Todd Austin

About Todd

Title/Position

Special Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives

Education

M.A. Independent School Leadership, Columbia University Teachers College
M.A.Theological Studies, Springhill College, the Jesuit College of the South
B.A. History, University of Texas at Austin

Passions

Hiking, biking, baseball, reading, earthen construction, woodblock printing, cooking, friends and family

Languages

English, Spanish

Q&A with Todd

What do you love about teaching or your role at the school?

I really enjoy working in a school that is defined by its international student body/faculty and its participation in an international educational movement with a deep sense of mission. More specific to my role, I love thinking critically and creatively about the school’s unique opportunities and challenges in multiple contexts — local, regional, national and international as well as environmental, social, cultural, and political — and sharing this strategic work with students.

What do you think parents and students should know about you?

I would want students and parents to know that I think of education as a spiritual journey. At one level, education equips a student with basic skills, sharpens their reason, broadens their knowledge, and widens their perspective. By developing the student’s mind in these ways, it deepens their understanding of the world they inhabit. At a deeper level, education invites a student into personal reflection, enriches their imagination, encourages their virtues, and increases their freedom. By touching the student’s heart in these ways, education deepens their self-understanding and empowers them to choose their mode of being in the world. This journey of the mind and heart is a very human and holy one that unfolds in the context of relationships—student-to-family, student-to-peer, student-to-educator, student-to-community—and ideally inspires the student to dedicate their life and gifts to the service of a good that transcends the self. It’s a privilege to share this journey with our students.