Founder’s Day Award Given to Julie Dunfey ’76

In her acceptance speech at the annual Founder’s Day Award on Friday, Julie Dunfey ‘76 encouraged Exonians to be mindful of all the things they can take away from their time at Exeter.

The Founder’s Day Award is given  each year to an alumni, parent or friend of the Academy who has demonstrated extraordinary service to the community. The awards committee, which is comprised of a group of General Alumni Association Directors, meets every year in January to consider a selection of nominees. From this pool, they decide the recipients of both The Founder’s Day Award and the John Phillips Award.

Chief of Planning and Facilities Roger Wakeman, who worked with Dunfey during her tenure as a trustee, described her as “a quiet presence” but also “very decisive and very respected.” Wakeman was glad to see her honored as he had enjoyed working with her. “Her contributions as a trustee, in my perspective, are incredible,” he said.

Dunfey came to Exeter as a day student in 1973 during the Academy’s third year of co-education. She was one of 10 other prep girls. She moved into Bancroft Hall her lower year and while at Exeter acted as dorm proctor, captain of the girls’ varsity basketball team and member of the girls’ varsity tennis team. “Sports were my relief valve,” she said. “Especially basketball.”

“All we’re thinking about is grades, but we don’t actually think about all the work that has been put into making this school so great.”

At Exeter, Dunfey soon discovered that the currency that mattered most was intellectual engagement and capacity, not income or gender. Looking back Dunfey noted that Exeter taught her “how to listen, how to learn and resilience.” She expressed gratitude for the values the accepting environment at Exeter instilled in her. “In retrospect, I was grateful to have attended a school where everybody had a voice in the classroom, boys and girls,” she said.

After graduating from Exeter, Dunfey attended Dartmouth College, and went on to earn an M.A. in history from Stanford University. She began working for Florentine Films, in close association with filmmaker Ken Burns, as a co-producer of “The Civil War,” for which she received an Emmy and a Christopher Award, and “Thomas Hart Benton.” Since then, Dunfey has worked with Florentine Films on many other award winning films, including “Mark Twain,” “Jazz,” “Not For Ourselves Alone,” “The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony,” “Horatio’s Drive” and “The War.”

Trustee Mitchell J. Bradbury ’78, who headed the committee that selected Dunfey, applauded Dunfey for her work. “I have the highest respect and admiration for the historical relevance and success of Ms. Dunfey’s work, both professionally and philanthropically,” he said.

While being the mother to three children and remaining dedicated to making documentaries, Dunfey has also found time to give back to the Academy. She acted as member of several different alumni committees before being appointed as a trustee in 1995, and then, later, as vice president of the trustees. Dunfey worked hard to develop a formal orientation process for new trustees and spearheaded the successful passage of a same-sex partner housing policy in the 1990s, which became a model for other independent schools. In 2000, Dunfey established the Dunfey fund for Politics and Public Policy, hoping to encourage the active engagement of students in the democratic process at Exeter.

According to Bradbury, Dunfey’s dedication to improving the culture of the school was significant and helped to foster an accepting environment. “During Ms. Dunfey’s tenure as a VP of the trustees, she stewarded policies which enabled important changes in the cohabitation policies of the Academy for faculty and staff,” he said. “This stewarded a culture of support and gender equality.”

Bradbury said that Dunfey truly exemplifies Exeter’s tenants of non sibi. “Her depth of service qualifies in and of itself as a valid demonstration of the spirit of non sibi,” Bradbury said. “In my estimation, non sibi is what you do for others when you have nothing for self to gain in those actions. Ms. Dunfey’s service is just that.”

Dunfey’s feats at Exeter and selfless commitment to making the school a better place qualified her for the honor of receiving the Founder’s Day Award. “The outstanding service given to the Academy and the long lasting positive change in support of women at the Academy lead us by vote of the committee to choose Ms. Dunfey as this year’s recipient,” Bradbury said.

In her speech, Dunfey described her experience as a pioneer of co-education at Exeter and described how Exeter fostered her passions of history and storytelling through film. She described learning to write and to “show not tell” while at Exeter, and detailed the ways in which this advice has served her in life, as she shows emotions in her films rather than telling them. Dunfey wove American history and her own history throughout the talk, providing the students with a compelling speech. “I think she left a solid impression that the actions of today become an indelible history of tomorrow,” Bradbury said.

For prep Jenny Yang, Dunfey’s speech served as a welcome reminder to students about the behind the scenes work faculty and trustees put into making the Exeter experience so special. “All we’re thinking about is grades, but we don’t actually think about all the work that has been put into making this school so great,” she said. 

Prep Evan Vogelbaum agreed, explaining that current Exonians should take Dunfey as a role model since she appreciates and repays the Exeter community. He added that the award served as an excellent incentive for Exeter alumni to give back to the community that has helped shape their lives. “It’s motivation for them [Alumni] to give back to those that helped them get to where they are, not just take for themselves,” he said.

Senior Kevin Zhen echoed this sentiment, expressing his appreciation for the work that has been put into making his experience at Exeter so memorable. “As I approach becoming an alum, I have realized that in many ways, the recipient of the Founder’s Day Award is a role model for the community and for all Exonians, past and present,” he said. Lower Alex Renaud thought the award was subjective, as the final decision comes down to the members of the Alumni Awards Committee. “It’s definitely difficult to choose, out of all the Exonians that come out of this school, who ‘gave the most to society,’” he said. However, Renaud explained that also meant that the people who receive it have to be truly exceptional in their contributions to the Academy.

Principal LisaMacFarlane appreciated how Dunfey wove together Exeter’s past, present and future in her speech. “You can tell she is an incredibly thoughtful listener, able to hear and see the hidden stories that reveal to us things that we don’t often recognize about ourselves,” she said. “It’s one of the qualities that has made her so effective professionally and so loved personally.”

“Julie Dunfey is an extraordinary person,” MacFarlane continued. “She exemplifies that it is not always the loudest voice, but the one that is most thoughtful and generous of spirit, that contributes most to the common good.”