After a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer, Diane Annala Chalmers, our beloved School Board President passed away on April 4, 2018.   Our charter was granted in 2011 and Diane had served on the board and held the position of board president since day one.  Diane was a passionate leader of our school and did not let her battle with cancer stop her from her duties.  She presided over the March 16, 2018 school board meeting just weeks before her passing.  Diane will always be remembered for her amazing eloquence, grace and courage. 

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Diane Chalmers received her undergraduate education at Denison University, a Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from Indiana University, and post-graduate certification in Arts Administration from Harvard University. In her professional career she has held a variety of positions in higher education, arts management, non-profit management and government. These include serving as Director of University Events at UCSD, as Chief of Staff for a San Diego Councilmember, Executive Director of the San Diego Performing Arts Foundation and as Director of Development for the College of Professional Studies at SDSU. Most recently she served as Development Director for the Louisville Orchestra and as Executive Director of the Louisville Ronald McDonald House. While in Louisville, Diane also taught Non-Profit Management at Bellarmine University. In the course of filling these positions she  traveled extensively, including within the former Soviet Union to select arts groups for the San Diego Russian Arts Festival, and several trips to China as a planner for an International Conference on Rehabilitation of the Handicapped.    In 2004 Diane returned to San Diego after an absence of a few years and lived    in La Jolla with her husband, Joseph Chalmers. Dr. Chalmers is a Visiting Scholar at UCSD and San Diego State University and retired Chairman of the Department of Physics at the University of Louisville. After retirement, Diane remained    involved as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego chapter of the ARCS Foundation serving as Vice President of Fund Development. She also served on the Advisory Council of the ATHENA project at UCSD Moores Cancer Center, and Chaired    the Concert Committee at La Jolla Presbyterian Church in addition to serving as Board Member of the Urban Corps of San Diego County.