Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• If you missed the Narrative Journalism Showcase on Tuesday, you still have a chance to listen to the amazing stories in the “How Did You Get Here?” series on middmag.com. Check out the trailer to get a taste of what’s in store!

• Not only is Sue Halpern the director of the Narrative Journalism Fellowships, she is also the author of A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home: Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher.
  She talked to the folks at the Dish about what surprised her most as she visited nursing homes with her therapy dog, Pransky.

• The Solar Decathlon team is hard at work on its entry for the competition next fall, Insite. Recently the Burlington Free Press highlighted the students as they worked to deconstruct a historic barn so they can repurpose the wood to use as siding for their house. Check their website to stay up to date on their progress!
• The school year is winding down, but some athletic teams are still going strong. Both men’s and women’s tennis won their respective NCAA Regionals and are headed to the NCAA Quarterfinals. The women’s lacrosse team is making its 16th trip to the NCAA Final Four this weekend, and the women’s golf team is competing in the NCAA Championship in Destin, Fla.

• Senior Andrew Ackerman has been working hard on this thesis project and as part of his research, he’s been training in extreme mixed martial arts. Recently he took part in an amateur fight night in Plattsburgh, N.Y., in his first competitive fight ever. And he won!

• Finals begin on Wednesday, so it’s quiet on campus and things to do other than studying are scarce. Downtown, at 51 Main, good music is available as usual with a Blues Jam Wednesday night and Mint Julep on Friday night, performing an ecletic mix of swing and Latin rhythms.

• Artist and photographer Edward Burtynsky is receiving an honorary Doctor of Arts from the College at Commencement on May 26. His exhibit, Nature Transformed, will be on display at the Museum of Art until June 9. If you haven’t seen it yet, you still have a few weeks to check it out!

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Middlebury admissions continue to thrive with a record number of applicants this year. And a record number of admitted students visited campus during Middlebury’s Preview Days last week, enjoying everything from the Spring Student Symposium to a Quidditch demonstration.

• As any NESCAC athletic director can tell you, Middlebury has always had a strong athletics program. Recently the Burlington Free Press pointed out why that is: it has a stellar athletics department with a dedicated and talented staff.

• In keeping with the “stellar” theme, Middlebury’s alums fit right in. Time magazine recently released its 2013 list of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.” In the “Pioneers” section is Middlebury’s own Don Yeomans ’64, asteroid hunter. Read about why you can sleep easy at night, thanks to Don.

• It’s back! The third annual Bach Festival will be held this weekend, April 26–28, featuring guest conductor Martin Pearlman of Boston Baroque. The festival kicks off Friday night with the College choir and chamber orchestra at 8:00 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Activities continue all day Saturday, culminating with the Festival Concert in Mead Chapel at 8:00 p.m. Sunday morning area churches will be adding Bach music to their services. Everything is open to the public and it’s all free, except for the Saturday night concert. Come celebrate the music of Johann Sebastian Bach!

• If jazz is more your thing, the 4:30 Combo will be playing at 51 Main on Thursday night from 8–10:00 p.m. Swing to the music of members of Middlebury’s jazz community!

• Other activities abound over the next few days. On Thursday at 12:30 p.m. the Woodin ES Colloquium Series continues with the lecture “The Sufficiency Principle: A Key to the Sustainable Future,” given by Katherine Follert Ebner ’87. Friday afternoon is the start of the annual Relay for Life, the all-night fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. And on Saturday both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams begin the NESCAC tournaments with a home-field advantage.

• And for a unique experience in music, come hear a concert featuring a repertoire of varied East African instruments, vocal selections, and dance. The performance takes place Tuesday, April 30, from 8–10 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

•  The discussion was lively and informative Tuesday night as panelists debated whether environmental and social concerns should influence the College’s endowment policy at the first of a planned series of open discussions on the topic. Several panel members asserted that divestment would come with a significant cost but Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury, had another angle. Read the story and watch the video.

• Poet Richard Blanco, who was a fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference in 2000 and has been back to visit several times, was invited to read an original poem at the inauguration of Barack Obama on Monday. Three out of the six poets invited to read inaugural poems over the years have had ties to Bread Loaf: Robert Frost, Miller Williams, and Blanco.
• On Friday, January 18, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave an inspiring talk to Monterey Institute students urging them to advance disarmament and nonproliferation for a more peaceful future. Speaking to a packed audience in Irvine Auditorium, he lauded the Institute for its role in educating students on these issues. If you missed the talk, you can watch it here.
• Once again, Middlebury has made the top ten. Mother Nature Network announced its “10 of the best college environmental programs in the U.S.” recently and Middlebury’s Program in Environmental Studies came in at no. 3.
• Campus will be hopping over the next three days. The Center for Social Entrepreneurship is holding its second annual symposium with the topics of social entrepreneurship and social justice. At 7:00 p.m., Thursday, January 24, after a welcome from President Liebowitz, Billy Parish, founder and president of Mosaic, will give the opening address and have a book signing. Friday night eco-entrepreneur Majora Carter, founder of the Majora Carter Group, will give the Martin Luther King Jr. address in Mead Chapel at 7:30 p.m. after a day of workshops and activities. Saturday morning Parish, Carter, and Bill McKibben will be part of a panel discussion, “Preparing Students to Lead a Life of Meaning.” Check out the entire schedule. You’re sure to find something to attend!
• If the arts are what you’re craving this week, the Middlebury College Orchestra will be performing Thursday, January 24, at 8:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall at the Center for the Arts. On Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 p.m., the Dance Company of Middlebury will be celebrating their 30th anniversary with a premiere of “Simply Light,” their newest collaborative creation. Being held in the Dance Theatre at the Center for the Arts, the performances will be kicking off a tour of the seven-member company to San Francisco and the Monterey Institute.
• And for some lighthearted fun, check out the talent show being held in the Great Hall at Bicentennial Hall next Wednesday, January 30, from 2:00–5:00 p.m. No, you won’t be watching students sing and dance. The performers are Lego robots and their feats are the culmination of the J-term class Lego Robot Design Studio, taught by David Kauchak. To get a preview of what you might see, click here.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at  middmag@middlebury.edu.

• Election Day has come and gone. Our Professor Pundits, Matt Dickinson and Bert Johnson, held an election night live-blogging event at the Crossroads Cafe in McCullough Student Center. Brett Simison has posted photos. And in the last installment of their commentaries about the election, they discuss how their political science models held up throughout the process.

• Once again the NPR Social Media Desk selected citizen journalists to follow on election night as they presented coverage. Out of 150 applicants they chose 31, and Audrey Tolbert ’13 was one of those selected. Find out what she had to say on Twitter at @atolbs.

• Hurricane Sandy and the massive destruction it created are still very much on people’s minds. Many folks may wonder how they can help out. The Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life has a disaster relief website with links to relief organizations and updates about the recovery state by state.

• The New England Review is holding another night of readings in its Vermont Reading Series. Come to Carol’s Hungry Mind Thursday night at 7 p.m. to hear Benjamin Aleshire, Larry Bradley, Bette Moffett, and Marguerite Sullivan read from their works. If you want a little taste of what the evening will involve, check out NER’s YouTube site to listen to other writers read.

• It’s a busy weekend for athletics coming up and several teams are headed into regional NCAA play. The women’s volleyball team travels to Clarkson, men’s and women’s cross country heads to Westfield State, and both the women’s soccer team and the women’s field hockey team host regional events here at Midd. The field hockey and volleyball teams are both coming off NESCAC championship wins. And after rolling over Hamilton last weekend, the football team returns to Midd this Saturday for its last home game. Come watch quarterback phenom McCallum Foote, who was named NESCAC Offensive Player of the Week for the third time.

• If music is your thing, you’ll have plenty of opportunities this week to hear a variety of programs. In Mead Chapel on Thursday, at 8:00 p.m., several choral groups from colleges around the state will be performing Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem. Friday at 8:00 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall, listen to the Martin Luther King Spiritual Choir, under the direction of Dr. François Clemmons. And on Saturday the acclaimed British ensemble Gallicantus will make its North American debut at Middlebury in Mead Chapel at 8:00 p.m. Clearly there is something for everyone!

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• The 2012 Clifford Symposium is happening this weekend and a lot of fun and interesting events are taking place. Entitled “Creativity and Collaboration,” the symposium is being hosted by the Mahaney Center for the Arts in honor of its 20th-anniversary season. The keynote speech, which will be held in the Concert Hall at the CFA at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, is being given by Julie Burstein, who wrote Spark: How Creativity Works. In her talk she will describe some of the essential qualities for successful creative collaborations.

• From Thursday to Saturday the Mahaney Center for the Arts will be alive with performances, workshops, and discussions. Some especially creative and unusual events are worth checking out. At 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday, A Curious Invasion will be taking place with the PearsonWidrig Dance Theater company. And at 8:00 Thursday evening come to the CFA lobby to see an original show integrating music, dance, circus, and theatricality and starring Rachel Schiffer ’06.5 and Ben Schiffer ’10. (P.S. It involves wire walking.)

• As always, there will be wonderful music available over the weekend and beyond. Saturday night the Emerson String Quartet will be performing at Mead Chapel at 8:00 and next Tuesday, October 2, the Takács String Quartet will perform at 7:30 p.m. in the CFA Concert Hall. Get  your tickets at the box office.

• You may have heard His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is coming October 12–13. There will be a number of activities that will be taking place in the weeks running up to the event. On Sunday there will be a screening of Buddha Prince Backstage, a documentary about the creation and staging of the walking play, The Buddha Prince, which celebrates the Dalai Lama’s life and teachings. You can also take part in the Tibetan Peace-Flag-Making at the Davis Library. Come create a flag with your wishes, thoughts, or prayers. The flags will decorate the library, one of the first stops for the Dalai Lama at the College.

• “America is a dramatic outlier when it comes to the freedom to express inflammatory, hatemongering, racist speech.” So says Professor Erik Bleich in an article that appears on Al Jazeera.com. With all the violence erupting in the world in response to the film Innocence of Muslims, Bleich discusses how much free speech should be allowable in the U.S. After a producer at Qatar Foundation Radio saw the article, Bleich was asked to speak on their show Corners.

• The varsity athletic teams were active over the weekend with several teams playing at home, including the football team in its season opener. In front of a robust crowd, the Midd team posted a convincing win over Bowdoin, 42-18. Quarterback McCallum Foote was named NESCAC Player of the Week. Also earning NESCAC Player of the Week honors was women’s soccer goalie Elizabeth Foody, who has not allowed a goal against her yet this season.

• An important new resource is available to alumni, thanks to a collaboration between Library and Information Services and the Alumni Office. JSTOR, a nonprofit service offering a digital archive of more than 1,000 academic journals and one million primary sources, can now be accessed by any alumni who are registered users of Middlebury Online. Read more about it.

When Priscilla “Keetsie” Noyes Crosson ’49 told her daughter that she was going to skydive on her 80th birthday, her daughter said that would be just great—all the family would be there and they could plan her funeral for the next day. That didn’t deter Priscilla for a minute and the family came around to the idea. Priscilla has always loved flying—during her freshman year at Middlebury she earned her pilot’s license, at age 17! She was a charter member of the Midd Flying Club, which had its own plane, and flew out of the Middlebury Airport during her college years. After college, she gave up flying but always had the idea in her subconscious that she wanted to jump from a plane. So as she looked at her approaching 80th birthday, she decided she was going to do it before she got any older. On the weekend after Thanksgiving 2008, she went to SkyDive San Marcos, Texas. In preparation they told her no jewelry, hearing aids, or anything loose, because they would be sucked off in the jump. One lady lost her false teeth. But Priscilla was more than ready and climbed aboard the two-engine prop. The plane took off, the weather was beautiful, and Priscilla, attached by rigging to the instructor behind her for a tandem jump, dove at 10,000 feet. She says, “It was a thrilling experience for me; I just loved the fast rushing wind and speed during the free fall and then the absolute QUIET after the chute was open.” Now she’s hoping to stay fit for her next jump—on her 90th!

You might have heard the words of the 19th-century song: “He’d fly through the air with the greatest of ease; that daring young man on the flying trapeze.” Well, at 75 years old Chuck Rice ’58 may not be as young as Jules Léotard was when he developed the trapeze act, but daring? You bet! Chuck has had trapeze lessons on his bucket list for a while, so when Trapeze-Experience opened a school in West Palm Beach, Florida, near his winter home, he signed up. He had two lessons last winter and this winter he hopes to move to the next level with a goal of catch and return. He says, “Flying is not really scary, but the anticipation brings you to a state of heightened awareness. Flying depends a lot on the timing of the jump, the hook to the bar, and layout for the catch. It does require substantial upper body strength. I’ve been training for some time to gain the strength needed. The high is something else, nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. I had the time of my life and was pleased to learn I was one of, or maybe the oldest person they have taught. But you’ve got to stay in the game.” Next on Chuck’s bucket list? High-wire walking.

“During the first few steps of any run, you’re thinking, ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’ But after a few moments that feeling disappears. Running is a continual thing, a perpetual thing. It’s impossible to keep at it unless you have that drive, that determination, to succeed.” Sound like the words of an Olympic athlete? You might be surprised to learn that it’s Bob Matteson ’38 who said this. He hasn’t made it to the Olympics but he’s gathered enough world records at his age to be just as impressive. While running in the 90–95 age group, he set world records in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, and 3000m. In August 2006 he was named USA Track & Field New England Athlete of the Month after setting American records in the 200m and 400m. And the list goes on and on. Bob didn’t begin running competitively until he was in his 70s, which is why he figures the usual wear and tear of running hasn’t affected him as much as those who started earlier. That and good genes. He started out doing road races but then realized he was better at track. With the help of various running coaches, especially Pete Farwell, the cross-country and long-distance running coach at Williams College, he honed his skills over the years and took the Masters track circuit by storm. Most of his competitions have been against established records in his age group since opponents in their 90s are few and far between. He has participated in running events around the country and, after setting six world records at age 92, earned the unofficial title “Galloping Geezer.” Now 96, he has stopped racing at the recommendation of his doctor (temporarily, he hopes) but he hasn’t slowed down. He still goes off to work most days, climbing the long stairway to his office at his business, Matteson Associates.

Photographs courtesy of Priscilla Crosson, Chuck Rice, and Larry Libow.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• They’re not just “whistling ‘Dixie’”! Whistlers from all over the world descended on the small town of Louisburg, North Carolina, for the International Whistlers Convention recently. Middlebury’s own Yuki Takeda ’14 came in third in the competition and was interviewed for PRI’s The World.

• The sixth annual spring student symposium took place last Thursday and Friday. Always a showcase for the interesting and innovative projects of students, the symposium was once again a huge success this year. Middmag found one student and his project especially intriguing.

• The American Academy of Arts & Sciences recently announced the 2012 class and on the list with Hillary Clinton, Paul McCartney, and Neil Simon was alumna Kathy Cashman ’76. A volcanologist and professor of geological sciences at the University of Oregon, Kathy has researched active volcanoes all over the world. Her impressive body of work has not gone unnoticed.

• “One Dean’s View,” the blog of Shirley Collado, dean of the College and chief diversity officer, had a guest writer this past week. Kemi Fuentes-George, a new faculty member and immigrant from Jamaica, talks about how his identity as a “brown Caribbean” has been challenged over the years in the predominantly white communities he’s lived in.

• It’s time for the second annual Bach Festival. This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be packed with activities, including performances by the early music ensemble ARTEK (whose director is Gwendolyn Toth ’77) and members of the New York Baroque Dance Company. Check here for a list of events. There’s something for every Bach lover!

• If you’d like to intersperse your Bach with other types of music, 51 Main has once again lined up a variety of acts. Friday at 5:00 p.m. you can listen to Afrofusion, featuring several Midd faculty members. Or enjoy a Jerry Garcia Tribute Band called Cats Under the Stars on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. Midd’s famous whistler, Yuki Takeda, will even be on stage with friends to play jazz and groove-oriented instrumental music on Friday at 8:00 p.m. But this time he’ll be showing his talents on alto sax and flute.

• The Spring 2012 Woodin Colloquium Series continues its Thursday luncheon talks this week with Kathleen Colson, CEO and founder of the BOMA Project and Fred Nelson, executive director of Maliasili Initiatives. Their panel discussion is entitled “Social Entrepreneurship and Environmental Conservation in East Africa: Perspectives from the Field.”

• And don’t forget: The former attorney general and governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, will be speaking at Mead Chapel on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. about government regulation on Wall Street. Doors open at 7:00.

Cashman’s research over the years has led to great insight into what triggers volcanic eruptions and has helped to predict those events. With a two-year Fulbright scholarship in New Zealand, where she earned a master’s in geology from Victoria University, and a doctorate from Johns Hopkins, she has spent her career researching volcanic hot spots on all seven continents. But her love for geology began at Middlebury. “I wouldn’t be a geologist if I hadn’t gone to Middlebury. First and foremost in terms of inspiration was Professor Peter Coney. From the very start, he treated all of his students as peers and professionals and truly challenged us to think for ourselves. Although sometimes frustrating, it was also exhilarating to be handed a problem and then have to figure it out.”

Another professor helped further Cashman’s interest in the study of volcanoes. David Folger, who had left Middlebury to work in Wood’s Hole, Mass., hired her as a research scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey in 1979. He then encouraged her in a transfer to the Cascades Volcano Observatory after the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. Although she had studied active volcanoes in Antarctica, this was a turning point for her. She arrived at Mount St. Helens just months after the eruption. “The opportunity to work with the USGS team at Mount St. Helens convinced me that this was the direction that I wanted to pursue—I love studying geologic processes that happen on human time scales and that affect human populations because it means that I can indulge my love of solving scientific puzzles with the feeling that maybe something I do will ultimately help to reduce volcanic risk.”

Her impressive body of work has done that and more. And her accomplishments caught the attention of the Academy of Arts & Sciences. While normally Cashman would have gotten the notification of her election while at the University of Oregon, she is spending a three-year leave at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom as an AXA research chair and professor of volcanology. (AXA is a French insurance company that has recently started sponsoring research into environmental hazards.) So she received word she’d been chosen as a Fellow by the University of Oregon communications director. She says she felt “stunned” by the news—but obviously honored.

“It’s very humbling to be joining an honor society that includes so many people in my field, who I’ve looked up to all my career. The fact that my ‘class’ includes people like Hillary Clinton, Judy Woodruff, Andre Previn, Clint Eastwood, and Paul McCartney just seems surreal!”

As for opportunities that may open up for her, it’s too early to tell. But the Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. For now, Cashman says, the announcement has led to some enjoyable personal benefits. “It reached several of my high school friends, from whom I’ve received a flood of e-mail. It’s been fun to reconnect with them after so many years.”

Kathy Cashman, along with sisters Susan ’72 and Patricia ’72, received an honorary doctor of science from Middlebury in 2008.

VIDEO SLIDESHOW: Students Henry Philip ’13, Andre Keiser ’12, Ali Andrews ’12, Chester Curme ’11.5, Lucas Avidan ’15, Aden Forrow ’13, Alex Clement ’12, and Paul Donnelly ’15 (not pictured) spent winter term converting a tractor engine to run on hydrogen.

What happens when you mix eight Middlebury College students, two Middlebury alumni, a 1948 Ford tractor, and hydrogen? You get applied math and science principles, problem-solving, a hands-on experience, and a farm tractor that runs on a green fuel that produces clean emissions. This past winter term that’s what happened in the machinery shop at local business Champlain Valley Equipment. Mark Benz ’56 and Dick Catlin ’56 worked with eight students to convert a tractor engine from running on gasoline to running on hydrogen. Benz and Catlin initially began this project in 2008 when they spent a semester with four students working on the same problem but with limited success. However, the groundwork was laid and with the help of physics professor Noah Graham, they set up a winter term class this year to continue the effort. It was an enormous task—in four short weeks the group had to switch the tractor’s internal combustion engine, which is carbureted, to fuel injection and shift the mechanical paradigm to a computerized one. They could then experiment with different fuels in the engine, beginning with propane, moving on to compressed natural gas, and finally using hydrogen. And for what may be the first time ever, hydrogen gas successfully powered an internal combustion engine in a tractor.

Champlain Valley Equipment provided shop space, tools, and technical assistance.

It’s a big first step but problems remain to be resolved. The tractor does not yet run with the adequate horsepower needed and storing hydrogen so it can be used by vehicles is another issue. But the project will continue at the College with both new and old faces. One student who participated in the winter term class, Lucas Avidan ’15, is looking ahead to the next challenges. “Looking forward from here I’m hoping that we’re going to be working on getting higher pressure fuel injectors so that we can get a better burn when we put hydrogen through the engine. Also, maybe put a better super charger on the engine so the tractor can run with a higher horsepower.”

Mark Benz and Dick Catlin will continue to lend their expertise to the project and help guide the students. Andre Keiser ’12 remarks, “It was great to work with two alums who have a lot of experience in the engineering field.”

To hear more from the students and the alums, watch the audio slideshow above.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon. As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at  middmag@middlebury.edu.

• After receiving a Civic Engagement Mini-Grant, four students headed to New York City to attend the Just Food Conference and enjoyed two days of workshops, discussions, skills-building sessions, and good food. One of the students, Kate Strangfeld ’12, wrote a blog post about the event.

• In a well-written, convincing opinion piece published by Inside Higher Ed, Michael Geisler, VP Language Schools, Schools Abroad & Graduate Programs, refuted an argument made by Lawrence Summers in a New York Times essay that said learning foreign languages is not necessarily worthwhile for future generations of Americans.

• Middlebury scholar-athletes are doing it again. Several teams and individuals are headed to NCAA action. After winning their seventh NESCAC championship with a 1-0 victory over Amherst, the women’s ice hockey team will host Plattsburgh in a NCAA quarterfinal game this Saturday. The men’s basketball team convincingly won the NCAA regionals last weekend and found out that Middlebury will host the NCAA sectionals this coming weekend. In addition, eight members of the indoor track team will compete this weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships at Grinnell College and nine skiers will represent Middlebury’s alpine and Nordic teams at the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Skiing Championships March 7–10. Go, Panthers!

• In between following all the exciting athletic news this weekend, take some time to hit Main Street for the fourth annual Vermont Chili Festival. With almost 50 participants ladling up their particular brands of chili, a beverage tent, and music offered by local band the Horse Traders, this is an event not to be missed!

• The Howard E. Woodin ES Colloquium series brings cellist David Darling to the Franklin Environmental Center to speak on “Music and the Environment” this Thursday at 12:30 p.m. He will then give an intimate performance in the Center for the Arts Dance Theatre Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m. For more inspiring cello music, Sophie Chao will perform in the Center for the Arts Concert Hall Friday evening at 8:00 p.m.

• Have you met Bina48? You can learn more about her at the “Language and Technology” linguistics symposium this Friday. Running from 12:15 until 4:00 p.m. and held in Axinn 229, the symposium will feature several interesting talks, culminating with “Mind Files and Androids: A LifeNaut Project Update.”

• Jackson Katz, author of The Macho Paradox, will be on campus March 12 and 13 to discuss gender violence and what society must do to stop it. He will give a lecture on Monday evening at 8 p.m. in Mead Chapel and on Tuesday will hold a workshop in Dana Auditorium entitled “Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity” from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon.

• This week marked the beginning of the 14th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, which runs through January 29 with a full slate of activities. On Monday Dr. Maisha T. Winn gave the keynote address, discussing the prevalence of the school to prison pipeline in this country and the notion of literacy as a civil right. Monday evening, Mead Chapel was the venue for a moving and inspirational event with music, dance, and readings at the Martin Luther King Celebration Concert.

• Primary season is in full swing and our professor pundits, Bert Johnson and Matt Dickinson, sat down after the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire to talk about how things are going so far.

• William Poulin-Deltour, assistant professor of French, was featured on Inside Higher Ed’s Academic Minute last Friday. With an interest in the anthropology of France, he was discussing how differently Americans and the French view the concept of community.

• In its ongoing “greening” efforts, the College recently announced that it will be adding a small solar farm west of campus this spring. Created by the company AllEarth Renewables and installed by Backspin Renewables, founded by Midd alum Chris Eaton ’99, the solar farm’s total kilowatt hours will produce enough electricity to power a residence hall the size of Battell for a year.

• Head down to Carol’s Hungry Mind Cafe on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. for another event in the New England Review‘s ongoing Vermont Reading Series. Stephen Kiernan ’82, Chloe Joan Lopez, Daniel Lusk, and Neil Shepard will read from their works. A good way to spend a cold, winter evening.

• Ever been to a TEDx event? This Saturday you can be a part of TEDx Manhattan without leaving campus. Come to Bicentennial Hall Rooms 216 and 220 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. to watch an online webcast of various sessions taking place in New York. The theme is “Changing the Way We Eat” and opening remarks will be made by Matthew Biette, director of dining services, and Jack Byrne, director of sustainability integration, from 9:30 to 10:30. The three sessions during the day will be on issues, impact, and innovation. Lunch will be served and during that time, representatives from various groups working on food issues will be available to talk. But you need to RSVP in order to eat!

• The subject of national security will be the topic of a lecture given by William Arkin in Bicentennial Hall Room 220 next Tuesday, January 24, at 4:30 p.m. Arkin is an analyst, author, and journalist, and his talk is called “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State,” which is also the name of his best-selling book, written with Dana Priest.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon.

 As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• After taking fourth place in the Dept. of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, the Middlebury team brought their entry, Self-Reliance, back to campus, where it will house students. On November 15 a dedication ceremony was held and a crowd showed up to celebrate the accomplishments of the team. The latest news is that Middlebury will once again submit a proposal to the DOE in the hopes we can participate in Solar Decathlon 2013.

• Middlebury athletic teams continue to dominate. Over the past weekend the field hockey team beat Amherst to head to the NCAA final four; the women’s soccer team beat The College of New Jersey to head to the NCAA sectionals; both women and men’s cross-country saw success at the NCAA Regionals, women coming in first and men second, and are headed to the NCAA Championships; and, even though they lost in the NCAA Regional final, the women’s volleyball team beat Skidmore in the semifinal to advance deeper into the NCAA tournament than any team in school history.

• They were turning people away at 51 Main Sunday night when Joel Salatin was on deck to speak. Salatin, the farmer featured in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and the documentary Food Inc., is known for his innovative farming practices and is the author of Folks, This Ain’t Normal: A Farmer’s Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a  Better World. Rachel Porter ’13 was at the talk and filed a report for the Campus. This weekend at 51 Main you can hear Mark Lavoie play his blues harmonica Saturday night from 10 p.m. until midnight.

• Need a good book to read? Check out the library’s book sale, happening Nov. 15 through Nov. 20. You can find books, music scores, CDs, and other media for sale.

• The arts scene at Middlebury is alive with performances this coming weekend. At the CFA, the play The Art of Success is happening Thursday–Saturday in the Seeler Studio Theatre, Alexander Melnikov plays piano Friday night at 7:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall, and Jeremy Kline ’11.5 presents his senior thesis concert Friday and Saturday in the Dance Theatre. If that’s not enough for you, on Sunday you can attend the Community Chorus concert in Mead Chapel at 3:00 p.m.

• Interested in artistic initiatives at Middlebury? The Cafecito Hour on Friday will be about the arts, featuring students from the Moth, Verbal Onslaught, and Old Stone Mill. You can hear the panel discussion from 12:15 p.m. until 1:30 p.m. in Carr Hall. Bring your own lunch. Café Alta Garcia and Cookie Love cookies will be served.

Our regular recap of goings on at the College and a look ahead to events on the horizon.

As always, we hope to call your attention to items that captured ours and alert you to events that you won’t want to miss. If you have a news item that you think we’d be interested in, drop us a line at middmag@middlebury.edu.

• The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad were hopping with events over the past week. On October 6 the School in France had an alumni gathering at Le Centre Madeleine in Paris and on October 11 the School in Italy held its 50th anniversary celebration at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Over the past 50 years, 1,400 students have attended the School in Italy at one of three sites: Florence, Ferrara, or Rome.

• The 2012 presidential campaign is already heating up. On Tuesday, October 11, the Republican hopefuls met at Dartmouth for a debate that focused on the economy. VPR’s Vermont Edition asked two experts to weigh in on the issues and politics of the Republican primary. One of those voices was Matt Dickinson, a professor of political science who specializes in the presidency.

• Every other week Shirley Collado, dean of the college and chief diversity officer, posts a blog called “One Dean’s View.” This week she welcomes guest blogger, Janet Rodrigues ’12, a student of color who describes one of her most difficult days at college and what she learned from it.

• What might you discover in a royal Maya tomb? You can find out at a lecture happening Thursday, October 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the Starr-Axinn Center. Enticingly called “Into Death’s Dark Night: Exploring a Royal Maya Tomb in El Diablo, Guatemala,” the lecture will be held in Room 229.

• It’s Fall Family Weekend! And the activities abound. Friday night you can either gaze at the stars at the Observatory Open House from 8:00–9:30 p.m. in Bicentennial Hall or listen to Paul Lewis in concert at 8:00 p.m. at the Center for the Arts. On Saturday there will be the usual full schedule of home athletic events. And at anytime during the weekend before dusk, catch the marathon reading of The Odyssey on the steps of the Davis Family Library, put on by the classics department. The readers begin Friday at 3 p.m. and conclude Sunday afternoon.

• Another big event this weekend takes place on Saturday night, October 15. At 8:00 p.m. in Mead Chapel, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will read old favorites and poems from his newest collection, Horoscopes for the Dead. Not to be missed!

• Friday night, October 14, the monthly Arts Walk will take place in downtown Middlebury. Stop by 51 Main to see a photography exhibit called “War InVoice,” put on by Danny Loehr ’13 and Bianca Giaever ’12.

Middlebury Magazine recently spoke with Martha Ackmann about her book in a companion piece to the book review in the spring 2011 issue.

The snow is perfect. The sun is shining. It’s a Thursday afternoon in January. Time to catch the shuttle to the Snow Bowl.

Several students are standing at the bus stop by Adirondack House, skis and snowboards propped up beside them, waiting to catch the 12:55. A passerby greets one of the kids.

“Going skiing?”

“Yeah,” he answers, “it’s my seventh day in a row.” The big white and green ACTR bus lumbers up the hill and turns into the circle. The doors swing open and the riders maneuver their equipment so they can clamber aboard with boots, poles, skis, bags, and whatever else they are carrying. Some deposit their gear in the back and find a seat. Others sit with all their gear surrounding them, settling in for the half-hour ride. Some students arrive late and Larry, the driver, waits for them.

One guy opens the Campus and begins to read. A girl is on her cell phone and gets into an animated discussion with a friend who was supposed to meet her but grabbed a private ride instead. A row of guys begins to talk about the party they were at the night before. Their conversation then swings into topics that seem particularly Middlebury-like. What foreign languages they’re taking this spring; what countries they’d like to do their semesters abroad in.

Seventeen riders are on the bus today. According to Larry, that’s a light load during January. The bus holds 35 and it’s usually full. “I often have to turn kids away.” With six runs up and down the mountain during the week, the shuttle is hauling skiers all day long. During the regular semester, only half as many are heading to the mountain on a weekday.

The bus pulls into Bread Loaf and seven of the students get off. The rest climb out at the Snow Bowl. One lone skier gets on for the ride back. The bus rambles down the mountain, empty, but when it pulls into Adirondack Circle, a new crop of students stand ready, skis and snowboards in hand, to board the shuttle for the mountain.

By 8:35, the tables hold groups of six or eight students; some kids are quiet and look around awkwardly, others talk loudly, and smile and laugh. More kids stream in as they try to get breakfast before their 9:00 Commons meeting.

At a table of girls, one looks at her watch and the four rise in unison. They deposit their dishes on the conveyor belt and push through the doors into the warm sun.

Over in Bi Hall, Room 216 is still filling up.

It’s 10 minutes after 9.

Some kids are talking to their neighbors. Others sit waiting, fingers twisted together.

Wonnacott Commons Heads Will Nash and Deb Evans stand in the front of the room, facing the group, and with a few clearing of throats, the meeting begins.

Nash and Evans talk about the Commons as a community, a neighborhood.

Commons Coordinator Brenda Fizur invites students to her office where she always has home-baked chocolate chip cookies. Commons Dean Matt Longman ’89 talks about the history of the name Wonnacott.

James Tresner ’09, the Commons Residential Adviser, stands up, holding a wooden carved squirrel.

“This is Wonny, our mascot. Some interesting facts about Wonny: he has his own Facebook page and he lost an ear in a skydiving accident.”

The group laughs.

Now it’s time to become acquainted.

Each student stands up, holds Wonny, says his or her name and hometown, then states an interesting fact.

“I took a gap year and got my pilot’s license.”

Ooos and ahhhs.

“When I was five I jumped off the roof to see if I could fly.”

Laughs and groans.

“I once convinced someone that if they married a twin they’d have to marry the other twin too.”

Big laugh.

“I can touch my nose with my tongue.”

The group yells, “Do it!”

She does and everyone cheers.

By 10:15 the meeting is over.

Will Nash tells them to take a break; there are snacks in the hall.

In half an hour they’ll reconvene and, as a group, take care of the first bit of business of being a student at Midd for the next four years. They’ll learn about—and sign—the Honor Code.

Seems like the first-years are on their way.

Douglas was hesitant to put his name forward for consideration, knowing a bishop had never been chosen from outside the state. But once he had read the profile of the position, he was amazed at what a good fit it was with what he felt he had to offer. He submitted his name.

Events moved quickly. Between the time he read the profile and the time he was publicly nominated, only eight weeks had passed. A few months later he was elected at the October convention. By February 1 he was on the job.

The Connecticut diocese has been changing—rather than focusing mainly on what’s going on internally, there has been a real desire to be more outward-looking—and they found what they were looking for in Douglas. With the profound changes going on within the Episcopal Church, both globally and in America, much of Douglas’s teaching career has been devoted to heralding understanding; as he says, “Helping Christians live into the changing face of global Christianity in a faithful way.” He adds, “Connecticut was about that. My background helps them to interpret that and ask themselves what it means to be faithful given the realities of the new world.”

That new world includes a global Episcopal community that has evolved from a predominantly white male constituency to an enormously diverse one—there are eight times more Episcopalians in Nigeria than the U.S., for instance. It also includes an American Episcopal Church that has elected women and a gay man as bishops and is in upheaval over the vote last July at the General Convention to open any ordained ministry to gay men and lesbians. For over 20 years, Douglas has worked both with leaders in other countries and bishops in the West to help them appreciate and embrace the diversity that exists within the church in this day.

Having worked at the global level for so many years, Douglas is ready for the opportunity to go deeper in a set place.

<listen to Ian Douglas ’80 describe why Connecticut is a good fit for him.

Douglas’s consecration on April 17 will be in the hockey rink at Trinity College—certainly not the typical site for such a ceremony. But the diocese felt it would need a large space for the event given that Archbishop Desmond Tutu will be preaching. Douglas and Tutu became close when Tutu’s daughter, Mpho, was at the Episcopal Divinity School and Douglas was her adviser. During Mpho’s senior year, Desmond Tutu and Douglas taught a class together. When Douglas found out he’d been elected Bishop of Connecticut, one of his first calls was to Tutu. “I said, ‘Hey Arch, could you do it?’ And he said he’d be honored.”

Update: The  Hartford Courant covered Saturday’s ordination and consecration.

Conor has been in Haiti since he graduated, first teaching English and volunteering for the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, then signing on as their program director. Now St. Boniface’s director general, he and his coworkers are in the thick of the relief efforts. Not only has their hospital become responsible for receiving patients from the USNS Comfort Navy hospital ship for post-op care, the foundation is providing critical health-care services for everyone from pregnant women to malnourished children. To learn more about their efforts, visit www.haitihealth.org/index.php/news.