Bassett Blog 2010/03: PFB Remarks on NAIS Diversity Leadership Award Presentation to Reveta Bowers, Friday, 11:30 am, 2/26/2010

March 1, 2010
Patrick F. Bassett

Editor’s Note: The following remarks were presented by NAIS President Pat Bassett in presenting the NAIS Diversity Leadership Award to Reveta Bowers, head of school at The Center for Early Education (California), who has also served as president of the California Association of Independent Schools and treasurer of the National Association of Independent Schools in a long career in independent schooling. The remarks appear here in a slightly edited form. We also invite you to listen to a podcast of Ms. Bowers’ remarks upon receiving the honor.

NAIS President Patrick F. Bassett

History of the NAIS Diversity Leadership Award
It is worth noting that NAIS presents only one annual award, and that it is a Diversity Leadership Award. This fact speaks volumes about NAIS’s historic commitment to access, equity, and justice and to the need we see — perhaps more than any other — to shine a spotlight on those whose work and lives have advanced a cause whose path is uneven and at times, halting.

NAIS began honoring those who work with diversity at its 2004 conference in Montreal, Canada. There, Chief Paul Rich received the award to acknowledge his life-long commitment to the Sheshatshiu Innu community. Since 2007, the award has focused on those from within the independent school family (alumni/ae, trustees, faculty, and staff) whose diversity achievements have had a national or global impact. In 2007, Groton graduate Asma Gull Hasan received the 2007 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award for her outstanding contribution to national dialogue on understanding Muslim culture and religion. The 2008 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award was presented to Kevin Jennings for his transformational work on sexual orientation issues. Kevin starting as a teacher working in independent schools, ultimately founding The Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and then becoming a senior official in the Education Department appointed by President Barack Obama to oversee the “safe schools” program. The 2009 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award was presented to Lucinda Lee Katz, head of Marin Country Day School and a national voice for moving the diversity work “from awareness to commitment to action.” We are very pleased to present the 2010 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award to Reveta Bowers who, in joining the pantheon of stars who illuminate the way, adds immeasurably to the group’s luminescence and luminosity.

The Pantheon of Stars
You’ve already heard from Doreen Oleson, a star in her own right, and soon you’ll hear from Gene Batiste, NAIS’s guiding light on matters of diversity. Since Reveta lives near Hollywood and — like Oprah, a friend of hers — the whole country knows her simply by her first name, both Gene and I will use a movie analogy to comment on her star-power. From my career-long experience with Reveta, I’d say she’s our very own Unsinkable Molly Brown, except we’d call her our “Unstoppable Reveta Bowers.” If you’ve met her husband, Judge Bob S. Bowers, you’d know that he too has a formidable presence. I’m sure they never fight, since its consequences could be earth-shattering — along the lines of the battles between Zeus and Hera. Like Molly Brown’s fans, I suspect Judge Bowers would concur with what we all know about Reveta: (1) She’s the go-to person we depend upon; and (2) once she’s made up her mind, you are just going to have to go along for the ride.

Our Very Own “Tipping Point” Leader
Most of us have read Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point and have recognized in our midst one or another of the three types of tipping point leaders who actually overcome inertia and initiate change: some, in Gladwell’s terminology, are “mavens”; some are “connectors”; some are “salesmen.” I think it’s safe to say Reveta is that exceedingly rare combination of all three. I’ll simply re-count my most recent illustration of the point.

As the leader of faculty for the NAIS Institute for New Heads (INH), Reveta has an instantaneous impact on the 70–80 new heads we train during the first week of their new jobs. What Reveta tells them quickly becomes “gospel” and is immensely useful — not only in their diversity work, but in the leadership work in general. I had a new head write to me this fall to let me know how things are going, noting that he was experiencing a bit of a post-honeymoon dip, and asking if it were possible to “bottle up just a little bit of Reveta to send to me.” We’ve a significant crowd here today to honor Reveta and to listen to her words — because we all need, every so often, a little bit of the refreshing insights Reveta always brings to any engagement.

There is no more deserving recipient of the 2010 NAIS Diversity Leadership Award than the head of the Center for Early Education, Reveta Bowers.