In this post we recognize Frank Swenton, Professor of Computer Science, for his 25 years of Service to Middlebury. Frank shares his favorite Middlebury-inspired hobbies, favorite place on campus, and the reason he has stayed at Middlebury. Read his thoughts below.
What did you do prior to coming to work at Middlebury?
Just school, undergrad to Ohio State and grad school at Princeton.
What job titles have you held while working here?
Professor of Mathematics and/or Computer Science (might have held each of the three at some point).
Take us back to your first year as an employee. What were the most significant things happening in your life outside of work at that point?
Just the move up to Vermont!
Have your interests/hobbies/athletic endeavors changed over the past 25 years? Have any of these been influenced by your work here or due to your association with others who work here?
I started playing hockey (goalie, since I’d played catcher in baseball) when my wife was pregnant with our first son, because I figured he’d play! Years of noon hoops at Middlebury before my knees said no more, where I met a good number of faculty, staff, and townspeople. Biggest College-adjacent event was meeting my future wife (Florence Feiereisen) when she started here in the German Department and moved into the apartment below mine! We now have two boys, Leo (14) and Max (11).
What is your fondest memory or experience that you’ve had while working at Middlebury?
Noon hoops and meeting my wife!
Many people change jobs/careers multiple times in their working life. Something must have kept you here for 25 years. Is it anything that you can put into words?
For a long time (honestly, before MIIS started dragging Middlebury down), it was simply a great job in a great location. The locations’s still great, and I hope the College can get back to what it once was!
What are your plans for the next 25 years?
Watch my kids grow up, enjoy my time with teaching, research, and projects for the College (like the CRF and first-year registration systems).
Do you have a favorite place on campus?
Probably the central lawn between Old Chapel and Mead Chapel (or whatever they’re calling it now). I don’t spend a lot of time there, but it’s beautiful to walk through!
Is there any person on campus (or retiree, former employer) that mentored you, or you feel helped you grow into your job, grow to enjoy your work and your time at Middlebury?
I don’t know about full-on mentoring per se, but one statement that really stuck with me early on was from Bob Cluss—he said don’t spend all of your time worrying and stressing about reviews and tenure. Just do your job the best you can, and all of that will take care of itself.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new employee at Middlebury, what would it be?
Probably the same thing Bob told me!
Is there anything else that you would like to share about your time so far at Middlebury?
I really do simply want Middlebury to be the best it can be…I do what I can, but I guess I get frustrated when departments or the College make decisions that are detrimental to this.