Exeter, NH (January 17, 2007)—Continuing in its yearlong 75th anniversary celebration of Harkness teaching, Phillips Exeter Academy will host Donald Thomas, co-founder and principal emeritus of the American Academy of Tbilisi, located in the Republic of Georgia, formerly of Soviet Union Russia on Monday, January 29. Thomas is a former member of PEA’s English faculty, and will be its ninth Harkness Fellow to visit the Academy. While here, he will visit classes and address the student assembly on the AAT and the importing of the Harkness Table. These events are closed to the public.

The AAT is a private coeducational school that models itself on PEA, with eight authentic Harkness tables and a mission to teach “kindness and enlightenment,” closely resembling Exeter’s own mission of “goodness and knowledge.” Its goal is to help bring Georgia into the 21st century by better preparing students to participate in the global community. The school opened in 2001 with 58 Georgian ninth-graders. AAT teachers attend Exeter’s Summer School to learn about Harkness pedagogy and improve their command of the English language. Afterwards, AAT teachers enroll in master’s programs in Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, or Simmons College to develop a curriculum they will implement in their home school.

A veteran educator and administrator, Thomas began his teaching career at Exeter in 1962, after earning a master’s degree from Harvard, and a bachelor’s degree from Princeton in 1955. After two years at Exeter, he joined the Foreign Service, working for USAID as a curriculum advisor at the Comprehensive High School in Aiyetoro, Nigeria. Later, he returned to the United States, and taught and served as an administrator in private and public high schools in Massachusetts from 1968–99. In 2001, after several years of preparation, Thomas led the opening of AAT. Currently, he is an adjunct professor at Simmons College in Boston.

Harkness teaching and learning began 75 years ago with an educational experiment that placed 12 students and one teacher around an oval table, and remains the hallmark of Exeter’s educational philosophy to this day. Philanthropist Edward Harkness, Principal Lewis Perry and a group of senior faculty together transformed almost every aspect of school life and influenced secondary school education throughout the country. The Harkness plan offers a generous opportunity for dialogue and the ability to hear the voice of each student. The Harkness table places students at the center of the learning process and encourages them to learn from one another.

For the rest of the school year, lectures, exhibitions and visits from a distinguished group of Harkness Fellows will be a part of the celebration for this historic Harkness milestone. Many of the featured guests are alumni/ae, who will each spend several days on campus attending classes, meeting with students and faculty, and giving talks.

For more information, please call Rick Schubart at (603) 777-3589. For directions to Phillips Exeter Academy, call (603) 777-4330. For more information on other events, contact the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309, or visit the Academy website at www.exeter.edu.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, students come from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. The diverse student body comes from approximately 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and 26 foreign countries.

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