Currier Tutors to Leave for Georgia Prep School

After 15 years of service to the Harvard community, John D. Stubbs '80, senior tutor in Currier House, and Caroline Quillian Stubbs '80, the assistant senior tutor for fellowships, are leaving to work at the Paideia School in Atlanta, Ga., next year.

"It's been wonderful, especially for us as a family. Currier House has been welcoming and tolerant of our kids," Quillian Stubbs said.

"We will all miss Currier House immensely," John Stubbs said, adding that the best part of his job was "first and foremost the students and staff."

Stubbs, who is also a lecturer on anthropology, will become the director of college counseling at Paideia, a private secondary school, and will also teach archaeology and anthropology there. He says he is looking forward to spending more time in the classroom as a secondary school teacher.

Quillian Stubbs, who has worked as a Harvard admissions and financial aid officer, will become Paideia's director of admissions.

Master of Currier House William A. Graham and house residents had high praise for the Stubbses and said they and their children will be missed.

"John Stubbs was outstanding," he said. "He has been a careful, concerned, attentive senior tutor," said Graham, who is also professor of the history of religion and Islamic studies. "We also had his wife as an outstanding, active member of the community."

Residential Tutor Jennifer Richeson said the Stubbses "go out of their way to make students feel comfortable. They've opened up their whole lives to Currier House...and really become part of the community."

Patrick T. Walsh '99, who lived across the hall from the Stubbs family last year, said that the family has been involved in many aspects of Currier life.

"[My roommates and I] see them all over the place. We've worked with John in the [Currier House] wood shop, swapping ideas," Walsh said. "They were very accessible and friendly. We can always go up to talk to them, or eat dinner with them."

Both Walsh and Thomas Y. Kuo '99 said that Stubbs's children have contributed to the House environment.

"They have made it more of a home," Kuo said, adding that House residents often talk to and play with the Stubbs children.

The couple has been at Harvard since 1983, when they returned as graduate students. Since then they have also served as Yard Proctors. The Stubbses have worked in Currier House for three years.

Graham said the Stubbses departure is not totally unexpected. "When you get such good people for the job, it's accepted that you're going to lose them...pretty rapidly," he said.

While declining to close any doors, Graham said that he would prefer to have a member of the Faculty replace the Senior Tutor.