An invested member of the Belmont Hill community, Dr. Davis will be departing Belmont Hill. Since joining seven years ago, Dr. Davis has coached basketball, lacrosse and has significantly impacted students in the classroom. Dr. Davis has taught almost all grade levels in the science department, including Science 1, Environmental Science, AP Environmental Science, Physics, Advanced Science Research (ASR), a senior inquiry course on climate change, and Energy and Geopolitics. When asked what she will miss the most, Dr. Davis replied, “The people: I’ve been so lucky to work with so many wonderfully talented, hard-working people—students and faculty and staff alike. In the Science Department in particular; be it collaborating on a class, vettings ideas, or just hanging out, they are the best.”
Through the pandemic, Dr. Davis has been teaching remotely, stating she feels lucky that “the school both allowed and supported me in teaching remotely… for that, I am truly very grateful.” She faced several challenges, especially in regards to the ASR classes, which required her to recentralize the curriculum; however, through her diligence and devotion to the community, she provided engaging learning opportunities to her ASR students as well as her other students.
When asked about what legacy Dr. Davis has left on the community, she humorously responded, “Obviously the chickens.” In an ode to the faculty in the science department, she noted some of her favorite memories involved “hanging out in the Science Office.”
Dr. Davis plans to head back to Wellesley College, where she spent two years in the Geosciences department previously. She is hoping to be able to teach upper-level courses in paleoclimate and oceanography again while restarting her research by “using isotope analyses of ice-rafted grains to study Antarctica’s past ice-sheet stability.”
Dr. Davis left the following note to the Belmont Hill community: “I will genuinely miss this community; I have worked with some wonderful people—students, faculty, and staff—in my seven years here. Even on tough days I knew I could walk into the Science Office or a classroom, and someone would make me laugh (often at my own expense, but still…). The Faculty and Staff, especially the Science Department, supported me and my family through some tough times. For the 10 weeks my youngest daughter was in the NICU after her birth, we were sent so much food that we honestly didn’t cook dinner for 11 weeks straight. That’s how generous this community is, and it is something my family will never forget.”
The Panel wishes Dr. Davis the best in her research and teaching endeavors and hopes to see her back on campus in the future.
