- There is a combination of things at Middlebury, we share with maybe one or two other institutions in the United States. A question about what do we call ourselves. Do we call ourselves a college? Of course we do. Do we call ourselves a university, no?
- Middlebury offers the intimacy and connectivity of a small liberal arts college, while having the reach, network, and resources of something like a much larger university.
- [Laurie] You have of course, the College, the jewel at the center. But then we have this constellation of institutions and programs all around us. This global policy incubator that is the Middlebury Institute at Monterey. The literary force of the Bread Loaf School of English, the powerful linguistic institution of our language schools.
- [George] We have a growing network of Schools Abroad. We have done a lot of work to upgrade and enhance Bread Loaf. And then of course, we’ve got the Middlebury Institute in Monterey, which is a whole new domain for the school. So that sense of place maintains a deep significance.
- We do graduate education, not in competition with undergraduate education, but we work in tandem with it. We are making sure that our undergraduate education is something that prepares students for the world, as well as gives them the kind of classical interdisciplinary liberal arts and sciences education.
- [George] Each node of that network can be enhanced by deeper connection to each other. I think it’s really powerful.
- This is going to be the first step.
- That wish to connect is, in my view, very much a a unique part of Middlebury’s spirit.
- I am Roni Lezama, I am from New York City. I study international politics and economics with a minor in education studies. I wanted a community that was tight-knit and small. And I wanted a program that was globally focused. Middlebury is giving us a macro perspective of the world and the tools to understand everything that’s happening at every given moment. It’s allowed me to really think about politics, which was my passion coming into Middlebury, in a global perspective.
- We live in a world that is definitionally more interrelated than it’s ever been. Given the global challenges we face, inspiring a new generation of students to be able to go out and tackle those challenges requires to produce a certain breadth of experience, a breadth of learning that Middlebury can supply.
- I think an expansive education is one that teaches you skills, and at the same time gives you a deeper capacity for exploration that you never lose. And you will also have the confidence to take the long view. You will not be afraid of history, and you will not be afraid of thinking about the future.
- I have been a research assistant for the economics department doing some work on NASA. I also held a research position with the Spanish Department, the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trying to figure out ways to really advance and uplift that work here on campus. I was given the tools to actually think about how can I apply everything that I’ve learned into solving problems of the world.
- The kind of curiosity that you will develop here at Middlebury is something you have for the rest of your life. Curiosity is the thing that keeps us going, in my view. And it’s one of the great gifts of a liberal arts and sciences education.
- [George] This is just a broader place than when I was here. The ambitions of the place are broader, the aperture through which we look at the world is wider.
- One of the things we want to do at Middlebury is create students in the world who are work-ready and world-ready It doesn’t mean that you give up a liberal arts and sciences education, but rather you use it well, you have the breadth of imagination to understand what the changes are that are needed in the world.
- What we deliver to students, the nature of the pedagogy, the nature of the experiences we provide, how we prepare them to tackle the challenges of the futures, that’s just gotta be continually changing, evolving.
- I frequently talk about the fact that higher education is at the crossroads and in the crosshairs of American public life. Issues around the racial reckoning in the United States, the question of what it means to use our freedom of inquiry well, access is a deep public concern. How can the students who have the talent, but not the opportunity come to Middlebury and thrive here?
- [George] I go back to the mission of the school as Laurie has articulated it, which is to prepare students to live consequential, creative lives and to tackle the world’s most compelling challenges.
- I deeply believe in the value of that, and the only way we can get there is to continue to invest in it.
- Every time that there is something going on in the world where there is a community hurting, where there’s an individual hurting, we see a call to action by students. It’s always about what can we do.
- I get to work with and see Middlebury students often, the fact that we can prepare people to address these challenges, I think investing in that is just money extraordinarily well spent.
- Storm water to flow through there.
- Many of us loved our experiences at Middlebury so much that wouldn’t imagine a Middlebury that’s trapped in amber. Middlebury will always have certain essential qualities that evoke those memories, yet I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to contribute to driving Middlebury forward.
- We need that commitment to make sure that we stay at our most vital. There is no other institution that can give us the immersive experience, the global reach, and the transformational relationships that’s at the heart of what Middlebury can offer the 21st century.