to Finding Her Voice: 50 Years of Coeducation at Exeter,” a virtual symposium. Keynote by Gloria Steinem. Other speakers: Charol Shakeshaft, Keisha Lindsay, Naomi Snider and Jennie Weiner.
2021	The new Center for Archives & Special Collections is built, merging the archival materials and rare books into one space.
2021 Oct	All admissions decisions at Exeter will be made, starting in the coming academic year, without regard for any family’s ability to pay tuition or other associated costs of attending the Academy. Our admissions process will be “need-blind” and cost will no longer be a barrier to any qualified students who dream of attending Phillips Exeter Academy.
2021 June	The Academy adds June 19 (Juneteenth) to the official holiday calendar to commemorate the day in 1865 when Union soldiers brought news of the Emancipation Proclamation to the enslaved people of Galveston, TX.

2022 Sep	New Hall, the first dormitory to be built on Exeter’s campus in more than 50 years, opens to students. The new residence consists of 42,000-square-feet of dorm rooms, as well as four Harkness classrooms to serve as the new home for the Health and Human Development Department.
2023 April 24	Principal Rawson announces the school’s first climate action plan, “Building from Strength Toward a Zero Carbon Future.”
2024 July 1	Ashley Taylor begins tenure as the Academy dean of students, succeeding Russell Weatherspoon in the dean’s office. Weatherspoon retired from the Academy after nearly 40 years of service.