Nikita Duling and Bill Ward Honored with 2026 Kenison Faculty Awards
Each year, Brewster recognizes two educators with the Academy’s highest faculty honors: The Arthur Morris Kenison Faculty Award for Career Growth and The Arthur Morris Kenison Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. Head of School Kristy Kerin announced the 2026 recipients, Nikita Duling (right) and Bill Ward, during Brewster’s opening All-School Meeting on Brown Field.
“What I love about these awards is they come from their colleagues, people who understand their work in ways that no one else can,” Kerin told the community. “They know what happens behind the scenes to make for an exceptional teacher.”
Nikita Duling: Career Growth
The Arthur Morris Kenison Faculty Award for Career Growth recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated accelerated professional growth within the Brewster Academy program. This year’s recipient, Nikita Duling, has made an impression in just two years at Brewster, becoming an integral part of nearly every facet of campus life.
In introducing Duling, Kerin described the special experience of watching a new faculty member arrive and quickly become someone the community simply cannot imagine being without.
What stood out most in the comments from Duling’s colleagues was her desire to continue learning. She listens, asks questions, seeks out professional development, and regularly engages colleagues in conversations about teaching. Lessons learned at conferences make their way back to faculty meetings, while even casual interactions with students can become opportunities for learning.
“She approaches her work with humility, and understands that none of us ever really finishes learning how to do this work well,” Kerin said.
That curiosity and commitment extend well beyond the classroom. In two years, Duling has become deeply involved in Brewster life as a teacher, dorm parent, coach, summer programs leader, colleague, and highly engaged community member.
One colleague described Duling as someone who is always willing to “make the path smoother for others,” a sentiment Kerin said captures something important about her approach to professional growth.
“She isn’t just interested in getting better herself,” Kerin said. “She wants the people around her to get better, too.”
Her colleagues also pointed to the balance she brings to her work with students: holding them accountable while listening carefully to what they need. A “superfan at Brewster games and events,” Duling has embraced the community with an energy and commitment that have quickly made an impact.
“She works incredibly hard. She cares deeply,” Kerin said.
Bill Ward: Excellence in Teaching
The Arthur Morris Kenison Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes demonstrated excellence in teaching practices and overall contributions within the Brewster Academy program.
This year, Brewster faculty selected Bill Ward, an educator whose impact on students stretches from the math classroom to the hockey rink to residential life.
His colleagues describe a teacher who is tireless in his preparation, thoughtful in the feedback he provides, and deeply committed to helping students develop confidence and a growth mindset. He works closely with fellow teachers to ensure students across his classes and teams receive an equally strong experience, pairing high expectations with patience and care.
But Ward’s contributions to Brewster go far beyond teaching math.
One colleague described him as Brewster’s “triple threat”: teacher, dorm parent, and varsity coach. Each role requires a significant investment of time and energy on its own, which is why Brewster faculty typically serve as either a coach or a Community Life Parent, not both. Ward takes on both while maintaining his commitment to the classroom.
“What I appreciate most is that, despite everything he carries, the quality of his teaching never becomes secondary,” Kerin said. “He invests deeply in his students in all aspects of their life at Brewster.”
That commitment is evident in his work developing and growing Brewster’s hockey program, recruiting students, working with Admissions, and nurturing the growing JV program. At the same time, he continues to help students build their confidence and skills in mathematics.
For Kerin, the qualities Ward brings to each of those roles reflect something fundamental about teaching at Brewster.
“That combination of high expectations, deep care, and commitment to the whole student is at the center of what we hope teaching at Brewster can be,” she said.
Together, Duling and Ward represent the spirit behind the Kenison Awards: faculty members committed not only to their own craft, but to their students, their colleagues, and the broader Brewster community.
The History of the Awards
Brewster’s Career Growth and Excellence in Teaching awards are named for the late Arthur M. Kenison, Ph.D., who served devotedly on Brewster’s Board of Trustees from 1979 to 1999 as the chair of the board finance committee. The Kenison family has strong and lasting ties to Brewster: Arthur’s grandfather, also Arthur, was Brewster Class of 1899. His uncles, Frank ’25 and Arthur ’30, were also Board members, and his father Samuel was Class of 1927. Brewster's library is dedicated to the Kenison Family legacy and the Kenison House dorm is named after Arthur ’30 and his wife Doris. It is an appropriate honor to name two of Brewster’s most prestigious awards after a man who devoted himself to ensuring a sound foundation for the school his family loved so dearly.
