Princeton Day School names new head of trustee board

Rebecca Bushnell

The Princeton Day School Board of Trustees has elected Rebecca Bushnell as the new chair of the board, effective July 1.

Bushnell is a professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has taught since 1982. A 1970 graduate of Princeton Day School, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Swarthmore College, her master’s degree from Bryn Mawr College, and a doctorate in comparative literature from Princeton University. She also taught English for a year at the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr. She is the author of many articles and eight books on subjects ranging from Greek tragedy to English gardening.

At Penn, Bushnell has taught courses on literature, theater and culture. She is the recipient of a distinguished teaching award and an NEH grant for teaching with technology. She is experienced in academic administration, having served as a dean at the University of Pennsylvania for many years.

Bushnell is a member of the board of the Morris Arboretum, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Folger Shakespeare Library. She and her husband, John Toner, the executive director of Renew Theaters, the company that manages the Princeton Garden Theater, live in Philadelphia. They are the parents of two daughters, Emily and Ruth Toner.

A member of the Princeton Day School Board of Trustees since 2013, Bushnell serves as a member of the board’s executive committee, chairs the mission fulfillment task force, and has aided Princeton Day School’s fundraising activities. She succeeds Barbie Griffin Cole, who will retire from the board after 17 years of service to Princeton Day School.

“In electing Professor Bushnell, the board of trustees has expressed its
confidence in her ability to guide our school during this most exciting, promising time and, as she has done at the University of Pennsylvania, to ensure it remains faithful to and fulfills its mission for its students, families, alumni, and faculty,” said Head of School Paul Stellato.