Home > Shady Side Academy Presidential Installation , January 19-Thomas M. Cangiano to Be Installed as 15th President

Shady Side Academy Presidential Installation, January 19
Thomas M. Cangiano to Be Installed as 15th President

 – Shady Side Academy will officially install Thomas M. Cangiano as
its 15th president in a formal ceremony Wednesday, January 19, 2011, at 5 p.m.
on the SSA Senior School campus in Fox Chapel. This invitation-only event for
the SSA community will feature several speakers and a student musical
performance. Board of Trustees Chair J. Stephen Lee ’77 will perform the formal
investiture and charge of Cangiano as president, and an installation address
will be given by Regan Kerney, Cangiano’s mentor and history master at The
Lawrenceville School (N.J.). A reception immediately follows the ceremony at the
Fox Chapel Golf Club across the street.

Biography of President Thomas M. Cangiano

Thomas M. Cangiano became president of Shady Side Academy on July 1, 2010. The
Board of Trustees unanimously approved Cangiano’s appointment as the Academy's
15th leader in a vote on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009. Cangiano succeeded Thomas N.
Southard, who concluded his nine-year term as president at the end of the
2009-2010 school year.

“Tom Cangiano brings to Shady Side Academy a rich background of teaching,
boarding life and successful leadership of a prominent, high-caliber
international school,” said J. Stephen Lee ’77, chair of the Board of Trustees
and the Presidential Search Committee. “The Search Committee and Board believe
Tom can lead the Academy at this challenging time in a continuation of the
tradition of excellence that Shady Side is known for, and also serve to move our
community of learners to even greater achievements. We are excited to welcome
Tom and his family to Pittsburgh.”

“I am delighted to be joining a school with such a wonderful tradition and such
great promise for the future,” said Cangiano upon his appointment. “And I know
that my wife and I are most happy about becoming Shady Side parents ourselves.
We are all very excited to be a part of such a welcoming, supportive and
dedicated community."

From July 2007 to June 2010, Cangiano served as president of the American
College of Sofia (ACS) in Sofia, Bulgaria, a private, highly selective day and
boarding school of 700 students in grades 8 through 12. The school provides a
rigorous academic program in English, offers the International Baccalaureate
program, and awards Bulgarian and American secondary school diplomas. Its
graduates go on to some of the best colleges and universities in the United
States and Europe.

Cangiano’s accomplishments at ACS include: standardizing expectations for
faculty and restructuring the salary scale for teachers; improving the quality
of international teaching hires; enhancing professional development
opportunities for teachers; introducing the “house” model to create a more
close-knit student body and promote faculty-student relationships; establishing
a faculty-student advisory system, interscholastic and intramural athletic
programs; revising the school’s entrance exam to place greater emphasis on
writing and critical thinking; overseeing the renovation of four buildings and
developing a scheduled program for facilities renovation and expansion;
restructuring tuition and financial aid policies; expanding and systematizing
alumni relations efforts; initiating an annual giving program; and soliciting
and receiving a $1 million unrestricted bequest to the school’s endowment.

Prior to ACS, Cangiano spent nine years (1998-2007) at The Lawrenceville School,
a coeducational secondary school in Lawrenceville, N.J., with 800 boarding and
day students. There he served as history master and dormitory housemaster and
also coached lacrosse and football. Before Lawrenceville, he served as History
Department chair at The Trevor Day School in New York, N.Y., from 1995 to 1998,
as a history and English teacher at the American International School of
Budapest in Hungary from 1991 to 1994, and as an English teacher at Stratton
Mountain School in Stratton Mountain, Vt., from 1990 to 1991.

A native of Massachusetts, Cangiano earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American
literature with a minor in American history from Middlebury College, a Master of
Arts in teaching from Tufts University, and a Master of Arts and Master of
Philosophy in history from Columbia University. He and his wife, Linda, have
three children: George, 11, Grace, 9, and Celia, 7, all of whom attend Shady
Side Academy.

About Shady Side Academy
Shady Side Academy is a nationally respected private school in Pittsburgh for
boys and girls in grades pre-kindergarten through 12, with an optional five-day
boarding experience in high school. Three age-specific campuses with
extraordinary resources, teachers who actively mentor, a forward-thinking
curriculum, a diverse and inclusive community, and a legacy of alumni
accomplishments all inspire Shady Side students to high achievement in
academics, the arts and athletics, and to meaningful ambitions in life. For more
information visit www.shadysideacademy.org .