Miss Porter’s School

Katherine (Kate) G. Windsor, Ed.D., is the 12th head of the 180-year-old Miss Porter’s School (MPS) in Farmington, Connecticut. Since her tenure in 2008, Porter’s has grown to 335 students – two-thirds boarding and one-third day – representing 26 states and 29 countries. At Porter’s, Dr. Windsor is driven to uphold its mission to develop women as leaders who will shape a changing world. Her leadership of an all-girls school is driven by how girls learn, how girls think, and why gender matters. Dr. Windsor believes it is vital to engage in the contributions of all community members as witnessed by curriculum, infrastructure, and programming. 

Kate began her career more than 25 years ago. She is the former head of school at The Sage School (Foxboro, MA) and director of residential life at Sandy Spring Friends School in Maryland. A career educator, she has served as a lecturer for the Mid-Career doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE). Dr. Windsor is also an executive committee member and instructor at Penn GSE’s Independent School Teaching Residency (ISTR) master’s program. Also known as the Penn Fellows Program, ISTR aims to bring new talent to the teaching profession and to increase the diversity of master-trained educators who work in independent schools.

With board support, Windsor has championed Porter’s focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and restorative justice as a distinct measure toward becoming an anti-racist institution. At MPS, Dr. Windsor has ushered in an era of belonging with actions, policies, and practices implemented to ensure every student, faculty member, and employee feels seen, heard, and valued. She regularly shares how every year is an opportunity for the school to renew itself with each class of incoming students.

Windsor earned her Doctor of Education in Organizational and Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a former Klingenstein Visiting Fellow at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Windsor earned her Master of Arts at the College of Notre Dame and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester. A Maryland native, Dr. Windsor graduated from the Friends School of Baltimore (FSB), where she received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015 and was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame for basketball in 2010. She also serves as a member of the school’s head advisory committee.

Internationally recognized for her scholarship, vision, and expertise in girls’ education, leadership, and development, Dr. Windsor serves as the board chair for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. She is a current and past board member of several other organizations including:  Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, Parents League of New York, Park School (Brookline, MA), Sandy Spring Friends School (MD), and SPHERE Consortium of Eastern Connecticut. Windsor is the Commissioner of the Founders League Athletic Conference (CT), a past commission member of The New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), and an exemplary school leader for the NEASC Student Agency Collaborative Capstone Project. 

Windsor is a well-published, sought-after guest speaker and has presented at several conferences on issues such as girls and women in leadership, becoming an anti-racist academic institution, equity and justice in independent school advancement, and trauma-informed educational practices. She has received several awards over the past 20 years, most recently the Jeff Shields 2022 Award for Innovation and Excellence in Business Practices and the Commission on Independent Schools NEASC 2022 Service Award.

Dr. Windsor lives on the Miss Porter’s School campus with her husband, Dr. Jonas Katkavich. She is the proud mother of two sons, Jack, a Wesleyan University alum, and Mac, a current student at Wesleyan. Both are also graduates of boarding school.