Trudy Hall '77 is an educator of distinction. Officially!  Trudy was named to the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU) Alumni Hall of Distinction for 2009. Head of the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y., she holds a master's degree from Harvard, in addition to her St. Lawrence degree in psychology and sociology.

“There are so many reasons why I love the work I do. Experiencing the natural high of smart women collaborating to create constructive responses to complicated, entrenched social problems has to be right at the top of that list,” says Trudy.  Her experiences in education are broad and deep; she served in administration and teaching positions at six independent schools before arriving at Miss Hall’s School in 2000.   Her career has taken her from Jamaica to the Near East, to schools along the East Coast of the United States, to the Midwest and finally back to New York State at the helm of Emma Willard. An active alumna of St. Lawrence University, she served on the Alumni Council and is a career advisor for prospective educators.

In her nine years at Emma Willard School, Trudy has increased enrollment by 10 percent and significantly increased geographic diversity — Emma Willard students come from 22 countries and 26 states. She doubled the endowment as Emma Willard became the first girls’ school to surpass a $100 million endowment. She also oversaw a $33 million adaptive reuse architectural program for the 100-year-old campus that is on the National Historic Register.