It’s a little hard to believe that the first semester of the school year is practically behind us. As a community, we’ve accomplished many wonderful things, and our girls have truly shined in all they’ve undertaken.
Leadership
Gretchen Z. Kane - President
Gretchen Kane is a highly accomplished educator and administrator who joined Ursuline Academy of Dallas as President in the summer of 2012. From 2004 to 2012, she served as President of Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, founded in 1727 and the oldest continuously operating school for young women in the U.S. There she led the rebuilding of the school against overwhelming circumstances following the catastrophic damage of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
Gretchen Kane’s career also includes positions as Associate Vice President of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association in Washington, D.C. (2001-2004) and Academic Assistant Principal of Jesuit High School in New Orleans (1993-2001). She has extensive teaching experience in mathematics at both the secondary school and college levels.
A Louisiana native, she is a graduate of the University of New Orleans where she earned a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in Mathematics.
Andrea Shurley, Ed.D. - Principal
Dr. Andrea Shurley, Principal of Ursuline Academy, joined Ursuline in 2014 following 11 years of teaching and administrative experience with the Schools of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco, California. She most recently served as Head of School, Convent of the Sacred Heart High School.
Dr. Shurley received her B.A. in English at The University of Texas at Austin, earned her M.A. in English at Texas State University - San Marcos, and her Doctorate of Education in Catholic Educational Leadership at University of San Francisco.
Prior to her work in education, she had a five-year career in the technology field, first in Austin and then Silicon Valley. She is a graduate of Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all-girls Catholic school in Houston.