Middlebury College
Encyclopedia
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college
located in Middlebury
, Vermont
, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences. Middlebury follows a 4–1–4 academic schedule, with two four-course semesters and a one-course January term. Middlebury is one of the "Little Ivies
." Middlebury is the first American institution of higher education to have granted a bachelor's degree to an African-American, graduating Alexander Twilight
in the class of 1823. Middlebury was also one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England
to become a coeducational institution, following the trustees' decision in 1883 to accept women. In addition to its core undergraduate program, the College organizes undergraduate and graduate programs in modern languages, English literature, and writing. The Middlebury College Language Schools
offer instruction in 10 languages. The Bread Loaf School of English
is a summer graduate program in English literature, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
is one of the oldest writers' conferences in the country. The College also operates 37 C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
in 16 countries across 5 continents. The Monterey Institute of International Studies
is a graduate school of Middlebury College. The Institute enrolls graduate students in the fields of international relations, international business, language teaching, and language translation and interpretation. Middlebury's 31 varsity teams are known as the Middlebury Panthers and compete in the Division III NESCAC conference.
—began classes a few days later, making Middlebury the first operating college or university in Vermont. One student named Aaron Petty graduated at the first commencement held in August 1802.
The College's founding religious affiliation was loosely Congregationalist. Yet the idea for a college was that of town fathers rather than clergymen, and Middlebury was clearly "the Town's College" rather than the Church's. Chief among its founders were Seth Storrs and Gamaliel Painter, the former credited with the idea for a college and the latter as its greatest early benefactor. In addition to receiving a diploma upon graduation, Middlebury graduates also receive a replica of Gamaliel Painter's cane. Painter bequeathed his original cane to the College and it is carried by the College President at official occasions including first-year convocation and graduation.
Alexander Twilight
, class of 1823, was the first black graduate of any college or university in the United States; he also became the first African American elected to public office, joining the Vermont House of Representatives
in 1836. At its second commencement in 1804, Middlebury granted Lemuel Haynes
an honorary master's degree
, the first advanced degree
ever bestowed upon an African American.
In 1883, the trustees voted to accept women as students in the college, making Middlebury one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England to become a coeducational institution. The first female graduate—May Belle Chellis—received her degree in 1886.. As valedictorian of the class of 1899, Mary Annette Anderson
became the first African American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
The College’s centennial in 1900 began a century of physical expansion beyond the three buildings of Old Stone Row. York and Sawyer
designed the Egbert Starr Library (1900), a Beaux-Arts edifice later expanded and renamed the Axinn Center, and Warner Hall (1901). Growth in enrollment and the endowment led to continued expansion westward. McCullough Hall (1912) and Voter Hall (1913) featured gymnasium and laboratories, respectively, adopting Georgian Revival styling while confirming the campus standard of grey Vermont marble.
The national fraternity Kappa Delta Rho
was founded in Painter Hall on May 17, 1905. Middlebury College abolished fraternities in the early 1990s, but the organization continued on campus in the less ritualized form of a social house. Due to a policy at the school against single-sex organizations, the house was forced to coeducate during the same period as well.
The German Language School, founded in 1915 under the supervision of then-President John Martin Thomas, began the tradition of the Middlebury College Language Schools
. These Schools, which take place on the Middlebury campus during the summer, enroll about 1,350 students in the Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish Language Schools.
Middlebury President Paul Moody began the American tradition of a National Christmas Tree in 1923 when the College donated a 48-foot balsam fir
for use at the White House. The tree was illuminated when Calvin Coolidge, a Vermont-native in the first year of his presidency, flipped an electric switch.
The Bread Loaf School of English
, Middlebury's graduate school of English, was established at the College's Bread Loaf Mountain
campus in 1920. The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
was established in 1926. In 1978, the Bread Loaf School of English
expanded to include a campus at Lincoln College, Oxford University. In 1991, the School expanded to include a campus at St. John's College
in New Mexico, and to the University of North Carolina, Asheville, in 2006.
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
began in 1949 with the school in Paris
; they now host students at 37 sites in Argentina
, Brazil
, China
, Cameroon
, Chile
, Egypt
, France
, Germany
, Italy
, Israel
, Japan
, Jordan
, Mexico
, Russia
, Spain
, and Uruguay
.
The second half of the 20th Century accelerated Middlebury’s transition from a small, regional institution to a top-tier liberal arts college with an international presence. Campus growth continued. In 1965, Middlebury established its Environmental Studies
program, creating the first undergraduate Environmental Studies program in the U.S. Nationally-affiliated fraternities were abolished in 1991; some chose to become co-educational social houses which continue today.
In May 2004, an anonymous benefactor made a $50 million donation to Middlebury. It was the largest cash gift the school has ever received. The donor asked only that Middlebury name its recently built science building, Bicentennial Hall, after outgoing President John McCardell Jr. In June 2011, Middlebury's endowment stood at approximately $908 million.
In 2005, Middlebury signed an affiliation agreement with the Monterey Institute of International Studies
, a graduate school
in Monterey, California
. While the Monterey Institute initially remained a separate institution, the affiliation saved MIIS from financial difficulties. On June 30, 2010, the Monterey Institute was officially designated as a graduate school of Middlebury College.
In the summer of 2008, Middlebury and the Monterey Institute launched a collaborative program to offer summer language immersion programs in Arabic, Chinese
, French
, German
, Italian
, and Spanish
to middle and high school students through the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy
(MMLA).
In June 2010, Middlebury announced that it had a 40% stake in a joint-venture with K12 Inc.
to build online language software to be marketed under the brand "Middlebury Interactive Languages." The initial release will cover basic Spanish and French and be aimed at high school students.
major, establishing the major in 1965.
The most popular majors at Middlebury by number of recent graduates are: economics
, international studies
, English and American literatures
, political science
, psychology
, and environmental studies
. Close to 40 percent of graduating seniors choose a single major in a traditional academic discipline, and about 30 percent of students complete a double or joint major combining two disciplines. Another 30 percent of students major in one of the College's interdisciplinary programs.
-based approach to language instruction and acquisition. All students in the Language Schools must sign and abide by Middlebury's "Language Pledge," a pledge to use their target language exclusively during the duration of their time at the School.
Undergraduate instruction, available to undergraduate students, government employees and individuals from professional backgrounds, is offered in Arabic
, Chinese, French
, German
, Hebrew
, Italian
, Japanese
, Portugese
, Russian
, and Spanish
.
Middlebury's Language Schools have historically been conducted at the College's campus in Vermont. In the summer of 2009 the college opened a satellite campus at Mills College
in Oakland, California
to accommodate a growth in enrollment. For the summer of 2011, Middlebury at Mills will offer Arabic, French, Japanese, and Spanish instruction. Students in French and Spanish may opt to study at either the Middlebury or Mills campuses.
The Monterey Institute of International Studies, in Monterey, California
became an affiliate of Middlebury following the signing of an affiliation agreement between the two in December 2005. In Summer 2010, the Institute was formally designated as “a graduate school of Middlebury College.” The Institute currently enrolls 790 graduate students in the fields of international relations
, international business
, language teaching, and translation
and interpretation. The Institute is the only school in the Western Hemisphere offering graduate degrees in conference interpretation and in translation and interpretation between English-Chinese, English-Japanese and English-Korean. It is also one of the few schools with a bilingual requirement upon enrollment for all students. English is required for non-native speakers and two years of university-level language classes in either Spanish
, French
, German
, Japanese
, Chinese
(Mandarin), Russian
, or Arabic for native English speakers.
Middlebury offers a Doctor of Modern Languages (D.M.L.) degree. Unique to Middlebury, the D.M.L. prepares teacher-scholars in two modern foreign languages, helping them develop as teachers of second-language acquisition, literature, linguistics, and language pedagogy.
campus in Ripton, just outside Middlebury, in sight of the main ridge of the Green Mountains
. The poet Robert Frost
is credited as a major influence on the school. Frost "first came to the School on the invitation of Dean Wilfred Davison in 1921. Friend and neighbor to Bread Loaf, (he) returned to the School every summer with but three exceptions for 42 years." Every summer since 1920, Bread Loaf has offered students from around the United States and the world intensive courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Prominent faculty and staff have included William Carlos Williams
, Bernard DeVoto
, Edward Weismiller
, Theodore Roethke
, John Crowe Ransom
, Elizabeth Drew
, A. Bartlett Giamatti
, Perry Miller
, Catherine Drinker Bowen
, Carlos Baker
, Harold Bloom
, Cleanth Brooks
, Charles Edward Eaton
, Richard Ellman, Paul Muldoon
, William Sloane, John Ciardi
, John P. Marquand
, Wylie Sypher
, and Dixie Goswami.
The Bread Loaf School has campuses at four locations: Vermont, Oxford
(England), North Carolina
, and New Mexico
. The primary campus, near Middlebury, enrolls some 250 students every summer. The Oxford University
campus (at Lincoln College
) enrolls 90 students. The North Carolina campus, near the Blue Ridge Mountains
, is affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Asheville
, and enrolled its first class of 50 students in 2006. The New Mexico campus at St. John's College
, Santa Fe
, enrolls 80 students every summer.
Students at Bread Loaf can either attend for one or two summers as continuing graduate students, or work toward a Master of Arts (M.A.
) or Master of Letters (M.Litt.
) degree over the course of four or five summers spread over different campuses.
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, operated by Middlebury College in 16 countries across 5 continents, offer overseas academic programs for undergraduates from various U.S. institutions, as well as graduate-level programs for students from Middlebury College’s Language Schools
and the Monterey Institute of International Studies
. The first School was the School in Paris, opened in 1949. The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools have been endowed by the C.V. Starr Foundation
.
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools have an immersion
-based approach to language and cultural acquisition. All students must sign Middlebury's "Language Pledge," agreeing to exclusively use their target language for the duration of the program.
The 2011 Princeton Review ranked Middlebury's study abroad programs as the #6 most popular in the United States.
The college operates schools abroad at 37 locations, including: Argentina (Buenos Aires and Tucumán); Brazil (Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, and Niteroi); Cameroon (Yaoundé); Chile (Concepción
, La Serena, Santiago
, Temuco, Valdivia
, and Valparaíso); China (Beijing, Hangzhou, and Kunming); Egypt (Alexandria); France (Paris, Poitiers, and Bordeaux); Germany (Berlin and Mainz); Italy (Ferrara and Florence); Israel (Beer Sheva); Japan (Tokyo
); Jordan (Amman); Mexico (Guadalajara and Xalapa); Russia (Irkutsk, Moscow, and Yaroslavl
); Spain (Cordoba
, Getafe, Logroño
, and Madrid); and Uruguay (Montevideo).http://www.middlebury.edu/sa
The Rohatyn Center for International Affairs, was founded by Felix Rohatyn
'49, investment banker, former U.S. Ambassador to France, and founder of Rohatyn Associates. Located at the Robert A. Jones '59 House, the center combines Middlebury's strengths in political, linguistic, and cultural studies to offer internationally focused symposia, lectures, and presentations. An internationally oriented resource and research center, the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs (RCFIA) supports the College's goal of advancing global understanding that radiates from a core linguistic and cultural competency. The center regularly publishes working papers by prominent international scholars and offers grants for faculty and student research.
. It was called by The New Yorker
"the oldest and most prestigious writers' conference in the country." "Two weeks of intensive workshops, lectures, classes and readings present writers with rigorous practical and theoretical approaches to their craft, and offer a model of literary instruction."
Noted authors who have been associated with the conference over the years include James Brown
, John Ciardi
, Bernard DeVoto
, Robert Frost
, John Gardner, Richard Gehman
, Donald Hall
, John Irving
, Shirley Jackson
, Barry Lopez
, Robie Macauley
, Carson McCullers
, Norman Mailer
, Toni Morrison
, Linda Pastan
, May Sarton
, Anne Sexton
, Eudora Welty
, and Richard Yates
.
Recent faculty have included Julia Alvarez
, Andrea Barrett
, Charles Baxter, Linda Bierds
, Robert Boswell
, Lan Samantha Chang
, Ted Conover
, Mark Doty
, Percival Everett
, Lynn Freed, Linda Gregerson
, Patricia Hampl
, Edward Hirsch
, Brigit Pegeen Kelly
, William Kittredge
, Antonya Nelson
, Carl Phillips
, Natasha Trethewey
, Ellen Bryant Voigt
, Daniel Wallace
, and Dean Young
.
The conference is administered by director Michael Collier
and assistant director Jennifer Grotz
.
Recent Fellows at the Conference have included Christopher Castellani
, Geri Doran
, Thomas Sayers Ellis
, Ilya Kaminsky
, Suji Kwock Kim
, Naeem Murr
, Peter Orner
, Eric Puchner
, Richard Siken
, Monique Truong
, Vendela Vida
, and C. Dale Young
.
to build online language software. The initial release will be of Spanish and French, level one, aimed at high school students.
, French
, German
, Italian
, and Spanish
to middle and high school students through the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy. MMLA builds on the international expertise of both Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute of International Studies
and adapts the Middlebury College Language Schools
immersion-based learning with a curriculum and activities developed specifically for students entering grades 7–12. The MMLA
has sites at Green Mountain College
, Roger Williams University
, Swarthmore College
, Wofford College
, Lewis University
, Oberlin College
, Pomona College
, and the University of California-Santa Cruz.
Middlebury is one of America's most highly selective institutions, and admission is extremely competitive. For the class entering in 2011–2012, there were a total of 8,533 applicants for the 580 September enrollment and 90 February enrollment spots. A total of 1,519 students were admitted, resulting in an admit rate of 17.8%. For the class of 2015, the mid-50% range for the SAT I was 1950–2240 and the mid-50% range for the ACT was 30–33.
Middlebury is part of the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission. Applicants to Middlebury must submit standardized test scores, but are given the option of submitting either the SAT I or the ACT. Applicants may also choose to submit 3 SAT Subject tests in lieu of the SAT I or ACT.
Middlebury is a need-blind
institution, meaning it does not consider an applicant's financial situation when making an admission decision. The college meets 100% of all admitted students' demonstrated financial need. As a result of the financial crisis, Middlebury has altered its need-blind policy for international students. Beginning with the 2008–2009 academic year, the College admits international students on a need-blind basis only to the extent that resources permit. The College continues to meet the full demonstrated need of all admitted international students.
Middlebury combines tuition, room, and board into one comprehensive fee which is $53,420 for the 2011–2012 academic year.
.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Middlebury is one of the top "feeder schools" to elite graduate business, medical, and law schools.
The 2011 Princeton Review ranks the College #3 for "professors get high marks;" #4 for "school runs like butter;" #6 for "best quality of life," "most popular study abroad program," and "students study the most;" #12 for "best career services;" #13 for "best campus food;" #15 for "best classroom experience" and "dorms like palaces;" and #18 for "best athletic facilities." The Princeton Review includes Middlebury on its "colleges with a conscience" list as well as on its "Green Honor Roll."
Middlebury is also listed along with Swarthmore College, Duke University, and Amherst College, as one of Unigo's top 11 "New 2011 Ivies."
The 2011 Newsweek
college rankings listed Middlebury as #23 of the "Most desirable schools in America," #5 of the "Most desirable rural schools," and #9 of the "Most desirable small schools."
Forbes Magazine, in its 2010 rankings of all universities and colleges in the United States, ranked Middlebury at #26.
Middlebury is ranked third among all colleges and universities in the nation according to the sixth annual report by the National Collegiate Scouting Association which ranks colleges based on student-athlete graduation rates, academic strength, and athletic prowess.
The 350 acre (1.4 km²) main campus is located in the Champlain Valley
between Vermont
's Green Mountains to the east and New York
's Adirondack Mountains
to the west. The campus is situated on a hill to the west of the village of Middlebury
, a traditional New England
village centered on Otter Creek Falls.
Middlebury's campus is characterized by quads and open spaces, views of the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks, and historic granite, marble, and limestone buildings. Old Stone Row, consisting of the three oldest buildings on campus — Old Chapel, Painter Hall, and Starr Hall — is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. Painter Hall, constructed in 1815, is the oldest extant college building in Vermont. Emma Willard House
, a National Historic Landmark
, hosts the admissions office.
The campus is known affectionately to students, faculty, and alumni as "Club Midd" because of its bucolic setting and the quality of its recreational and residential facilities.
, Brainerd
, Cook, Ross, and Wonnacott. All are named for illustrious college figures. The creation of the Commons, which remains controversial among students, accompanied an increase in the size of the student body and an ambitious building campaign.
Recently completed building projects include:
John McCardell, Jr.
Bicentennial Hall, a multidisciplinary science facility built to house the Biology
, Chemistry
and Biochemistry
, Computer Science
, Geography
, Geology
, Physics
, and Psychology
departments as well as the Environmental Studies
, Neuroscience
, and Molecular Biology
programs (1999) Davis Family Library (2004)
, Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI
, and a version of Robert Indiana
's Love
series. The collection also includes works by Tony Smith
, Clement Meadmore
, and Jonathan Borofsky
.
campus hosts the college's Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
every summer.
Middlebury owns the Robert Frost Farm, where American poet Robert Frost
lived and wrote in the summer and fall months from 1939 until his death in 1963. This National Historic Landmark
occupies 150 acre (0.607029 km²) adjacent to the Bread Loaf campus.
, the Snow Bowl is one of two remaining college-owned ski areas in the eastern United States. A volunteer ski patrol
, staffed by students, provides on-mountain medical services. Members are certified as Outdoor Emergency Care
technicians and trained in first aid, chairlift evacuation, and toboggan handling.
The Middlebury College Snow Bowl is host to ski races during the annual Middlebury Winter Carnival as well as the February mid-year graduation.
Middlebury recently incorporated environmental stewardship into its new mission statement.
The college is a signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and the Talloires Declaration
. Additionally, the college has committed to be carbon neutral by 2016. Middlebury was one of only six universities to receive a grade of “A-” from the Sustainable Endowments Institute on its College Sustainability Report Card 2008, the highest grade awarded.
In the 2008–2009 academic year, Middlebury College opened a new state-of-the-art biomass
plant on campus that is estimated to cut the College's carbon dioxide output by 40 percent and reduce its use of fuel oil by 50 percent.
In 2010, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
and Middlebury College announced the creation of the Sustainable Investments Initiative, a co-mingled fiscal vehicle seeking investments that generate long-term social, environmental, and economic value. The Initiative will seek investments focused specifically on sustainability issues such as clean energy, water, climate science, and green building projects, in an effort to identify businesses positioned to become a part of the worldwide shift to improve energy efficiency, decrease dependence on fossil fuels, and mitigate the effects of global climate change.
Also in 2010, Middlebury College and Integrated Energy Solutions, a Vermont developer of farm-based methane energy, agreed to explore a bio-methane gas collection and delivery system that could help Middlebury further reduce its use of fossil fuels. Middlebury has agreed to purchase bio-methane gas from IES over a 10-year period, with the agreement contingent on the college raising money to build storage facilities for the gas on campus and retrofit its current heating plant to burn the new fuel.
in their caps and gowns to receive their diplomas.
on Friday and Saturday, and the Winter Ball on Saturday night.
WRMC also organized Middlebury's annual music festival called Sepomana. Recent acts have included Das Racist
, Yo La Tengo
, Animal Collective
, The Decemberists
, and Ratatat
among others.
and poet Jay Parini
, it was published as New England Review & Bread Loaf Quarterly from 1982 (when it moved to Middlebury College), until 1991 as a formal division of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
. In 1991, the magazine reverted to its original name, New England Review, and opted to have only informal ties with the Writers' Conference.
NER publishes poetry, fiction, translations, and a wide variety of non-fiction in each issue. NER consistently publishes work from established writers as well as work from up-and-coming new writers. It has published work by many who have gone on to win major awards such as the Pulitzer Prize
, the National Book Award
, and the National Book Critics Circle Award
.
Middlebury competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference
. The Middlebury College Panthers
lead the NESCAC in total number of National Championships, having won 33 individual titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play in 1994. Middlebury enjoys national success in soccer, tennis, cross country running, lacrosse, ice hockey, field hockey, and skiing, and fields 31 varsity NCAA
teams and several competitive club teams. Since 2000, Middlebury's varsity squads have won 54 NESCAC titles. Currently, 28% of students participate in varsity sports.
In the early 20th century, Middlebury's traditional athletic rivals included the University of Vermont
and Norwich University
. Today, rivalries vary by sport. In football, Middlebury's rival is Hamilton College, as NESCAC no longer allows out-of-conference football competition. Since 1980, the annual game between Hamilton and Middlebury is designated the Rocking Chair Classic, with the winning team keeping the Mac-Jack Rocking Chair for the following year.
Middlebury's success in intercollegiate sports is evidenced by the college's second place ranking in the 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Directors' Cup. The college has won 31 NCAA Division III national championships since 1995.
National Championships
The 2011 Princeton Review ranks Middlebury's athletic facilities as #18 best in the United States.
Middlebury's athletic facilities include:
Notable Middlebury alumni include:
Notable Middlebury faculty include:
Liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States are certain undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclopædia Britannica Concise offers a definition of the liberal arts as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general...
located in Middlebury
Middlebury (town), Vermont
Middlebury is a town in and the shire town of Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 8,496 at the 2010 census. Middlebury is home to both Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History.-History:...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences. Middlebury follows a 4–1–4 academic schedule, with two four-course semesters and a one-course January term. Middlebury is one of the "Little Ivies
Little Ivies
Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American liberal arts colleges; however, it does not denote any official organization....
." Middlebury is the first American institution of higher education to have granted a bachelor's degree to an African-American, graduating Alexander Twilight
Alexander Twilight
Alexander Lucius Twilight , born free in Vermont, was the first black person known to have earned a bachelor's degree from an American college or university upon graduating Middlebury College in 1823. An educator, minister and politician, he was licensed as a Congregational preacher, and worked in...
in the class of 1823. Middlebury was also one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
to become a coeducational institution, following the trustees' decision in 1883 to accept women. In addition to its core undergraduate program, the College organizes undergraduate and graduate programs in modern languages, English literature, and writing. The Middlebury College Language Schools
Middlebury College Language Schools
The Middlebury College Language Schools, started with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in 10 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The Schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The...
offer instruction in 10 languages. The Bread Loaf School of English
Bread Loaf School of English
The Bread Loaf School of English is the graduate school of English at Middlebury College. The School offers graduate courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Classes are held for six weeks each summer. The School awards two degrees...
is a summer graduate program in English literature, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
is one of the oldest writers' conferences in the country. The College also operates 37 C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, operated by Middlebury College in 16 countries across 5 continents, offer overseas academic programs for undergraduates from various U.S. institutions, as well as graduate-level programs for students from Middlebury College’s Language Schools and the...
in 16 countries across 5 continents. The Monterey Institute of International Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is a graduate school of Middlebury College, located in Monterey, California, United States...
is a graduate school of Middlebury College. The Institute enrolls graduate students in the fields of international relations, international business, language teaching, and language translation and interpretation. Middlebury's 31 varsity teams are known as the Middlebury Panthers and compete in the Division III NESCAC conference.
History
Founding and 19th century
Middlebury received its founding charter on November 1, 1800, as an outgrowth of the Addison County Grammar School, which had been founded three years earlier in 1797. The College's first president—Jeremiah AtwaterJeremiah Atwater
Jeremiah Atwater was notable as an educator, minister, and college president. Atwater became principal of the Addison County Grammar School in 1799 and, a year later, when the school became Middlebury College, assumed the role of its first president...
—began classes a few days later, making Middlebury the first operating college or university in Vermont. One student named Aaron Petty graduated at the first commencement held in August 1802.
The College's founding religious affiliation was loosely Congregationalist. Yet the idea for a college was that of town fathers rather than clergymen, and Middlebury was clearly "the Town's College" rather than the Church's. Chief among its founders were Seth Storrs and Gamaliel Painter, the former credited with the idea for a college and the latter as its greatest early benefactor. In addition to receiving a diploma upon graduation, Middlebury graduates also receive a replica of Gamaliel Painter's cane. Painter bequeathed his original cane to the College and it is carried by the College President at official occasions including first-year convocation and graduation.
Alexander Twilight
Alexander Twilight
Alexander Lucius Twilight , born free in Vermont, was the first black person known to have earned a bachelor's degree from an American college or university upon graduating Middlebury College in 1823. An educator, minister and politician, he was licensed as a Congregational preacher, and worked in...
, class of 1823, was the first black graduate of any college or university in the United States; he also became the first African American elected to public office, joining the Vermont House of Representatives
Vermont House of Representatives
The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members. Vermont legislative districting divides representing districts into 66 single-member districts and 42 two-member...
in 1836. At its second commencement in 1804, Middlebury granted Lemuel Haynes
Lemuel Haynes
Lemuel Haynes was an influential African American religious leader who argued against slavery.-Early life and education:Little is known of his early life. He was born in West Hartford, Connecticut, to a reportedly Caucasian mother of some status and a man named Haynes, who was said to be "of some...
an honorary master's degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
, the first advanced degree
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
ever bestowed upon an African American.
In 1883, the trustees voted to accept women as students in the college, making Middlebury one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England to become a coeducational institution. The first female graduate—May Belle Chellis—received her degree in 1886.. As valedictorian of the class of 1899, Mary Annette Anderson
Mary Annette Anderson
Mary Annette Anderson was an American professor and the first African American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.Anderson was born in Shoreham, Vermont, to William and Philomine Anderson. Her father, a farmer, was a freed slave originally from Virginia, and her mother was a Canadian immigrant of...
became the first African American woman elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
20th century
York and Sawyer
The architectural firm of York and Sawyer produced many outstanding structures, exemplary of Beaux-Arts architecture as it was practiced in the United States. The partners Edward York and Philip Sawyer had both trained in the office of McKim, Mead, and White...
designed the Egbert Starr Library (1900), a Beaux-Arts edifice later expanded and renamed the Axinn Center, and Warner Hall (1901). Growth in enrollment and the endowment led to continued expansion westward. McCullough Hall (1912) and Voter Hall (1913) featured gymnasium and laboratories, respectively, adopting Georgian Revival styling while confirming the campus standard of grey Vermont marble.
The national fraternity Kappa Delta Rho
Kappa Delta Rho
Kappa Delta Rho is an American college social fraternity, with 77 chapters spread out over the United States, primarily in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions...
was founded in Painter Hall on May 17, 1905. Middlebury College abolished fraternities in the early 1990s, but the organization continued on campus in the less ritualized form of a social house. Due to a policy at the school against single-sex organizations, the house was forced to coeducate during the same period as well.
The German Language School, founded in 1915 under the supervision of then-President John Martin Thomas, began the tradition of the Middlebury College Language Schools
Middlebury College Language Schools
The Middlebury College Language Schools, started with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in 10 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The Schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The...
. These Schools, which take place on the Middlebury campus during the summer, enroll about 1,350 students in the Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish Language Schools.
Middlebury President Paul Moody began the American tradition of a National Christmas Tree in 1923 when the College donated a 48-foot balsam fir
Balsam Fir
The balsam fir is a North American fir, native to most of eastern and central Canada and the northeastern United States .-Growth:It is a small to medium-size evergreen tree typically tall, rarely to tall, with a narrow conic crown...
for use at the White House. The tree was illuminated when Calvin Coolidge, a Vermont-native in the first year of his presidency, flipped an electric switch.
The Bread Loaf School of English
Bread Loaf School of English
The Bread Loaf School of English is the graduate school of English at Middlebury College. The School offers graduate courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Classes are held for six weeks each summer. The School awards two degrees...
, Middlebury's graduate school of English, was established at the College's Bread Loaf Mountain
Bread Loaf Mountain (Vermont)
Bread Loaf Mountain is a mountain located in Addison County, Vermont, in the Green Mountain National Forest. The mountain is part of the central Green Mountains...
campus in 1920. The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
was established in 1926. In 1978, the Bread Loaf School of English
Bread Loaf School of English
The Bread Loaf School of English is the graduate school of English at Middlebury College. The School offers graduate courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Classes are held for six weeks each summer. The School awards two degrees...
expanded to include a campus at Lincoln College, Oxford University. In 1991, the School expanded to include a campus at St. John's College
St. John's College, U.S.
St. John's College is a liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1696 as a preparatory school, King William's School, the school received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher...
in New Mexico, and to the University of North Carolina, Asheville, in 2006.
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, operated by Middlebury College in 16 countries across 5 continents, offer overseas academic programs for undergraduates from various U.S. institutions, as well as graduate-level programs for students from Middlebury College’s Language Schools and the...
began in 1949 with the school in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
; they now host students at 37 sites in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
.
The second half of the 20th Century accelerated Middlebury’s transition from a small, regional institution to a top-tier liberal arts college with an international presence. Campus growth continued. In 1965, Middlebury established its Environmental Studies
Environmental studies
Environmental studies is the academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. It is a broad interdisciplinary field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them...
program, creating the first undergraduate Environmental Studies program in the U.S. Nationally-affiliated fraternities were abolished in 1991; some chose to become co-educational social houses which continue today.
21st century
In 2005, Middlebury signed an affiliation agreement with the Monterey Institute of International Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is a graduate school of Middlebury College, located in Monterey, California, United States...
, a graduate school
Graduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
in Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
. While the Monterey Institute initially remained a separate institution, the affiliation saved MIIS from financial difficulties. On June 30, 2010, the Monterey Institute was officially designated as a graduate school of Middlebury College.
In the summer of 2008, Middlebury and the Monterey Institute launched a collaborative program to offer summer language immersion programs in Arabic, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
to middle and high school students through the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy
Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy
The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy is a summer language immersion program for pre-college students. Founded in 2008 by Middlebury College and its graduate school, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, MMLA convenes on college campuses in the United States...
(MMLA).
In June 2010, Middlebury announced that it had a 40% stake in a joint-venture with K12 Inc.
K12 Inc.
K12 Inc. is a technology-based education company that offers curriculum and educational services for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.- History :...
to build online language software to be marketed under the brand "Middlebury Interactive Languages." The initial release will cover basic Spanish and French and be aimed at high school students.
Academics
Overview
Founded in 1800, the college enrolls approximately 2,350 undergraduates from all 50 states and 70 countries. The college offers 40 undergraduate departments and programs. Middlebury was the first institution of higher education in the United States to offer an environmental studiesEnvironmental studies
Environmental studies is the academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. It is a broad interdisciplinary field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them...
major, establishing the major in 1965.
The most popular majors at Middlebury by number of recent graduates are: economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, international studies
International studies
International Studies generally refers to the specific University Degrees and courses which are concerned with the study of ‘the major political, economic, social, cultural and sacral issues that dominate the international agenda’...
, English and American literatures
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
, psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
, and environmental studies
Environmental studies
Environmental studies is the academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. It is a broad interdisciplinary field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them...
. Close to 40 percent of graduating seniors choose a single major in a traditional academic discipline, and about 30 percent of students complete a double or joint major combining two disciplines. Another 30 percent of students major in one of the College's interdisciplinary programs.
4–1–4 calendar
The academic year follows a 4–1–4 schedule of two four-course semesters plus a Winter Term session in January. The Winter Term, often called "J-Term", allows students to enroll in one intensive course, pursue independent research, or complete an off-campus internship.Summer language schools
The Middlebury College Language Schools, started with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive instruction in 10 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The Schools all use an immersionLanguage immersion
Language immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...
-based approach to language instruction and acquisition. All students in the Language Schools must sign and abide by Middlebury's "Language Pledge," a pledge to use their target language exclusively during the duration of their time at the School.
Undergraduate instruction, available to undergraduate students, government employees and individuals from professional backgrounds, is offered in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Chinese, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Portugese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
Middlebury's Language Schools have historically been conducted at the College's campus in Vermont. In the summer of 2009 the college opened a satellite campus at Mills College
Mills College
Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...
in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
to accommodate a growth in enrollment. For the summer of 2011, Middlebury at Mills will offer Arabic, French, Japanese, and Spanish instruction. Students in French and Spanish may opt to study at either the Middlebury or Mills campuses.
Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Monterey Institute of International Studies, in Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
became an affiliate of Middlebury following the signing of an affiliation agreement between the two in December 2005. In Summer 2010, the Institute was formally designated as “a graduate school of Middlebury College.” The Institute currently enrolls 790 graduate students in the fields of international relations
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
, international business
International Business
International business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary...
, language teaching, and translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
and interpretation. The Institute is the only school in the Western Hemisphere offering graduate degrees in conference interpretation and in translation and interpretation between English-Chinese, English-Japanese and English-Korean. It is also one of the few schools with a bilingual requirement upon enrollment for all students. English is required for non-native speakers and two years of university-level language classes in either Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
(Mandarin), Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, or Arabic for native English speakers.
Summer Language Schools and Doctor of Modern Languages (D.M.L.)
Six of Middlebury's summer schools — Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish — offer graduate programs in addition to the undergraduate component. These are completed during six-week summer sessions, with an option of combining the sessions with overseas study. The graduate degree most often conferred is the Master of Arts. The MA in German requires one summer on the Middlebury campus. A second summer is required for the MA in Russian, Chinese, and Mediterranean Studies; it is optional for the MA in French, Italian, and Spanish.Middlebury offers a Doctor of Modern Languages (D.M.L.) degree. Unique to Middlebury, the D.M.L. prepares teacher-scholars in two modern foreign languages, helping them develop as teachers of second-language acquisition, literature, linguistics, and language pedagogy.
Bread Loaf School of English
The Bread Loaf School of English is based at the college's Bread Loaf MountainBread Loaf Mountain (Vermont)
Bread Loaf Mountain is a mountain located in Addison County, Vermont, in the Green Mountain National Forest. The mountain is part of the central Green Mountains...
campus in Ripton, just outside Middlebury, in sight of the main ridge of the Green Mountains
Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range extends approximately .-Peaks:The most notable mountains in the range include:*Mount Mansfield, , the highest point in Vermont*Killington Peak, *Mount Ellen,...
. The poet Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
is credited as a major influence on the school. Frost "first came to the School on the invitation of Dean Wilfred Davison in 1921. Friend and neighbor to Bread Loaf, (he) returned to the School every summer with but three exceptions for 42 years." Every summer since 1920, Bread Loaf has offered students from around the United States and the world intensive courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Prominent faculty and staff have included William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams was an American poet closely associated with modernism and Imagism. He was also a pediatrician and general practitioner of medicine, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania...
, Bernard DeVoto
Bernard DeVoto
Bernard Augustine DeVoto was an American historian and author who specialized in the history of the American West.- Life and work :He was born in Ogden, Utah...
, Edward Weismiller
Edward Weismiller
Edward Ronald Weismiller was an American poet, scholar and professor of English, George Washington University. He died in Washington D.C. on August 25, 2010.-Life:He was raised in Wisconsin and Vermont...
, Theodore Roethke
Theodore Roethke
Theodore Roethke was an American poet, who published several volumes of poetry characterized by its rhythm, rhyming, and natural imagery. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book, The Waking.-Biography:...
, John Crowe Ransom
John Crowe Ransom
John Crowe Ransom was an American poet, essayist, magazine editor, and professor.-Life:...
, Elizabeth Drew
Elizabeth Drew
Elizabeth Drew is an American political journalist and author.- Biography :A graduate of Wellesley College, she was Washington correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker...
, A. Bartlett Giamatti
A. Bartlett Giamatti
Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti was the president of Yale University and later the seventh Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Giamatti negotiated the agreement that terminated the Pete Rose betting scandal by permitting Rose to voluntarily withdraw from the sport, avoiding further...
, Perry Miller
Perry Miller
Perry G. Miller was an American intellectual historian and Harvard University professor. He was an authority on American Puritanism, and a founder of the field of American Studies. Alfred Kazin referred to him as "the master of American intellectual history"...
, Catherine Drinker Bowen
Catherine Drinker Bowen
Catherine Drinker Bowen was born as Catherine Drinker on the Haverford College campus on January 1, 1897, to a prominent Quaker family. She was an accomplished violinist who studied for a musical career at the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School of Music, but ultimately decided to become a...
, Carlos Baker
Carlos Baker
Carlos Baker was an American writer, biographer and former Woodrow Wilson Professor of Literature at Princeton University. He earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Princeton respectively. Baker's published works included several novels and books of poetry and various literary...
, Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
, Cleanth Brooks
Cleanth Brooks
Cleanth Brooks was an influential American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-twentieth century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher education...
, Charles Edward Eaton
Charles Edward Eaton
-Life:He was born in Winston-Salem, N.C. Eaton received his B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1936, studied at Princeton, and received his M.A. degree from Harvard, where he worked with Robert Frost, who later recommended him to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.Eaton served as...
, Richard Ellman, Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet. He has published over thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. He held the post of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 - 2004. At Princeton University he is both the Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor in the Humanities and...
, William Sloane, John Ciardi
John Ciardi
John Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante's Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children's poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and...
, John P. Marquand
John P. Marquand
John Phillips Marquand was a American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for The Late George Apley in 1938...
, Wylie Sypher
Wylie Sypher
Feltus Wylie Sypher was an American non-fiction writer and professor.Sypher was born in Mount Kisco, New York to Harry Wylie Sypher and Martha Berry. He graduated from Amherst College in 1927. He received a master's degree from Tufts University in 1929 and became an instructor at Simmons College....
, and Dixie Goswami.
The Bread Loaf School has campuses at four locations: Vermont, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
(England), North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, and New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
. The primary campus, near Middlebury, enrolls some 250 students every summer. The Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
campus (at Lincoln College
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is situated on Turl Street in central Oxford, backing onto Brasenose College and adjacent to Exeter College...
) enrolls 90 students. The North Carolina campus, near the Blue Ridge Mountains
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southern-most...
, is affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Asheville
University of North Carolina at Asheville
The University of North Carolina at Asheville is a co-educational, four year, public liberal arts university. The university is also known as UNC Asheville. Located in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, UNCA is the only designated liberal arts institution in the University of North...
, and enrolled its first class of 50 students in 2006. The New Mexico campus at St. John's College
St. John's College, U.S.
St. John's College is a liberal arts college with two U.S. campuses: one in Annapolis, Maryland and one in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Founded in 1696 as a preparatory school, King William's School, the school received a collegiate charter in 1784, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher...
, Santa Fe
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, enrolls 80 students every summer.
Students at Bread Loaf can either attend for one or two summers as continuing graduate students, or work toward a Master of Arts (M.A.
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
) or Master of Letters (M.Litt.
Master of Letters
The Master of Letters is a postgraduate degree.- United Kingdom :The MLitt is a postgraduate degree awarded by a select few British and Irish universities, predominantly within the ancient English and Scottish universities.- England :Within the English University system MLitts are not universally...
) degree over the course of four or five summers spread over different campuses.
C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad
Middlebury College Language Schools
The Middlebury College Language Schools, started with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in 10 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The Schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The...
and the Monterey Institute of International Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is a graduate school of Middlebury College, located in Monterey, California, United States...
. The first School was the School in Paris, opened in 1949. The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools have been endowed by the C.V. Starr Foundation
The Starr Foundation
The Starr Foundation was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, founder of the American Insurance Group. Upon his death in 1968 his estate was passed on to the foundation...
.
The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools have an immersion
Language immersion
Language immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...
-based approach to language and cultural acquisition. All students must sign Middlebury's "Language Pledge," agreeing to exclusively use their target language for the duration of the program.
The 2011 Princeton Review ranked Middlebury's study abroad programs as the #6 most popular in the United States.
The college operates schools abroad at 37 locations, including: Argentina (Buenos Aires and Tucumán); Brazil (Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis, and Niteroi); Cameroon (Yaoundé); Chile (Concepción
Concepción, Chile
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
, La Serena, Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, Temuco, Valdivia
Valdivia, Chile
Valdivia is a city and commune in southern Chile administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia and Cau-Cau Rivers, approximately east of the coastal towns of Corral and Niebla...
, and Valparaíso); China (Beijing, Hangzhou, and Kunming); Egypt (Alexandria); France (Paris, Poitiers, and Bordeaux); Germany (Berlin and Mainz); Italy (Ferrara and Florence); Israel (Beer Sheva); Japan (Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
); Jordan (Amman); Mexico (Guadalajara and Xalapa); Russia (Irkutsk, Moscow, and Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
); Spain (Cordoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, Getafe, Logroño
Logroño
Logroño is a city in northern Spain, on the Ebro River. It is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, formerly known as La Rioja Province.The population of Logroño in 2008 was 153,736 and a metropolitan population of nearly 197,000 inhabitants...
, and Madrid); and Uruguay (Montevideo).http://www.middlebury.edu/sa
Rohatyn Center for International Affairs (RCFIA)
Felix Rohatyn
Felix George Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s, who also served as United States Ambassador to France. He was a long term advisor to the U.S...
'49, investment banker, former U.S. Ambassador to France, and founder of Rohatyn Associates. Located at the Robert A. Jones '59 House, the center combines Middlebury's strengths in political, linguistic, and cultural studies to offer internationally focused symposia, lectures, and presentations. An internationally oriented resource and research center, the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs (RCFIA) supports the College's goal of advancing global understanding that radiates from a core linguistic and cultural competency. The center regularly publishes working papers by prominent international scholars and offers grants for faculty and student research.
Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE)
The Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, engages in interdisciplinary and comparative approaches for understanding formations of race and ethnicity and their effects on human relations. It supports scholarship that considers race and ethnicity as intersecting with class, gender, sexuality, religion, age, disability, language, communication, migration and the environment. Work supported by the Center situates these discussions in local, regional, global, and transnational contexts. The CCSRE draws on Middlebury College's expertise in international studies, environmental studies, and language and communication to support critical inquiry on race, ethnicity and diversity.Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
In addition to the six-week summer program, Middlebury College's Bread Loaf campus is also the site of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference for established authors, founded in 19261926 in literature
The year 1926 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont....
. It was called by The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
"the oldest and most prestigious writers' conference in the country." "Two weeks of intensive workshops, lectures, classes and readings present writers with rigorous practical and theoretical approaches to their craft, and offer a model of literary instruction."
Noted authors who have been associated with the conference over the years include James Brown
James Brown (author)
James Brown is an American novelist who has also written short fiction and nonfiction.His acclaimed memoir, The Los Angeles Diaries is an intimate portrait of his dysfunctional family, covering his childhood, Hollywood script meetings, his splintered marriage and life with his older brother, the...
, John Ciardi
John Ciardi
John Anthony Ciardi was an American poet, translator, and etymologist. While primarily known as a poet, he also translated Dante's Divine Comedy, wrote several volumes of children's poetry, pursued etymology, contributed to the Saturday Review as a columnist and long-time poetry editor, and...
, Bernard DeVoto
Bernard DeVoto
Bernard Augustine DeVoto was an American historian and author who specialized in the history of the American West.- Life and work :He was born in Ogden, Utah...
, Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, John Gardner, Richard Gehman
Richard Gehman
Richard Boyd Gehman born 20 May 1921 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania died 12 May 1972 was a prolific American author of 3,000 magazine articles , five novels and fifteen nonfiction books...
, Donald Hall
Donald Hall
Donald Hall is an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2006.-Personal life:...
, John Irving
John Irving
John Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
, Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson was an American author. A popular writer in her time, her work has received increasing attention from literary critics in recent years...
, Barry Lopez
Barry Lopez
Barry Holstun Lopez is an American author, essayist, and fiction writer whose work is known for its environmental and social concerns.-Biography:...
, Robie Macauley
Robie Macauley
Robie Mayhew Macauley was an editor, novelist and critic whose literary career spanned over 50 years.-Early life:...
, Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers
Carson McCullers was an American writer. She wrote novels, short stories, and two plays, as well as essays and some poetry. Her first novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter explores the spiritual isolation of misfits and outcasts of the South...
, Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison
Toni Morrison is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved...
, Linda Pastan
Linda Pastan
Linda Pastan is an American poet of Jewish background. From 1991–1995 she was Poet Laureate of Maryland. She is known for writing short poems that address topics like family life, domesticity, motherhood, the female experience, aging, death, loss and the fear of loss, as well as the...
, May Sarton
May Sarton
May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton , an American poet, novelist, and memoirist.-Biography:...
, Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was an American poet, known for her highly personal, confessional verse. She won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967...
, Eudora Welty
Eudora Welty
Eudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
, and Richard Yates
Richard Yates (novelist)
Richard Yates was an American novelist and short story writer, known for his exploration of mid-20th century life.-Life:...
.
Recent faculty have included Julia Alvarez
Julia Álvarez
Julia Alvarez is a Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Born in New York of Dominican descent, she spent the first ten years of her childhood in the Dominican Republic, until her father's involvement in a political rebellion forced her family to flee the country.Alvarez rose to...
, Andrea Barrett
Andrea Barrett
Andrea Barrett is an American novelist, and short story writer. Her Ship Fever collection of novella and short stories won the National Book Award in 1996...
, Charles Baxter, Linda Bierds
Linda Bierds
Linda Louise Bierds is an American poet and professor of English and creative writing at the University of Washington, where she also received her B.A...
, Robert Boswell
Robert Boswell
-Life:Robert Boswell is the author of eleven books. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, Pushcart Prize Stories, Best Stories from the South, Esquire, Ploughshares, Harvard Review, Colorado Review.He has been faculty at the Bread Loaf...
, Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang
Lan Samantha Chang , born 1965, is an American writer of novels and short stories. She is Professor of English at the University of Iowa and Director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop- Life and career :...
, Ted Conover
Ted Conover
Ted Conover is an American author and journalist. A graduate of Denver's Manual High School and Amherst College and a Marshall Scholar, he is also a distinguished writer-in-residence in the of New York University...
, Mark Doty
Mark Doty
Mark Doty is an American poet and memoirist.-Biography:He was born in Maryville, Tennessee, earned his Bachelor of Arts from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and received his Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Goddard College in Vermont.In 1989, his partner Wally Roberts tested...
, Percival Everett
Percival Everett
Percival Everett is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.-Life:Everett lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife, novelist Danzy Senna and their two sons....
, Lynn Freed, Linda Gregerson
Linda Gregerson
Linda Gregerson is an American poet and member of faculty at the University of Michigan .-Life:Linda Gregerson received a B.A. from Oberlin College in 1971, an M.A. from Northwestern University, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University...
, Patricia Hampl
Patricia Hampl
Patricia Hampl is an American memoirist, writer, lecturer, and educator. She is a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis and is one of the founding members of the Loft Literary Center.-Life:Hampl was...
, Edward Hirsch
Edward Hirsch
Edward Hirsch is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller about reading poetry. He has published eight books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems , which brings together thirty-five years of work. He is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial...
, Brigit Pegeen Kelly
Brigit Pegeen Kelly
Brigit Pegeen Kelly is an award-winning American poet.-Life:She is married to , a poet and fiction writer.She taught at the University of California at Irvine, Purdue University, and Warren Wilson College....
, William Kittredge
William Kittredge
William Kittredge is an American writer from Oregon, United States. He was born in Portland, Oregon, and grew up on a ranch in Southeastern Oregon's Warner Valley in Lake County where he attended school in Adel, Oregon, and later would attend high school in California and Oregon...
, Antonya Nelson
Antonya Nelson
Antonya Nelson is an American author and teacher of creative writing who writes primarily short stories.-Life and education:Antonya Nelson was born January 6, 1961 in Wichita, Kansas....
, Carl Phillips
Carl Phillips
Carl Phillips is an American writer and poet. He is a Professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis....
, Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey
Natasha Trethewey is an American poet who won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her 2006 collection, Native Guard.Trethewey was born in Gulfport, Mississippi. She earned the A.B. in English from the University of Georgia, an M.A. in poetry from Hollins University, and an M.F.A. in poetry from...
, Ellen Bryant Voigt
Ellen Bryant Voigt
Ellen Bryant Voigt is an American poet. She has published six collections of poetry and a collection of craft essays. Her poetry collection Shadow of Heaven was a finalist for the National Book Award and Kyrie was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her poetry has been...
, Daniel Wallace
Daniel Wallace (author)
Daniel Wallace is an American author, best known for his 1998 novel Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, the basis for the Tim Burton film Big Fish. His other books include Ray in Reverse and The Watermelon King...
, and Dean Young
Dean Young (poet)
Dean Young is a contemporary American poet in the poetic lineage of John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, and Kenneth Koch. Often cited as a second-generation New York School poet, Young also derives influence and inspiration from the work of André Breton, Paul Éluard, and the other French Surrealist poets,...
.
The conference is administered by director Michael Collier
Michael Collier (poet)
Michael Robert Collier is an American poet, teacher, creative writing program administrator and editor. He has published five books of original poetry, a translation of Euripedes' Medea, a book of prose pieces about poetry, and has edited three anthologies of poetry. From 2001 to 2004 he was the...
and assistant director Jennifer Grotz
Jennifer Grotz
Jennifer Grotz is an American poet and translator who teaches English and creative writing at the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers and at the University of Rochester, where she is Assistant Professor...
.
Recent Fellows at the Conference have included Christopher Castellani
Christopher Castellani
Christopher David Castellani is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, A Kiss from Maddalena and The Saint of Lost Things...
, Geri Doran
Geri Doran
Geri Doran was born in Kalispell, Montana in 1966. Doran has attended Vassar College, the University of Cambridge, the University of Florida , and Stanford University, where she held a Wallace Stegner Fellowship in Poetry...
, Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis
Thomas Sayers Ellis is a poet, photographer, and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York, and a core faculty member of the Lesley University Low Residency MFA Program in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
, Ilya Kaminsky
Ilya Kaminsky
Ilya Kaminsky is a Russian-American poet, critic, translator and professor. He began to write poetry seriously as a teenager in Odessa, publishing a chapbook in Russian entitled The Blessed City. His first published poetry collection in English was a chapbook, Musica Humana...
, Suji Kwock Kim
Suji Kwock Kim
-Life:She graduated from Yale College; the Iowa Writers' Workshop; Seoul National University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar; and Stanford University, where she was a Stegner Fellow....
, Naeem Murr
Naeem Murr
Naeem Murr is a British-born novelist and short story writer of Lebanese descent. He is the author of three novels acclaimed for their dark portraiture and stark, original prose...
, Peter Orner
Peter Orner
Peter Orner is an American writer of fiction. He is the author of the novels Love and Shame and Love and The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo and the short story collection Esther Stories...
, Eric Puchner
Eric Puchner
-Life:His short stories have appeared in Chicago Tribune, The Sun, The Missouri Review, and Best New American Voices. He was a fellow at Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.He attended Chadwick School high school...
, Richard Siken
Richard Siken
Richard Siken is an American poet. He is the author of a collection of poetry, Crush, which won the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 2004, and is the editor of spork literary magazine...
, Monique Truong
Monique Truong
Monique T.D. Truong is a Vietnamese American writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Truong left Vietnam for the United States in 1975 and graduated from high school in Houston, Texas...
, Vendela Vida
Vendela Vida
Vendela Vida is an American novelist, journalist, and editor who lives in the Bay Area.-Books:Vida has written four books....
, and C. Dale Young
C. Dale Young
C. Dale Young is an American poet and writer, physician, editor and educator.-Life:Young writes and publishes poetry and short stories, practices medicine full-time, edits poetry for New England Review, and teaches in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers...
.
Middlebury Interactive Languages (MIL)
In June 2010, Middlebury announced that it had a 40% stake in a joint-venture with K12 Inc.K12 Inc.
K12 Inc. is a technology-based education company that offers curriculum and educational services for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.- History :...
to build online language software. The initial release will be of Spanish and French, level one, aimed at high school students.
Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy (MMLA)
Middlebury also offers summer language immersion programs in Arabic, ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
to middle and high school students through the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy. MMLA builds on the international expertise of both Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute of International Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is a graduate school of Middlebury College, located in Monterey, California, United States...
and adapts the Middlebury College Language Schools
Middlebury College Language Schools
The Middlebury College Language Schools, started with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in 10 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The Schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The...
immersion-based learning with a curriculum and activities developed specifically for students entering grades 7–12. The MMLA
Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy
The Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy is a summer language immersion program for pre-college students. Founded in 2008 by Middlebury College and its graduate school, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, MMLA convenes on college campuses in the United States...
has sites at Green Mountain College
Green Mountain College
Green Mountain College is a coeducational private environmental liberal arts college located in Poultney, Vermont, in the USA.Green Mountain is located in the Vermont countryside, at the foot of the Taconic Mountains between the Green Mountains and Adirondacks.The College has a core set of courses...
, Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University
Roger Williams University, commonly abbreviated as RWU, is a private, coeducational American liberal arts university located on in Bristol, Rhode Island, above Mt. Hope Bay. Founded in 1956, it was named for theologian and Rhode Island cofounder Roger Williams...
, Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
, Wofford College
Wofford College
Established in 1854 and related to the United Methodist Church, Wofford College is an independent, Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts college of 1,525 students located in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. The historic campus is recognized as a national arboretum and features “The...
, Lewis University
Lewis University
Lewis University is a private Roman Catholic and Lasallian university located in Romeoville, Illinois, United States . The enrollment is currently around 6,800 students...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
, Pomona College
Pomona College
Pomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
, and the University of California-Santa Cruz.
Admissions and financial aid
Middlebury is part of the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission. Applicants to Middlebury must submit standardized test scores, but are given the option of submitting either the SAT I or the ACT. Applicants may also choose to submit 3 SAT Subject tests in lieu of the SAT I or ACT.
Middlebury is a need-blind
Need-blind admission
Need-blind admission is a term in the United States denoting a college admission policy in which the admitting institution does not consider an applicant's financial situation when deciding admission...
institution, meaning it does not consider an applicant's financial situation when making an admission decision. The college meets 100% of all admitted students' demonstrated financial need. As a result of the financial crisis, Middlebury has altered its need-blind policy for international students. Beginning with the 2008–2009 academic year, the College admits international students on a need-blind basis only to the extent that resources permit. The College continues to meet the full demonstrated need of all admitted international students.
Middlebury combines tuition, room, and board into one comprehensive fee which is $53,420 for the 2011–2012 academic year.
September and February admissions programs
Middlebury enrolls around 580 students to begin in the fall semester and an additional 100 to begin in the spring. Those accepted for the fall admissions program begin the academic year in September and are referred to as "Regs." Those accepted for the spring admissions program begin the academic year in February and are referred to as "Febs." Students accepted to the Feb program use the fall semester to travel, volunteer, enroll at other universities, or work. Febs graduate in the annual mid-year commencement at the Middlebury College Snow BowlMiddlebury College Snow Bowl
The Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a ski area in Hancock, Vermont, east of Middlebury in the Green Mountains. The site has been owned and operated by Middlebury College since its first trails were cut in 1934. The Snow Bowl has 17 trails and 3 lifts, offering access to more than of terrain...
.
Rankings
U.S. News and World Report ranks Middlebury as the 5th-best liberal arts college in the U.S. and classifies it as "most selective." U.S. News and World Report also named Middlebury 4th in the nation for "colleges most beloved by their alumni."According to the Wall Street Journal, Middlebury is one of the top "feeder schools" to elite graduate business, medical, and law schools.
The 2011 Princeton Review ranks the College #3 for "professors get high marks;" #4 for "school runs like butter;" #6 for "best quality of life," "most popular study abroad program," and "students study the most;" #12 for "best career services;" #13 for "best campus food;" #15 for "best classroom experience" and "dorms like palaces;" and #18 for "best athletic facilities." The Princeton Review includes Middlebury on its "colleges with a conscience" list as well as on its "Green Honor Roll."
Middlebury is also listed along with Swarthmore College, Duke University, and Amherst College, as one of Unigo's top 11 "New 2011 Ivies."
The 2011 Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
college rankings listed Middlebury as #23 of the "Most desirable schools in America," #5 of the "Most desirable rural schools," and #9 of the "Most desirable small schools."
Forbes Magazine, in its 2010 rankings of all universities and colleges in the United States, ranked Middlebury at #26.
Middlebury is ranked third among all colleges and universities in the nation according to the sixth annual report by the National Collegiate Scouting Association which ranks colleges based on student-athlete graduation rates, academic strength, and athletic prowess.
Campus
Main campus
"If anyone had told me that gray stone boxes set in lawns could be so beautiful, I would have said they were crazy. Middlebury looks like what everyone thinks an American campus should be but seldom is." |
| Robert Venturi Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major figures in the architecture of the twentieth century... , American postmodern architect |
The 350 acre (1.4 km²) main campus is located in the Champlain Valley
Champlain Valley
The Champlain Valley is a region of the United States around Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York extending slightly into Quebec, Canada as part of the St. Lawrence River drainage basin drained northward by the Richelieu River into the St...
between Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
's Green Mountains to the east and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Adirondack Mountains
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
to the west. The campus is situated on a hill to the west of the village of Middlebury
Middlebury (town), Vermont
Middlebury is a town in and the shire town of Addison County, Vermont, United States. The population was 8,496 at the 2010 census. Middlebury is home to both Middlebury College and the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History.-History:...
, a traditional New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
village centered on Otter Creek Falls.
Middlebury's campus is characterized by quads and open spaces, views of the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks, and historic granite, marble, and limestone buildings. Old Stone Row, consisting of the three oldest buildings on campus — Old Chapel, Painter Hall, and Starr Hall — is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. Painter Hall, constructed in 1815, is the oldest extant college building in Vermont. Emma Willard House
Emma Willard House
The Emma Willard House was a home of Emma Willard, an influential pioneer in the development of women's education in the United States. It was known as the Middlebury Female Seminary when Emma Willard established a school for girls at her home in 1814...
, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
, hosts the admissions office.
The campus is known affectionately to students, faculty, and alumni as "Club Midd" because of its bucolic setting and the quality of its recreational and residential facilities.
Commons system
Since the mid-1990s, student housing has been grouped into five residential Commons: AtwaterJeremiah Atwater
Jeremiah Atwater was notable as an educator, minister, and college president. Atwater became principal of the Addison County Grammar School in 1799 and, a year later, when the school became Middlebury College, assumed the role of its first president...
, Brainerd
Ezra Brainerd
Ezra Brainerd was president of Middlebury College from 1885 until 1908.Born in St. Albans, Vermont, Brainerd was a graduate of the college in 1864. Brainerd assumed the presidency at a time when the college was recovering from an extended period of hardship...
, Cook, Ross, and Wonnacott. All are named for illustrious college figures. The creation of the Commons, which remains controversial among students, accompanied an increase in the size of the student body and an ambitious building campaign.
Recently completed projects
John McCardell, Jr.
John McCardell, Jr.
John Malcolm McCardell, Jr. is the Vice Chancellor of The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and the president emeritus and a professor of history at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. He retired as president in June, 2004, after serving thirteen years as the fifteenth...
Bicentennial Hall, a multidisciplinary science facility built to house the Biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
, Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and Biochemistry
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
, Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
, Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, and Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
departments as well as the Environmental Studies
Environmental studies
Environmental studies is the academic field which systematically studies human interaction with the environment. It is a broad interdisciplinary field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them...
, Neuroscience
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
, and Molecular Biology
Molecular biology
Molecular biology is the branch of biology that deals with the molecular basis of biological activity. This field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry...
programs (1999) Davis Family Library (2004)
- Two AtwaterJeremiah AtwaterJeremiah Atwater was notable as an educator, minister, and college president. Atwater became principal of the Addison County Grammar School in 1799 and, a year later, when the school became Middlebury College, assumed the role of its first president...
Commons Residence Halls (2004) - AtwaterJeremiah AtwaterJeremiah Atwater was notable as an educator, minister, and college president. Atwater became principal of the Addison County Grammar School in 1799 and, a year later, when the school became Middlebury College, assumed the role of its first president...
Dining Hall (2005) - Hillcrest Environmental Center, an Italianate-style farmhouse constructed around 1874, has been renovated to provide a home for the environmental studies program according to LEEDLeadership in Energy and Environmental DesignLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design consists of a suite of rating systems for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, homes and neighborhoods....
standards (2007) - Starr Library, a Beaux-Arts edifice completed in 1900, now hosts the Donald Everett Axinn '51 Center for Literary and Cultural Studies at Starr Library after significant restoration of interior spaces and the addition of two wings for faculty offices, lecture halls, and a video production studio (2008)
Public art on campus
In the fall of 1994 the President and Board of Trustees of Middlebury College adopted a “One Percent for Art” policy. This decision set aside one percent of the cost of any renovation or new construction at the College for the purchase, installation, maintenance, and interpretation of works of art publicly displayed on campus. There are 19 works in Middlebury's campus public art collection, including FrisbeeFrisbee (sculpture)
Frisbee, is a public artwork by American artist Patrick Villiers Farrow, located on the Middlebury College campus center green, in front of Monroe Hall in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. The overall dimensions of this bronze sculpture are tall, long, and wide. It is attached to an...
, Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI
Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI (sculpture)
Two Open Rectangles, Excentric, Variation VI, is a public artwork by American artist George Rickey, located on the Middlebury College campus, outside of the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Building, in Middlebury, Vermont, United States...
, and a version of Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement.-Life and work:Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana. His family relocated to Indianapolis, where he graduated from Arsenal Technical High School...
's Love
LOVE (Sculpture)
LOVE is a sculpture by American artist Robert Indiana. It consists of the letters LO over the letters VE.The image was originally designed as a Christmas card for the Museum of Modern Art in 1964...
series. The collection also includes works by Tony Smith
Tony Smith (sculptor)
Tony Smith was an American sculptor, visual artist, architectural designer, and a noted theorist on art. He is often cited as a pioneering figure in American Minimalist sculpture.-Education:...
, Clement Meadmore
Clement Meadmore
Clement Meadmore was an Australian-American sculptor known for massive outdoor steel sculptures.-Biography:...
, and Jonathan Borofsky
Jonathan Borofsky
Jonathan Borofsky is an American sculptor and printmaker who lives and works in Maine.Borofsky was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in 1964, after which he continued his studies at France's Ecole de Fontainebleau and received his...
.
Bread Loaf Mountain Campus
The 1,800 acre (7.3 km²) Bread Loaf MountainBread Loaf Mountain (Vermont)
Bread Loaf Mountain is a mountain located in Addison County, Vermont, in the Green Mountain National Forest. The mountain is part of the central Green Mountains...
campus hosts the college's Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
every summer.
Middlebury owns the Robert Frost Farm, where American poet Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
lived and wrote in the summer and fall months from 1939 until his death in 1963. This National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
occupies 150 acre (0.607029 km²) adjacent to the Bread Loaf campus.
Middlebury College Snow Bowl
The mountain campus is the site of the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, the College-owned ski mountain, and the Carroll and Jane Rikert Ski Touring Center. Along with the Dartmouth SkiwayDartmouth Skiway
The Dartmouth Skiway is a ski area located about twenty minutes north of Dartmouth College in Lyme, New Hampshire. It has thirty trails from easiest to most difficult on over 100 acres of skiable area....
, the Snow Bowl is one of two remaining college-owned ski areas in the eastern United States. A volunteer ski patrol
Ski patrol
A Ski Patrol is an organization that provides Emergency Medical and rescue services to skiers and participants of other snow sports, either at a ski area or in a back country setting. Patrollers are trained in Basic or Advanced Life Support to stabilize and transport patients to definitive care,...
, staffed by students, provides on-mountain medical services. Members are certified as Outdoor Emergency Care
Outdoor Emergency Care
Outdoor Emergency Care is an award winning course that was first developed by the National Ski Patrol in the 1980s for certification in first aid, CPR and other pre-hospital care and treatment for possible injuries in non-urban settings...
technicians and trained in first aid, chairlift evacuation, and toboggan handling.
The Middlebury College Snow Bowl is host to ski races during the annual Middlebury Winter Carnival as well as the February mid-year graduation.
Sustainability
The college is a signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and the Talloires Declaration
Talloires Declaration
The Talloires Declaration is a declaration for sustainability, created for and by presidents of institutions of higher learning. Jean Mayer, Tufts University president, convened a conference of 22 universities in 1990 in Talloires, France...
. Additionally, the college has committed to be carbon neutral by 2016. Middlebury was one of only six universities to receive a grade of “A-” from the Sustainable Endowments Institute on its College Sustainability Report Card 2008, the highest grade awarded.
In the 2008–2009 academic year, Middlebury College opened a new state-of-the-art biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
plant on campus that is estimated to cut the College's carbon dioxide output by 40 percent and reduce its use of fuel oil by 50 percent.
In 2010, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund , , is an international philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was set up in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle of the five famous Rockefeller brothers: John D...
and Middlebury College announced the creation of the Sustainable Investments Initiative, a co-mingled fiscal vehicle seeking investments that generate long-term social, environmental, and economic value. The Initiative will seek investments focused specifically on sustainability issues such as clean energy, water, climate science, and green building projects, in an effort to identify businesses positioned to become a part of the worldwide shift to improve energy efficiency, decrease dependence on fossil fuels, and mitigate the effects of global climate change.
Also in 2010, Middlebury College and Integrated Energy Solutions, a Vermont developer of farm-based methane energy, agreed to explore a bio-methane gas collection and delivery system that could help Middlebury further reduce its use of fossil fuels. Middlebury has agreed to purchase bio-methane gas from IES over a 10-year period, with the agreement contingent on the college raising money to build storage facilities for the gas on campus and retrofit its current heating plant to burn the new fuel.
Student life
The 2011 Princeton Review ranks Middlebury #6 in the US for "best quality of life."Student organizations
There are over 140 registered student organizations at Middlebury. Students register for organizations of interest during the Fall Activities Fair in September.Traditions
Outdoor orientation
Middlebury Outdoor Programs organizes outdoor orientations for incoming students in September and February. These orientations involve several days of hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, snowshoeing, and other activities in the wilderness around Middlebury."Feb" graduation
Middlebury offers a mid-year graduation for those students who complete coursework at the end of January. These students are usually "Febs," students who began their Middlebury careers as February first-years. The mid-year graduation tradition is for all graduating seniors to ski down the Middlebury College Snow BowlMiddlebury College Snow Bowl
The Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a ski area in Hancock, Vermont, east of Middlebury in the Green Mountains. The site has been owned and operated by Middlebury College since its first trails were cut in 1934. The Snow Bowl has 17 trails and 3 lifts, offering access to more than of terrain...
in their caps and gowns to receive their diplomas.
Winter Carnival
Middlebury's Winter Carnival is the oldest student-run winter carnival in the country, started in 1923. The Winter Carnival is a weekend-long event and traditionally includes a bonfire and fireworks on the opening night, ski races at the Middlebury College Snow BowlMiddlebury College Snow Bowl
The Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a ski area in Hancock, Vermont, east of Middlebury in the Green Mountains. The site has been owned and operated by Middlebury College since its first trails were cut in 1934. The Snow Bowl has 17 trails and 3 lifts, offering access to more than of terrain...
on Friday and Saturday, and the Winter Ball on Saturday night.
The Middlebury Campus
The Middlebury Campus is the student weekly of Middlebury College. The Campus was founded in 1900 and employs a 100% student staff.WRMC-FM
WRMC-FM 91.1 is the student-volunteer-run radio station of Middlebury. WRMC broadcasts a variety of content types, including talk, news, and radio drama, although the vast majority of the schedule is music of all genres.WRMC also organized Middlebury's annual music festival called Sepomana. Recent acts have included Das Racist
Das Racist
Das Racist is an alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, New York City, composed of MCs Himanshu Suri , and Victor Vazquez and hype man Ashok Kondabolu...
, Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
, Animal Collective
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...
, The Decemberists
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an indie folk rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. The other members of the band are Chris Funk , Jenny Conlee , Nate Query , and John Moen .The band's...
, and Ratatat
Ratatat
Ratatat is a New York City electronic music duo consisting of Mike Stroud and producer Evan Mast .-History:Evan Mast and Mike Stroud first met as students at Skidmore College, but they did not work together until 2001, when they recorded several songs under the name "Cherry"...
among others.
New England Review
The New England Review (NER) is a quarterly literary journal published by Middlebury College. Founded in New Hampshire in 1978 by poet, novelist, editor and professor Sydney LeaSydney Lea
Sydney Lea is an American poet, novelist, essayist, editor, and professor. His most recent book is A Little Wildness: Some Notes on Rambling , and he has a ninth collection of poetry, Young of the Year, forthcoming from Four Way Books...
and poet Jay Parini
Jay Parini
Jay Parini is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels and poetry, biography and criticism.He was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and brought up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1970 and was awarded a doctorate by the University of St. Andrews in 1975...
, it was published as New England Review & Bread Loaf Quarterly from 1982 (when it moved to Middlebury College), until 1991 as a formal division of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
. In 1991, the magazine reverted to its original name, New England Review, and opted to have only informal ties with the Writers' Conference.
NER publishes poetry, fiction, translations, and a wide variety of non-fiction in each issue. NER consistently publishes work from established writers as well as work from up-and-coming new writers. It has published work by many who have gone on to win major awards such as the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
, the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
, and the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
.
Athletics
New England Small College Athletic Conference
The New England Small College Athletic Conference is an NCAA Division III athletic conference, consisting of eleven highly selective liberal arts colleges and universities located in New England and New York...
. The Middlebury College Panthers
Middlebury College Panthers
The Middlebury Panthers are the 31 varsity teams of Middlebury College that compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The Panthers lead the NESCAC in total number of National Championships, having won 33 individual titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play in 1994...
lead the NESCAC in total number of National Championships, having won 33 individual titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play in 1994. Middlebury enjoys national success in soccer, tennis, cross country running, lacrosse, ice hockey, field hockey, and skiing, and fields 31 varsity NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
teams and several competitive club teams. Since 2000, Middlebury's varsity squads have won 54 NESCAC titles. Currently, 28% of students participate in varsity sports.
In the early 20th century, Middlebury's traditional athletic rivals included the University of Vermont
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont comprises seven undergraduate schools, an honors college, a graduate college, and a college of medicine. The Honors College does not offer its own degrees; students in the Honors College concurrently enroll in one of the university's seven undergraduate colleges or...
and Norwich University
Norwich University
Norwich University is a private university located in Northfield, Vermont . The university was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. It is the oldest of six Senior Military Colleges, and is recognized by the United States Department of...
. Today, rivalries vary by sport. In football, Middlebury's rival is Hamilton College, as NESCAC no longer allows out-of-conference football competition. Since 1980, the annual game between Hamilton and Middlebury is designated the Rocking Chair Classic, with the winning team keeping the Mac-Jack Rocking Chair for the following year.
Notable achievements
- Middlebury alumni have competed in downhill or Nordic skiing events in every Winter Olympic GamesWinter Olympic GamesThe Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
since World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... - From April 1997 until the NCAA Division III Semi-finals in March 2004, the Men's Lacrosse team had a 45 game winning streak at home.
- From 2004 to 2006, both the men'sNCAA Men's Ice Hockey ChampionshipThe annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III. The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known...
and women's ice hockey teams won three consecutive NCAA Division III National Championships, an unprecedented feat for a college at any level. - In 2007 and 2009, the Middlebury College Rugby ClubMiddlebury College Rugby ClubMiddlebury College Rugby Club is the division I rugby union team of Middlebury College, located in Middlebury, Vermont. Also known as The MCRC, the club competes in the New England Rugby Football Union.- Officers :...
won Division II USA RugbyUSA RugbyUSA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. It is divided into seven territorial Unions: Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, Northeast, Pacific Coast, Southern California, South, and West...
Championships. The Middlebury College rugby team was promoted in 2011 to Division I. - In 2010, two Middlebury Alumni, Garrott KuzzyGarrott KuzzyGarrott Kuzzy is an American cross country skier who has competed since 2001. His best individual World Cup finish was ninth in an individual sprint event in Canada in 2008....
'06 and Simi HamiltonSimi HamiltonSimeon "Simi" Hamilton is an American cross country skier who has competed since 2000. Hamilton attended Middlebury College from 2005-2009, during which time he competed for its ski team, individually earning several All-American NCAA Championship results. It was announced on 29 January 2010 that...
'09, represented the United States in Nordic Skiing at the 2010 Winter Olympics2010 Winter OlympicsThe 2010 Winter Olympics, officially the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21st Winter Olympics, were a major international multi-sport event held from February 12–28, 2010, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with some events held in the suburbs of Richmond, West Vancouver and the University...
in Vancouver.
National Championships
- Men's Hockey (8)NCAA Men's Ice Hockey ChampionshipThe annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III. The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known...
-1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006
- Women's Cross Country (6)NCAA Women's Cross Country ChampionshipEach autumn, beginning in 1981, the National Collegiate Athletic Association has hosted women's cross country championships for each of its three divisions...
-2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010
- Women's Hockey (5)-2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006
- Women's Lacrosse (5)NCAA Women's Lacrosse ChampionshipThe annual NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the top women's lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III....
-1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004
- Men's Lacrosse (3)NCAA Men's Lacrosse ChampionshipThe annual NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the top men's field lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III....
-2000, 2001, 2002
- Men's Tennis (2)NCAA Men's Tennis ChampionshipThe NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...
-2004, 2010
- Men's Rugby (2)-2007, 2009
- Men's Soccer (1)NCAA Men's Division III Soccer ChampionshipThe NCAA Division III Men's Soccer Championship is played since 1974.It is the largest of the three NCAA divisions' championships, with the most complicated selection process. The tournament is a 57-team, single-elimination tournament. Teams are divided into three pools. Pool A consists of the 36...
-2007
- Field Hockey (1)NCAA Women's Field Hockey ChampionshipTwelve women's sports were added to the NCAA championship program for the 1981-82 school year. The first national championship events were staged November 21-November 22, 1981, in cross country and field hockey.-Division I:-Division II:-Division III:...
-1998
Facilities
Middlebury's athletic facilities include:
- 50-meter by 25 yards (22.9 m) Olympic-size swimming pool
- 3,500-seat Youngman Field at Alumni StadiumYoungman Field at Alumni StadiumYoungman Field at Alumni Stadium is a 3,500-capacity multi-use stadium in Middlebury, Vermont on the campus of the NCAA Division III-affiliated Middlebury College...
for football and lacrosse - 2,600 spectator hockey arena
- 5,000 spectator natatorium
- Regulation rugby pitch
- Middlebury College Snow BowlMiddlebury College Snow BowlThe Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a ski area in Hancock, Vermont, east of Middlebury in the Green Mountains. The site has been owned and operated by Middlebury College since its first trails were cut in 1934. The Snow Bowl has 17 trails and 3 lifts, offering access to more than of terrain...
, the college-owned ski mountain - 18-hole Ralph Myhre golf course
- Carroll and Jane Rikert Ski Touring Center at the Bread Loaf MountainBread Loaf Mountain (Vermont)Bread Loaf Mountain is a mountain located in Addison County, Vermont, in the Green Mountain National Forest. The mountain is part of the central Green Mountains...
campus - Fitness Center
- Allan Dragone Track and Field Complex
- Pepin gymnasium, home of the men's and women's' basketball and volleyball teams
- Field Turf men's soccer field
- Indoor and outdoor tennis courts, paddle tennis courts, squash courts
- Rock climbing wall
Notable alumni
- US Supreme Court Justice Samuel NelsonSamuel NelsonSamuel Nelson was an American attorney and an Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States....
(1813) - First African American college graduate Alexander TwilightAlexander TwilightAlexander Lucius Twilight , born free in Vermont, was the first black person known to have earned a bachelor's degree from an American college or university upon graduating Middlebury College in 1823. An educator, minister and politician, he was licensed as a Congregational preacher, and worked in...
(1823) - Principal inventor of the GPSGlobal Positioning SystemThe Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
Roger L. EastonRoger L. EastonRoger L. Easton is an American scientist. He is the principal inventor and designer of the Global Positioning System . In 1955, Easton co-wrote the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard proposal for a U.S. satellite program in competition with two other proposals, including a proposal from...
(1943) - Managing Director of Lazard Freres & US Ambassador to FranceUnited States Ambassador to FranceThis article is about the United States Ambassador to France. There has been a United States Ambassador to France since the American Revolution. The United States sent its first envoys to France in 1776, towards the end of the four-centuries-old Bourbon dynasty...
-Felix RohatynFelix RohatynFelix George Rohatyn is an American investment banker known for his role in preventing the bankruptcy of New York City in the 1970s, who also served as United States Ambassador to France. He was a long term advisor to the U.S...
(1949) - US Secretary of CommerceUnited States Secretary of CommerceThe United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
Ron BrownRon Brown (U.S. politician)Ronald Harmon "Ron" Brown was the United States Secretary of Commerce, serving during the first term of President Bill Clinton. He was the first African American to hold this position...
(1962) - The Vagina MonologuesThe Vagina MonologuesThe Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...
creator Eve EnslerEve EnslerEve Ensler is an American playwright, performer, feminist and activist, best known for her play The Vagina Monologues.- Personal life :...
(1975) - Hedge fundHedge fundA hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
manager Louis BaconLouis BaconLouis Moore Bacon is an American hedge fund manager, trader and founder of Moore Capital Management.-Family and education:Bacon was born in Raleigh, North Carolina; his father, Zachary Bacon Jr., founded Bacon & Co. and led Prudential Financial’s and Merrill Lynch’s real estate efforts in North...
(1979) - White House Press SecretaryWhite House Press SecretaryThe White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
Ari FleischerAri FleischerOn May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector...
(1982) - 17th Prime Minister of GeorgiaPrime Minister of GeorgiaThe Prime Minister of Georgia is the most senior minister within the Cabinet of Georgia, appointed by the President of Georgia. The official title of the Head of the Government of Georgia has varied throughout history, however, the duties and functions of the leader have changed only marginally....
Lado Gurgenidze (1991)
Notable faculty
- Poet Robert FrostRobert FrostRobert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
- Environmentalist Bill McKibbenBill McKibbenWilliam Ernest "Bill" McKibben is an American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College...
- Grammy awardGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning singer François ClemmonsFrançois Clemmons"Dr." François Scarborough Clemmons is an American singer, performer, playwright and university lecturer. He is perhaps best known for his appearances on the PBS television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood throughout the 1970s.-History:Clemmons was born in Alabama, but his family moved to... - Constitutional scholar Murray DryMurray DryMurray Dry is an American political scientist specializing in American constitutional law, American political thought, political philosophy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, federalism, separation of powers, and the American founding. He is perhaps most noted for having helped to compile The...
- Executive in Residence and 80th Governor of VermontGovernor of VermontThe Governor of Vermont is the governor of the U.S. state of Vermont. The governor is elected in even numbered years by direct voting for a term of two years; Vermont and bordering New Hampshire are the only states to hold gubernatorial elections every two years, instead of every four...
Jim DouglasJim DouglasJames H. Douglas is an American politician from the U.S. state of Vermont. A Republican, he was elected the 80th Governor of Vermont in 2002 and was reelected three times with a majority of the vote... - Author of The Last StationThe Last StationThe Last Station is a 2009 biographical drama film directed by Michael Hoffman. It is an adaptation of the 1990 biographical novel of the same name by Jay Parini about the final months of Leo Tolstoy's life. The film stars Christopher Plummer as Tolstoy and Helen Mirren as his wife Sophia Tolstaya...
Jay PariniJay PariniJay Parini is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels and poetry, biography and criticism.He was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and brought up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1970 and was awarded a doctorate by the University of St. Andrews in 1975...
.
Presidents of Middlebury College
- Jeremiah AtwaterJeremiah AtwaterJeremiah Atwater was notable as an educator, minister, and college president. Atwater became principal of the Addison County Grammar School in 1799 and, a year later, when the school became Middlebury College, assumed the role of its first president...
, 1800–1809 - Henry DavisHenry Davis (clergyman)Henry Davis, a clergyman, was born in East Hampton, New York, September 15, 1771. He was the second president of Middlebury College in Vermont, serving from 1809-1818. He later became president of Hamilton College. He died in Clinton, New York, March 9, 1852.-External links:*...
, 1809–1818 - Joshua BatesJoshua BatesJoshua Bates was an American educator and clergyman. He was the third president of Middlebury College.Born in Cohasset, Massachusetts, he was the son of Zealous and Abigail Bates. Bates graduated from Harvard College in 1800. He became a special student in divinity at Phillips Academy, serving as...
, 1818–1840 - Benjamin LabareeBenjamin LabareeBenjamin Labaree was a minister, professor and the longest serving president of Middlebury College from 1840 until 1866. Labaree was born in Charlestown, New Hampshire. He was an 1828 graduate of Dartmouth College as well as a recipient of graduate degrees from the University of Vermont and...
, 1840–1866 - Harvey Denison KitchelHarvey Denison KitchelHarvey Denison Kitchel served as President of Middlebury College from 1866 until 1875.-External links:*...
, 1866–1875 - Calvin Butler HulbertCalvin Butler HulbertCalvin Butler Hulbert was president of Middlebury College from 1875 until 1880. As president, Hulbert suspended the entire student body of the college following a controversy over hazing...
, 1875–1880 - Cyrus HamlinCyrus HamlinCyrus Hamlin was an American Congregational missionary and educator, the father of A. D. F. Hamlin....
, 1880–1885 - Ezra BrainerdEzra BrainerdEzra Brainerd was president of Middlebury College from 1885 until 1908.Born in St. Albans, Vermont, Brainerd was a graduate of the college in 1864. Brainerd assumed the presidency at a time when the college was recovering from an extended period of hardship...
, 1885–1908 - John Martin Thomas, 1908–1921
- Paul Dwight MoodyPaul Dwight MoodyPaul Dwight Moody , son of famed evangelical minister Dwight L. Moody, served as pastor at South Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, VT from 1912 to 1917 and as the 10th president of Middlebury College from 1921 until 1943...
, 1921–1943 - Samuel Somerville StrattonSamuel Somerville StrattonSamuel Somerville Stratton served as the eleventh president of Middlebury College, 1943 - 1963.Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, he was a graduate of Newburyport High School in Newburyport, Massachusetts and Dartmouth College, graduating in 1920 after naval service in World War I. He received an M.A....
, 1943–1963 - James Isbell ArmstrongJames Isbell ArmstrongJames Isbell Armstrong is President Emeritus of Middlebury College. Armstrong was appointed as Middlebury's 12th president in 1963 and served until 1975. Armstrong graduated from Princeton University in 1941 and completed his Ph.D. there in 1949...
, 1963–1975 - Olin Clyde RobisonOlin Clyde RobisonOlin Clyde Robison served as the thirteenth president of Middlebury College, 1975-1990.A native of Anacoco, Louisiana, Robison studied at Baylor University and Southwestern Theological Seminary, and received a D. Phil. from Oxford in 1963. He held various positions in the Johnson administration,...
, 1975–1990 - Timothy LightTimothy LightTimothy Light was the fourteenth president of Middlebury College, 1990-1991.A native of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Light is a scholar in East Asian languages and literature...
, 1990–1991 - John Malcolm McCardell, Jr., 1991–2004
- Ronald D. LiebowitzRonald D. LiebowitzRonald D. Liebowitz is the current president of Middlebury College, and a professor of geography. He was named the College's sixteenth president in April 2004, succeeding John McCardell, Jr. on July 1, 2004....
, 2004–Present
Middlebury in popular culture
- Moe'N'a LisaMoe'N'a Lisa"Moe'n'a Lisa" is the sixth episode of the The Simpsons eighteenth season, and first aired on November 19, 2006. Lisa aides Moe in discovering his inner-poet and he gains swift popularity and recognition from a group of successful American authors, when Lisa helps to get his poetry published...
– episode of The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
based on Middlebury's Bread Loaf Writers' ConferenceBread Loaf Writers' ConferenceThe Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
. - Snake Jailbird – Fictional character and criminal on the animated television series The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
who repaid his Middlebury College student loans after robbing Springfield landmark Moe's Tavern. Voiced by Hank AzariaHank AzariaHenry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
. - Brenda Cushman, Elise Elliot, and Annie Paradis – The three main characters in Olivia GoldsmithOlivia GoldsmithOlivia Goldsmith was an American author, best known for her first novel The First Wives Club , which was adapted into the movie The First Wives Club .-Biography:...
's first novel The First Wives ClubThe First Wives ClubThe First Wives Club is a 1996 comedy film, based on the best-selling 1992 novel of the same name by Olivia Goldsmith. Narrated by Diane Keaton, it stars Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler as three divorced women who seek revenge on their husbands who left them for younger women...
(1992). The women, who in the novel met while students at Middlebury College (class of 1969), were portrayed by Bette MidlerBette MidlerBette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
, Goldie HawnGoldie HawnGoldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
, and Diane KeatonDiane KeatonDiane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
in the 1996 film adaptation. - Mr. Wolfe – A teacher in George LucasGeorge LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
' 1973 film American GraffitiAmerican GraffitiAmerican Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...
. The character, played by Terry McGovernTerry McGovern (actor)Terence "Terry" McGovern is an American film actor, television broadcaster, radio personality, voice-over specialist, and acting instructor.-Personal life:...
, is a confidant of Curt Henderson's, played by Richard DreyfussRichard DreyfussRichard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
. In their one conversations together, Mr. Wolfe tells Curt that he "got drunk as hell the night before" going to college, and that he "barfed on the train all next day." When Curt asks him where he went to school, Mr. Wolfe replies, "Middlebury, Vermont... On a scholarship... [I stayed only] one semester. After all that, I came back here... I guess I just wasn't the competitive type." - In the sitcom 30 Rock30 Rock30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
, Alan Alda's character teaches at Bennington CollegeBennington CollegeBennington College is a liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont, USA. The college was founded in 1932 as a women's college and became co-educational in 1969.-History:-Early years:...
, which Alec Baldwin's character quips, is for kids who "couldn't get into Middlebury." - Willie GillisWillie GillisWillie Gillis, Jr. is a fictional character created by Norman Rockwell for a series of World War II paintings that appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post . A fictional private, he appeared on a total of eleven Post covers...
– fictional character created by Norman RockwellNorman RockwellNorman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
for a series of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
paintings featured on the covers of The Saturday Evening PostThe Saturday Evening PostThe Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. It was published weekly under this title from 1897 until 1969, and quarterly and then bimonthly from 1971.-History:...
. In the final painting, Willie Gillis in College, Willie sits studying in a window framing Middlebury's Old Chapel. - Jeopardy!Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
– The April 12, 2010, episode of the quiz show Jeopardy! featured the College in the Final Jeopardy clue: "In 2008, Middlebury College in Vermont won its 2nd straight championship in this sport introduced in a 1997 novel." The correct response was QuidditchQuidditchQuidditch is a fictional sport developed by British author J. K. Rowling for the Harry Potter series of novels. It is described as an extremely rough, but very popular, semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world...
. - Ruth Cole, the main character of John IrvingJohn IrvingJohn Winslow Irving is an American novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter.Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of The World According to Garp in 1978...
's best-selling novel A Widow for One YearA Widow for One YearA Widow for One Year is a 1998 bestselling work of fiction by John Irving, the ninth of his novels to be published.The first section of the novel was made into the movie The Door in the Floor in 2004.-First section:...
, attended Middlebury College.
See also
- Bread Loaf MountainBread Loaf Mountain (Vermont)Bread Loaf Mountain is a mountain located in Addison County, Vermont, in the Green Mountain National Forest. The mountain is part of the central Green Mountains...
- Bread Loaf School of EnglishBread Loaf School of EnglishThe Bread Loaf School of English is the graduate school of English at Middlebury College. The School offers graduate courses in literature, creative writing, the teaching of writing, and theater. Classes are held for six weeks each summer. The School awards two degrees...
- Bread Loaf Writers' ConferenceBread Loaf Writers' ConferenceThe Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
- C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools AbroadC.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools AbroadThe C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, operated by Middlebury College in 16 countries across 5 continents, offer overseas academic programs for undergraduates from various U.S. institutions, as well as graduate-level programs for students from Middlebury College’s Language Schools and the...
- DispatchDispatch (band)Dispatch is an American indie/roots band. The band consists of Brad Corrigan , Pete Francis Heimbold , and Chad Urmston ....
- Dissipated EightDissipated EightMiddlebury's Dissipated Eight, also known as the D8, is the oldest a cappella group at Middlebury College. The group performs both nationally and internationally, at private venues, colleges, and high schools alike. Over the years, the group has arranged numerous contemporary and modern pieces, and...
, a cappella ensemble - Doctor of Modern LanguagesDoctor of Modern LanguagesThe Doctor of Modern Languages degree , like other doctorates, is an academic degree of the highest level. It is similar to the Ph.D. and the Doctor of Arts degree in Foreign Languages....
(D.M.L.) - Emma Willard HouseEmma Willard HouseThe Emma Willard House was a home of Emma Willard, an influential pioneer in the development of women's education in the United States. It was known as the Middlebury Female Seminary when Emma Willard established a school for girls at her home in 1814...
- Frisbee (sculpture)Frisbee (sculpture)Frisbee, is a public artwork by American artist Patrick Villiers Farrow, located on the Middlebury College campus center green, in front of Monroe Hall in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. The overall dimensions of this bronze sculpture are tall, long, and wide. It is attached to an...
- List of Middlebury College alumni
- List of Middlebury College faculty
- Middlebury College Language SchoolsMiddlebury College Language SchoolsThe Middlebury College Language Schools, started with the establishment of the School of German in 1915, offer intensive undergraduate and graduate-level instruction in 10 languages during six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The Schools enroll about 1,350 students every summer. The...
- Middlebury College PanthersMiddlebury College PanthersThe Middlebury Panthers are the 31 varsity teams of Middlebury College that compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The Panthers lead the NESCAC in total number of National Championships, having won 33 individual titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play in 1994...
- Middlebury College Rugby ClubMiddlebury College Rugby ClubMiddlebury College Rugby Club is the division I rugby union team of Middlebury College, located in Middlebury, Vermont. Also known as The MCRC, the club competes in the New England Rugby Football Union.- Officers :...
- Middlebury College Snow BowlMiddlebury College Snow BowlThe Middlebury College Snow Bowl is a ski area in Hancock, Vermont, east of Middlebury in the Green Mountains. The site has been owned and operated by Middlebury College since its first trails were cut in 1934. The Snow Bowl has 17 trails and 3 lifts, offering access to more than of terrain...
- Middlebury-Monterey Language AcademyMiddlebury-Monterey Language AcademyThe Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy is a summer language immersion program for pre-college students. Founded in 2008 by Middlebury College and its graduate school, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, MMLA convenes on college campuses in the United States...
- Monterey Institute of International StudiesMonterey Institute of International StudiesThe Monterey Institute of International Studies is a graduate school of Middlebury College, located in Monterey, California, United States...
- New England ReviewNew England ReviewThe New England Review is a quarterly literary magazine published by Middlebury College. Founded in New Hampshire in 1978 by poet, novelist, editor and professor Sydney Lea and poet Jay Parini, it was published as New England Review & Bread Loaf Quarterly from 1982 , until 1991 as a formal...
- Robert Frost Farm
- Shelby Davis ScholarshipShelby Davis ScholarshipThe Shelby Davis Scholarship is granted to graduates of the United World Colleges to study at universities in the United States. The Davis family's contribution to the United World Colleges, in scholarships and grants for building projects, represents the biggest contribution to international...
- WRMCWRMCWRMC-FM is the full power, student-volunteer-run radio station of Middlebury College. WRMC broadcasts a variety of content types, including talk, news, and radio drama, although the vast majority of the schedule is music of all genres...
, student-run Middlebury radio - Youngman Field at Alumni StadiumYoungman Field at Alumni StadiumYoungman Field at Alumni Stadium is a 3,500-capacity multi-use stadium in Middlebury, Vermont on the campus of the NCAA Division III-affiliated Middlebury College...