Christine McLean

She brings to the Academy a wealth of expertise in the areas of strategic leadership roles in higher education, and visionary and organizational leadership roles in classical Christian education. Throughout her career, she has served in leadership roles related to recruitment, retention, and marketing/communications in higher education, K-12, and homeschool in FL, TX, and CA. Dr. McLean’s experience in public and private higher education institutions and her pioneering and sustaining the first Classical Conversations community in southwest Austin paved the way for her work in establishing Donum Dei Classical Academy. McLean has led Donum Dei in the development of its mission, vision, values, classical curriculum, faculty professional development, parent education, student recruitment/enrollment, and branding. She partnered with American Philanthropic and the National Christian Foundation to set a foundation for fundraising before opening Donum Dei. Under her leadership, Donum Dei navigated community networks, secured partnerships, and established funds necessary for institutional viability. She then led the school community through the I Believe Campaign, securing $1M in funding in 2021. She kicked off the school’s accreditation process with ACSI and WASC and serves on the team to do self-studies at other schools. Dr. McLean has networked with classical education experts nationally and regionally — and served on a panel to support the development of new classical Christian schools. She advocates for opportunities to educate and shape students’ hearts and minds unto the Lord while helping them navigate winsomely our post-Christian culture. Dr. McLean enjoys weaving challenging cultural issues into academic and spiritual lessons in ways that increase students’ critical thinking, discernment, and compassion.