Faculty & Staff

Betsy came to Westminster in 2004 from the Berkshire School in Massachusetts. At Berkshire, she taught Advanced Placement U.S. History and European History and served as the head coach of varsity girls’ squash and varsity girls’ tennis. At Westminster, Betsy serves as the academic dean, teaches AP® Comparative Government, and advises Model United Nations. She served as head of the history department for 14 years. Betsy is also a long-time reader for the AP® Comparative Government exam and co-chair of the AP® Comparative Government and Politics Development Committee, which is responsible for developing the AP® Comparative Government and Politics course and examination.
 
Betsy’s own life has been one of great experiences as she studied abroad in Australia and at Oxford University, completed the Middlebury Year Abroad in France and did a graduate internship in Scotland at the U.S. Consulate. She is an avid outdoorswoman who loves to travel and enjoys hiking, running and tennis. She lives in a faculty home on campus with her son, Will, and their two dogs, Bernie and Charlie.

Whether in her history or her language classroom, Cara cultivates global perspectives and cross-cultural competencies in her students. A dedicated believer in the transformative power of international education, Cara also works closely with Westminster's international students and families and is the campus representative for partner programs such as School Year Abroad and ASSIST.

 

As an undergraduate at Connecticut College, Cara earned a Department of Defense scholarship to study for a year in Beijing, and in the formerly Manchurian city of Harbin. These two distinctive cities fueled Cara’s interest in Eurasian history. Upon her return to the U.S., Cara graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors and distinction in Chinese studies and received the Helen Carey Coudert prize for excellence in Chinese.

 

At Harvard University, Cara earned a master’s degree in East Asian studies, and completed advanced degree coursework with some of the world’s foremost scholars of premodern East Asian history. Her time at Harvard was challenging, intellectually stimulating and fun; Cara strives to bring that same energy to her classroom each day. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in world history and East Asian history, and currently enjoys guiding Third Formers development as writers, thinkers, and scholars in Westminster’s Global History and Societies course.

 

Cara lives in Edge House with her husband Jeff and their children Mira ’25 and Luke ’27. She enjoys singing with the faculty choir, kayaking on the river, recreational reading and planning weekly corridor “feeds.”