Independent Schools Leader Named President of Army and Navy Academy
CARLSBAD, Calif., July 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Desjardins, Ph.D, a veteran educator and an expert leader in independent school operations, has been named the next President of the Army and Navy Academy.
For the past 11 years, Desjardins, 55, has been Head of School for the 1,400-student St. John's School in Houston, TX. He was selected after a seven-month executive search to head the 111-year-old college preparatory military boarding school for middle- and high-school boys. He will succeed retired Army Maj. Gen. Arthur Bartell who has been the Academy's President since 2014 and who announced his retirement plans last summer.
During his 33-year education career, Desjardins has served as Head of School for three independent schools in Oklahoma and Texas including the Texas Military Institute whose alumni includes General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.
"As a former head of the Texas Military Institute, Mark is well-versed in the operations of a well-run military school," said Barry R. Shreiar, Chairman of the Academy's Board of Trustees. "He appreciates the true value of an all-boys academic environment and the unique challenges boys face today in education. His personal experience as a student and graduate of a boarding school also enhances his perspective."
Desjardins is a graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, ME and later earned a Master of Education (M.Ed) degree in Secondary School Administration and his doctorate in History of American Education, both from the University of Virginia. In 2008, he was a Klingenstein Visiting Fellow at Columbia University's Teachers College where he researched and wrote about best practices in education leadership for independent schools.
"The Army and Navy Academy's vision and purpose to intertwine a strong academic experience with a robust military program to mold and shape young men of good character resonates and inspires me, Desjardins said. "What the Academy offers today is bold, unique and essential."
"As Karen and I step away from this great Academy, with many fond memories and enormous Warrior Pride, we do so with the knowledge that it will be in the very capable hands of Mark and Maro Desjardins. Mark is a proven visionary leader and I am excited about the Army and Navy Academy's bright future," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Arthur Bartell, the Academy's outgoing President.
Dejardins and his wife, Maro, plan to relocate to Carlsbad mid-summer before he assumes the position in late July.
Founded in 1910, the Army and Navy Academy is the only private boarding school in San Diego County and the only military academy for middle and high school students in California and surrounding states. The school site is a 16-acre oceanfront campus in the North San Diego County city of Carlsbad.
SOURCE Army and Navy Academy
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