2008 Founder's Day Award Recipient

remarks
Citation for James G. Rogers III '63; P'05
Awarded at assembly on May 16, 2008

Jim Rogers—Like a fine Harkness teacher, you empower all those with whom you work, and you create for them an environment that is at once collegial and collaborative. Your singular capacity to create consensus is both inspired and inspiring. As a result, your skillful leadership has left an indelible mark on nearly every facet of the Academy, from the selection of our 13th principal, to the vision of The Exeter Initiatives, to the most extensive program of new construction and campus renewal at Exeter in 70 years.

You came to the Academy in 1960 from the New Canaan Country Day School in Connecticut. During the next three years you excelled in academics and sports, opting to play soccer, hockey and golf (although you had a formidable curveball pitch that stunned even Jackie Robinson during a memorable hometown baseball game). After graduating in 1963 you studied at the University of London and received your undergraduate degree from Yale University and your master of architecture from Columbia University. As the founding partner of Butler Rogers Baskett Architects, you carved out a niche in master planning and the design of educational facilities. Over the years, you have enriched the landscape of numerous leading educational institutions. We are fortunate that you have also shared your architectural wisdom with Phillips Exeter Academy.

In describing your career, you once said, “I don’t have an emotional investment in seeing the original drawing carried out precisely and faithfully. What matters is . . . creating something of the highest quality. I have a passionate concern for the result.” Indeed, the skills that set you apart as a successful architect—namely attentive listening, visionary thinking, open-mindedness and attention to detail—are the attributes that have enabled you to create meaningful and lasting “results” at Exeter. Your understanding of Exeter as a place not only rich in academic opportunity, but deeply rooted in community, has grown with each year of volunteer service and with the experience of your son Jamie, who graduated in 2005.

Like the bricks and mortar of the buildings you design, each of your early volunteer roles created a firm foundation for those that followed. You served as president of your class, reunion volunteer, president of the Exeter Association of Greater New York, and eventually president of the General Alumni/ae Association. As president of the General Alumni/ae Association, you advocated for greater diversity and plurality at Exeter. Today, the increased numbers of students of color, the greater openness to all perspectives and lifestyles, and the initiatives to recruit more faculty of color have their roots in your efforts.

In 1990 you joined the Academy Trustees and generously offered your time for the next 16 years, which gives you the distinction of being the longest-serving trustee in recent memory. As chair of the Principal Search Committee in 1997, your guidance culminated in the arrival of Ty Tingley as our principal. Indeed,
you set a precedent at Exeter by forming a committee composed of an equal number of trustees and faculty, which encouraged all voices in this community to be heard. A similar model has been used to guide those entrusted with selecting our 14th principal.

Your architectural aptitude made you the perfect candidate to chair the Buildings and Grounds Committee, which significantly changed the landscape of this school. With the patience and skill of the gifted woodworker and fly fisherman that you are, you led the trustees through complex building projects
that included the new music building, Phelps Science Center, and the Academy Center, as well as the renovation of two dorms and Phillips Church. Not only does Exeter feel different, but it looks different thanks to you.

Your service to the Academy culminated in a four-year term as president of the trustees, a role uniquely suited to your rich blend of integrity, vision and values. Acting in partnership with Vice President Julie Dunfey, you helped to advance the middle-income financial aid initiative, community housing and salary
enhancement, the Academy Master Plan, and the priorities of The Exeter Initiatives. (And, lest we forget, you also had a leadership role in the design of two school ties!) You once said that serving Exeter is a privilege; that sitting at the table with Exonians schooled in Harkness validated a long-held belief that “when we surrender the need to control, we gain the ability to collaborate.” Indeed, collaboration is at the core of all you do. Jim, few trustees have the opportunity to leave such a significant mark on a school as you have left on Exeter. Your colleagues pay you the highest respect when they observe that you “live” the Harkness philosophy in each meeting you facilitate and every relationship you create. In gratitude for all you have done to uphold and advance the ideals of Phillips Exeter Academy, we honor you today with this 2008 Founder’s Day Award.

read Jim Rogers' remarks

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