Retirement reception set for May 16

By Juanita I.C. Traughber, Director of Marketing & Communication

After a combined 75 years at University School of Nashville, faculty members Ann Wheeler and Amy Dortch will say farewell to students and English and Science Department faculty. 

Wheeler joined USN in 1985 after earning her Ph.D. studying 20th century fiction and went on to become English Department Chair. She fondly remembers her first year at USN when a faculty member and the senior class planted Harlequin Romances with her name on their book covers and left them around the school.

“The joke grew, the students started a whole mock investigation to discover the master criminal forging my name — and,  finally, I came out of my room, laughing.  I’ve been laughing with students and colleagues daily ever since. I’m going to miss that.

Wheeler said she prefers not to use “the ‘r’ word” but said she will spend the next few months with her brother in Georgia, attending a storytelling festival, taking long walks, reading leisurely, and visiting the Berkshires. 

“[Until then,] most of me is determined to savor every minute I  have left — all the casual hallway interactions, all the goofy classroom moments. They have been the fabric of a good life for me for a long time,” Wheeler said. “So if you catch me with tears in my eyes at some point in the next few weeks, don’t worry or feel bad.  Every inch of this place is filled with memories for me, most of them good.”

Sixth Grade Science Teacher Amy Dortch closes out more than three decades at USN in May. She said when her family moved to Nashville and her younger siblings enrolled at USN, she fell in love with the school and wished she could have attended too but was already in college. She finally got a chance to sit in USN classrooms in 1992 as a Middle School science teacher, and her daughter Rose ’06 graduated from USN. 

“My heart and soul are in this place,” Dortch said. “I feel like I'm leaving things in good hands.”

Dortch, who also coached the mountain biking team, said she plans to spend retirement traveling and enjoying the outdoors out west.

Both Wheeler and Dortch taught long enough to watch their former students become their colleagues.

Longtime Chief Financial Officer Teresa Standard also will return for the retirement celebration. Although she abruptly departed in 2023, her impact on USN is impossible to quantify and left USN in a far better place than she found it. She was instrumental in stabilizing the school’s financial position during her first years as CFO, and her work to improve our long-term financial outlook, infrastructure, policies, and business practices will serve us for decades to come. Since joining USN in 2001, Standard has financially shepherded USN through nearly tripling the operating budget to $31.8 million and worked with the Development Office and Board of Trustees Finance Committee to exponentially grow the endowment from $2.1 million to $33.5 million. She was passionate about the school's construction and sustainability efforts and pushed for installing the geothermal heating and cooling system for the Tibbott Center and Hassenfeld Library as well as the bridge connecting Tibbott to the historic main building. With a deep level of commitment to USN's mission and purpose, Standard was a freshman advisor for many years. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Independent School Data Exchange, received the Unsung Hero Award from the National Business Officers Association in 2021, and was a member of the Association of Business Officers of Independent Schools. Also, as the parent of two alumni (Cooper Standard ’18 and Henry Standard ’18) and wife of an alumnus (Bobby Frank ’85), Standard’s connection to the USN community over the past 22 years is deep. 

Join current and former administrators, faculty, and staff in thanking Wheeler, Dortch, and Standard for their service to USN during a retirement reception at 3:30 p.m. Friday, May 16 in Durnan Auditorium.