George S. Swope Jr., an educator from Michigan, has been named head of Oldfields School in Glencoe, effective July 1.
Swope, 52, head of the upper school at Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, will replace Kathleen Jameson, who announced in March that she would leave at the end of the 2002-2003 school year.
"Baltimore has a strong history and tradition of independent schools," Swope said yesterday. "I will have the opportunity to build on that tradition, helping with the total educational experience for the girls at Oldfields."
Swope is the last of six administrators named to head private schools in the Baltimore area after a series of resignations and departures announced last year and early this year.
He was among four finalists from a pool of 80 candidates considered by the nine-member school search committee at Oldfields.
"We listened very carefully to members of the school community before making our decision," said Scott Menzies, co-chairman of the committee. "We believe that the entire community will be very pleased with this appointment. Mr. Swope has considerable boarding school experience, and we are impressed with the ease with which he is able to articulate the school's mission."
A native of Lake Forest, Ill., Swope has 23 years of experience in independent schools as an educator, administrator and head of school. He has been head of the upper school at Cranbrook since 1997. Before that, he was head of The Colorado Springs School in Colorado and at Thomas Academy in Kent, Wash.
He received a bachelor of arts degree in Slavic studies from Lawrence University in Wisconsin, a master of arts in Slavic languages and literature from Northwestern University and a master of business administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He also is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
Swope said that he is looking forward to returning to a smaller school environment. Cranbrook has 1,600 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. About 260 of the 764 upper school students are boarders.
Oldfields, founded in 1867, is Maryland's oldest girls' boarding school. It has 185 students in grades 8 through 12. About 80 percent are boarders, and the rest are day students.