Thank You to Outgoing MCS Board of Trustees Chair

The Manhattan Country School Board of Trustees extends a grateful thank you to Dr. Gisele C. Shorter ‘91 for her distinguished service as Chair of the Board. Dr. Shorter served from 2018-2020 and shepherded the board through a rigorous and successful school director search and transition, as well as the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her leadership, educational expertise and devotion to MCS is unparalleled and we are glad for her continued service as a Trustee.

We are now thrilled to welcome Dr. Erika Gibson ‘86 as Interim Board Chair. Formerly Board Secretary, Dr. Gibson has substantial board experience, having served on the boards of MCS since 2015 and on the Vestry of St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery from 2009 to 2015. Early in her MCS Board tenure, she worked to lay the foundation for today’s MCS Alumni Advisory Council. We truly appreciate her accepting this leadership position at this crucial time in history for both the school and our nation.

More about Dr. Shorter:

Gisele C. Shorter’s career is rooted in a deep belief that an equitable society starts with an equitable education system. For 20 years, she has led large-scale program, research and policy initiatives to advance educational justice and equity, close health disparities, and ensure access and opportunities for Black and Brown youth to excel.

Currently, Dr. Shorter is an Education Strategy Program Officer at the Raikes Foundation. The heartbeat of her K-12 portfolio is the Building Equitable Learning Environments (BELE) Network. She leads the BELE membership - 15 organizations across the US – to collectively leverage their resources to develop an education system that ensures the intellectual, social, emotional, and cultural growth and wellbeing of all young people and result in social-cultural markers having zero negative predictive power on outcomes.

Dr. Shorter earned her Ed.D. from Columbia University Teachers College. She holds an M.P.A. from Long Island University and a B.A. from Amherst College. She is a Pahara Aspen Fellow and active member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is also a Manhattan Country School alumna, Class of 1991!

More about Dr. Gibson:

Erika Gibson, DVM, DACVIM (Neurology), graduated Cum Laude from Tuskegee School of Veterinary Medicine. She then began a one-year rotating internship in Small Animal Medicine and Surgery at Michigan State University.

Dr. Gibson postponed entering a residency program in order to gain work experience, and for three years she worked at a thriving general and referral practice alongside two veterinary neurologists. In 2005, she began a residency in Neurology and Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania, which she completed in 2008, passing her board certification in 2009. Dr. Gibson then traveled to Newmarket, England, and worked as a veterinary Neurologist/Neurosurgeon at the Animal Health Trust.

Since 2010, she has been back in the Northeast, practicing in large specialty practices with high standards of excellence. She currently practices at Guardian Veterinary Specialists, an emergency, critical care and specialty hospital in Brewster, NY. Dr. Gibson is also an MCS alumna, Class of 1986!

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