Bess McKinney
Social Science & EICL Co-Coordinator
Also: US Advisor
J.D. (with honors), University of Washington School of Law; B.A., History, Brown University
Bess McKinney joined EPS as an Upper School Humanities teacher and 11th/12th grade advisor in 2016. In addition to her teaching in the Humanities, in 2018 she became EPS’s Equity and Inclusion Coordinator.
Prior to EPS, Bess taught at Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences and at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, Connecticut. Bess is also an attorney and has clerked for the Washington State Court of Appeals and worked as a civil rights lawyer.
Bess is passionate about and dedicated to helping all EPS students feel included and seen for all that they are, and about helping students see and think beyond their own lives. In pursuit of this goal, Bess has attended the National Association of Independent School’s People of Color Conference, Courage of Care’s Courageous Compassion Advanced Training program, and Columbia University Teacher School’s Klingenstein Summer Institute. As much as this training and learning has aided Bess’s work, she is most helped by her students. Bess is continuously inspired and motivated by EPS students and their passion for creating a more equitable and inclusive community and world. She believes fiercely that, as Maya Angelou wrote, “in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.”
When not on campus, Bess can be found outside running or hiking, in her living room or a local coffee shop reading, or in her kitchen baking or cooking.
“Walking around campus, it felt clear that not only did the students, faculty, and staff know each other, but that they were kind to one another, that there was a sense of taking care of the place and of each other.”