Exeter religion teacher Jamie Hamilton's favorite memory of Jane Thompson Russell has her friend and mentor knitting, needles quietly clicking together as she chats with one or more of her many family members and friends. "It's a great image because she knitted us all together," explains Jamie, who first got to know the Russell family while in high school. Indeed bringing people together and then getting them to leverage their common humanity seem to have been callings for this Tacoma native, the late wife of George Russell '50 and mother of Richard Russell '75. Jane, who died in May 2002, devoted much of her life and resources to making things better for the residents of her beloved hometown and the surrounding area.

Serving on countless boards (often as chairperson) and in countless volunteer capacities, Jane was a hands-on, natural leader who inspired and energized all who knew her, most especially her husband, George, whose company, the Frank Russell Company, is today considered one the world's leading investment management and advisory firms. Often called the "heart and soul" of Frank Russell, Jane served on the company's board from 1984 to 1998, during which time she steadily, and ultimately profoundly, transformed the corporate culture there. "Jane wasn't shy about saying 'family matters,' " says Jamie Hamilton. "She helped create an understanding with George's employees that when you worked for Frank Russell, what was most important was family, then community, then the workplace." In the early 1980s, Jane created Frank Russell's first "People Division," known today as Human Resources. She also convinced her husband to implement a sabbatical program for employees and, after personally interviewing every member of the company to assess his or her work/space needs, headed up planning and design of the innovative headquarters building in Tacoma. At the time of Jane's death in 2002, Frank Russell ranked 11th on Fortune magazine's list of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America"—a ranking, says George Russell, that was mostly the result of Jane's influence on the culture of the company.

Gail and Bob Bates '29; '44, '50 (Hon.) know well the influence Jane had on her world and on Bob's former student and advisee, George. The couples were married in the same year (1954) and remained friends over the next several decades, even traveling together in Nepal, Bhutan and Kashmir in the 1980s. "Jane was not a wife who tagged along," says Gail. "She was very much a partner to George, at home and everywhere in the world. Her ideas showed through in so many of the things he did." Recently, in honor of their special friendship with the Russells and in celebration of Jane's remarkable life, Gail and Bob established the Jane Thompson Russell Memorial Lecture Fund. Each academic year, the fund will bring to campus a female assembly speaker who best demonstrates the qualities Jane embodied, namely her commitment to serving others and her abilities to balance and intertwine the responsibilities of home, community and workplace. This fund comes at an important time for Exeter, when the Academy Master Plan process has focused some of its attention on assembly and other ways students learn outside the classroom. The inaugural lecture was given on October 20, 2003, by Sister Anne McNamara, a Catholic nun and the Senior Vice President for Mission and Ministry/Ethics at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Washington.

Exeter English teacher Peter Greer '58; '81 (Hon.) remembers meeting Jane for the first time in the spring of 2000, just as he was beginning his tenure as the Bates-Russell Distinguished Faculty Professor, a position endowed by George and Jane. "Jane's heart was conspicuous, and she made me feel that I was more than just a passing person in her life," Greer recalls. "I'm sure she had that effect on anyone with whom she came in contact."

Indeed, it seems she did.

Exeter is about to complete its first comprehensive curriculum review in nearly 20 years, and resulting recommendations will be voted on by the faculty this spring. The review has allowed teachers to reflect not only on the work they do in their classrooms, labs and departments, but also to examine the big picture, including dormitory life, student workload and the schedule of the academic day. In the midst of this collaborative, comprehensive endeavor, the faculty's commitment to Harkness teaching and to rigorous, skill-based instruction remains firm. After a faculty vote this spring, the school will enter a transitional phase for 2004-05, with implementation beginning in the 2005-06 school year. In the meantime, the Academy must prepare to fund forthcoming curricular innovations, including those in technology. The physical education department, which launched its own curriculum review prior to the school-wide initiative, has already identified key improvements necessary for its program. These will address two areas where the Academy has fallen dramatically behind in relation to peer schools and to changes in standard practices. In squash, the goal is to construct initially 10 (and eventually 16) permanent squash courts that meet international regulations adopted in the early 1990s and that will allow the Academy to host national tournaments. (See article about "New Squash Facility"). For track and field athletics, the goal is to build a new field house for sports such as track, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and baseball. This facility will replace the Cage, which was constructed in 1931 and is outdated to the point that it is no longer useful as a winter track or inclement weather facility.