New Dean of Students Appointed

“I am absolutely honored and excited to be named your next Dean of Students. I was incredibly welcomed by your community and also impressed by your openness during our conversations,” LeBlanc said in a video message that was shared with the community. “It is you, the students, who impressed me the most, and it is why I am so excited to walk beside you in the spirit of Mr. Gunn.”

The Gunnery initiated an international search for a new dean in the fall, upon learning that Jess Matthews, Ph.D., who has served in the role since 2016, would not be returning for the 2020-21 academic year.

“Ashley was a very strong candidate from the start in an exceptional applicant pool,” said Associate Head of School Seth Low. “We had over 50 resumes from all over the country and all over the world. From the start, her experience at a school similarly sized to The Gunnery was appealing as was her evident dedication to boarding school life in general. She’s a coach, she’s a teacher, she’s a dorm parent, and she is a Dean of Students. Everything in her application and everyone we talked to reinforced this idea that she really eats, sleeps, and breathes boarding school life. We are excited that she has the experience of being a triple-threat faculty prior to being an administrator.”

A Connecticut native, LeBlanc is a graduate of Simsbury High School, where she played field hockey and ice hockey. She remembers playing in a holiday tournament at Linen Rink, and played on a split-season team with girls from Kingswood Oxford, Westminster and The Gunnery, right about the time that interest in girls ice hockey was exploding.

She went on to earn dual bachelor’s degrees in English and secondary education from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont, where she was a four-year starter on the Varsity Field Hockey Team and a three-time NFHCA All-American. In her senior year, she was team captain, First Team All-American, and played on the Northeast-10 All-Tournament Team and ECAC Division II All-Star Team.

LeBlanc coached Division II field hockey at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts for a year after college. “I enjoyed it but I realized it wasn’t going to be my career path so I went back to teaching and I found boarding school,” she said.

She has taught English (to sophomores, juniors and post-graduates) and served as Head Varsity Field Hockey Coach at Hebron since joining the faculty in 2008, and led her team to win the MAISAD title eight of her 12 coaching seasons. Since 2012, she has served as Dormitory Head for Hebron’s largest dorm, with 105 students in grades 10 through postgraduate. She was named Dean of Students at Hebron in 2012.

Asked why she is choosing to come to The Gunnery, LeBlanc said: “I was impressed with the sense of community and the culture at The Gunnery. There’s also a sense of pride that is palpable, and who doesn’t want to join a community that people are proud to be in? That was from staff, from faculty, and most importantly from the students themselves. The students are open, excellent communicators, and they are worldly.”

In response to a candidate survey, one of the students said, “We agreed that her calming but motivated presence is really cool and good for a Dean of Students to have. She seems very driven and well-rounded with athletics, arts, teaching, coaching and would be able to relate in some way to most students here.”

The Gunnery will not only be where LeBlanc is working, but where her husband, James, will be working, in the Alumni & Development Office as Associate Director of Major Gifts. And it is where they will be living with their two boys, Douglas, 4, and Gordon, 1, and their Black Labrador named Tuuk (yes, like the hockey blades). “There is a sense of homecoming,” LeBlanc said. “I am from Connecticut originally and there is a sense of coming home; I’m excited to bring my family with me.”

An accomplished equestrian, LeBlanc is bringing her horse, Phynn, a warmblood-thoroughbred cross, to be stabled in Washington. An avid downhill and telemark skier as well, LeBlanc said she was pleased to learn that one of Frederick Gunn’s guiding principles was his belief in the importance of being and learning outdoors. “Experiential education and leadership is a cornerstone of my educational philosophy and  I am looking forward to continuing to implement programs at The Gunnery,” she said.

“We are all so intentional in our roles at boarding schools and I’m excited to lead a facet of it,” LeBlanc said. “I’m excited to build a rapport with the community and continue to enhance the student voice.”