In the area of post-dormitory housing, a key component of the Community Housing Plan, the Academy recently received som excellent news. A 35th reunion gift from the class of 1968 will endow the former Elm Street home of Classics Instructor Emeritus David Thomas '62, '69 (Hon.) and his wife, James H. Ottaway Jr. '55 Professor and Academy Librarian Jacquelyn Thomas '62, '69 (Hon.). The residence, which will house faculty who have completed ten years or more of dormitory service, will henceforth be known as Thomas House.

Increasing and improving post-dormitory housing for faculty, through the purchase of nearby properties as they become available and through the construction of new units close to campus, will help the Academy achieve its goal of eventually housing 85 or 90 percent of faculty within safe and easy walking distance for students.

While focusing on enlarging Exeter's pool of post-dorm housing, the Community Housing Plan also calls for the renovation of three of the Academy's large brick dormitories, Webster, Merrill and Soule, and for a remodeling of the small house-dorm, Dow House. In general, the dormitory renovations will refurbish and enlarge faculty apartments by appropriating student rooms. Common areas and remaining student rooms will also be renovated. The result is a two-fold benefit: improved, more competitive housing for faculty and students, and lower faculty/student ratios in the dormitories.

Summer 2003 also witnessed the complete renovation of Peabody Hall in a record 84 days. The extensive and very successful renovations of Cilley Hall (summer 2000) and Amen Hall (summer 2002) served as models for the project. Built in 1896, Peabody had not been renovated since 1970, and the dorm's Victorian-era layout was no longer effectively meeting the needs of its residents.

As with Cilley and Amen, Peabody's renovation reduced the total number of students living in the dormitory, creating a more optimal student/faculty ratio of 10/1. Faculty apartments were reconfigured, eliminating existing "boxcar" layouts and placing faculty studies in direct access to the dorm hallways, and new faculty apartment spaces were created on the second and fourth floors, where there had previously been no faculty presence. The renovation also added new dormitory common spaces and a new basement kitchen for students. To accomplish all this, the project, which came in slightly under budget, included a modest addition of 1,562 square feet to the dorm's east side.

As with all of the Academy Master Plan initiatives, the Community Housing Plan will reinforce what is best about Academy learning and living, while simultaneously enhancing those areas where the school has fallen short. We are grateful for the alumni/ae and parent generosity that has permitted us to achieve already so many of the housing plan's components, and look forward to the plan's full implementation and the increased student and faculty connections that will result.