Meet the Rector

Kathleen “Kathy” Carroll Giles became the Fourteenth Rector of St. Paul’s School on July 1, 2019 after serving as head of school at Middlesex School since 2003. Before that, Rector Giles held a variety of roles at the Groton School, including dean of academic affairs, college adviser, English teacher, and coach.

She holds a Master’s in Education degree, a Juris Doctor degree, and an undergraduate degree from Harvard University. Rector Giles earned her A.B. with highest honors in English and American literature and languages at Harvard/Radcliffe Colleges, graduating magna cum laude as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She subsequently received her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Rector Giles is married to Ralph Giles, also a long-term former faculty member at Groton School, who most recently was head of the Mathematics Department at the Fenn School in Concord, Massachusetts. They have three children, Kaitlyn, Daniel, and Eileen. Throughout her life, the Rector has enjoyed athletics as a competitor and as an avid fan. Her interests and hobbies include psychology and child development; spirituality; intellectual history; all kinds of music and art; gardening; and reading (everything and anything). She is also known for her devotion to her dogs and makes the rounds of campus early each morning with them, regardless of the weather.