Category Archives: award

Naila Baloch Awarded the Vermont Women in Higher Education Carol A. Moore Scholarship

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On December 21, 2015, the Vermont Women in Higher Education (VWHE) awarded its annual scholarship to Chaplaincy Fellow/Muslim Advisor Naila Baloch .

The scholarship, named after Lyndon State College’s former president, Carol A. Moore, recognizes women working in Vermont higher education who aspire to advance their careers. In its eleventh year of supporting women in their professional endeavors, this scholarship awards up to $1,000.

In support of Ms. Baloch’s application, Laurie Jordan, Chaplain of the College, states: “We want our students to thrive and grow, and Naila helps us create the kind of community where that can happen. She keeps up with world affairs so that she can relate to the concerns that students experience while they are studying, sometimes far from home. She is compassionate and thoughtful in her responses to crises both on and off campus.”

Upon receiving notification of the award, Naila stated: “I am honored and delighted to be offered the Carol A. Moore scholarship, and through it to be connected to a community of Vermont women who come together to support each other and dream up possibilities for a brighter, more beautiful world, where each of us has an opportunity to be our best self and offer our gifts in service to others.”

Ms. Baloch’s scholarship will be applied towards her education and training in Mental Health Counseling through an M.S. degree at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Ms. Baloch already holds a B.A. in Astrophysics and Comparative Religion from Williams College, where her undergraduate research focused on quantum information theory. She also holds a Master in Theological Studies specializing in Islamic Ministry from Harvard, as well as a graduate certificate from the University of Spiritual Healing and Sufism in Pope Valley, California, where her focus was on counseling from a spiritual perspective.

VWHE is sponsored by the American Council on Education’s Office of Women in Higher Education, based in Washington, D.C., and has been active in the state of Vermont for over 20 years. VWHE works to foster connections among women in various sectors of higher education, promote women’s leadership and encourage and support women leaders of diverse backgrounds. The organization maintains an open membership policy and welcomes the participation of women from all levels of administration, staff and faculty. Visit www.vwhe.org for more information.

2015 Staff Recognition Award Nominations Now Open

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2015 STAFF RECOGNITION AWARD NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

Nominations for the 2015 Staff Recognition Awards are now open. These awards have been endowed through the generosity of Rudolf K. Haerle, Jr., Professor Emeritus of Sociology, who wished through his gift to recognize the importance of staff to the Middlebury College Community.

Four awards are presented each year – one to a staff member in Dining Services, one to a staff member in Facilities Services, and two to staff members in all other areas of the College. Each winner will receive a cash prize of $200, and their names will be engraved on a plaque that hangs in the Grille.

Nominations for these awards may be submitted by completing the Staff Recognition 2015- form and sending it as a Word document to the Vice President for Finance and Treasurer mailbox at ovpt@middlebury.edu, or mailing to Old Chapel 102. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The winners will be chosen by a selection committee consisting of the recipients of the 2014 awards: Debby Anderson (Box Office Manager – The Arts Center); JJ Boggs (Associate Dean of Students for Student Activities & Orientation); Jane Bushey Anderson (Supervisor, Convenience Store –Retail Food Operations); and Jennifer Pottinger (Customer Services Coordinator – Facilities Services).

Middlebury College Receives 2015 Community Engagement Reclassification by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

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For several years the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has helped frame and articulate “best practices” in higher education/community collaboration and learning. In 2006 the Foundation offered the first elective “Community Engagement” classification. That year, Middlebury’s (then) Alliance for Civic Engagement (ACE) applied for and received recognition in the inaugural round on behalf of the College. This past year, in addition to new applications, colleges and universities that were recognized in either 2006 or 2008 needed to reapply in order to be approved for reclassification. On January 7, 2015 the Carnegie Foundation, in collaboration with the New England Research Center for higher Education (NERCHE), awarded Middlebury College and others distinction through the 2015 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification.

This designation recognizes excellent work by faculty, staff, and students from multiple areas across campus (e.g., academic departments in the Arts, Humanities, Languages, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, and other interdisciplinary programs; collaboration with Monterey and Schools Abroad; and offices/programs such as Community Engagement, Privilege & Poverty, the Center for Social Entrepreneurship, MiddCORE, Programs on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts, FoodWorks, Athletics, the Center for Careers & Internships, the Scott Center, CTLR, Orientation, JusTalks, the Commons, and more)—along with dozens of collaborating community partners. Examples of community-connected teaching, learning, and research initiatives; faculty-advised and student-led projects; volunteer efforts; internships; off-campus federal work study commitments; grant opportunities; alternative break trips; and more—demonstrated our alignment with institutional mission and priorities, overall, and the College’s continued commitment to work with and strengthen communities through partnerships, near and far.

From the Carnegie Foundation:

“Your application documented excellent alignment among campus mission, culture, leadership, resources, and practices that support dynamic and noteworthy community engagement, and it responded to the classification framework with both descriptions and examples of exemplary institutionalized practices of community engagement.  The application also documented evidence of community engagement in a coherent and compelling response to the framework’s inquiry.

“Your campus is one of 361 institutions that now hold the Community Engagement Classification.  It is heartening to see this level of commitment and activity.  Clearly, higher education is making significant strides in finding ways to engage with and contribute to important community agendas.  There is much to celebrate.”

“The importance of this elective classification is borne out by the response of so many campuses that have demonstrated their deep engagement with local, regional, national, and global communities,” said John Saltmarsh, Director of the New England Resource Center for Higher Education. “These are campuses that are improving teaching and learning, producing research that makes a difference in communities, and revitalizing their civic and academic missions.”

“This is the first time that there has been a re-classification process,” noted Amy Driscoll, Consulting Scholar for the Community Engagement Classification, “and we are seeing renewed institutional commitment, advanced curricular and assessment practices, and deeper community partnerships, all sustained through changes in campus leadership, and within the context of a devastating economic recession.”

Middlebury is one of 157 colleges and universities in the country to receive re-classification. This reclassification is valid until 2025.

“We applaud the Carnegie Foundation for recognizing the importance of setting high standards for valuable campus/community collaboration and articulating benchmarks to help guide those of us striving to pursue excellence in our work, while also drawing national attention and recognition,” comments Tiffany Nourse Sargent ’79, Director, Middlebury College Community Engagement. “One of the exciting points to underscore from this extensive self-study is the celebration that community engagement initiatives now generate from multiple points across campus, involving many more academic and co-curricular entities than was the case in 2006. While we in the Community Engagement office continue to serve as the ‘hub’ for campus community engagement initiatives, it is wonderful to see more and more positive connections campus-wide. To all who have contributed, thank you for your time, expertise, dedication, and good will as we work together to provide valuable and impactful learning experiences for our students and nurture strong and healthy communities.”

Middlebury’s Course Hub presented at the New Media Consortium Summer Conference

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On Thursday, June 19th, Joe Antonioli, Senior Curricular Innovation Specialist, presented Middlebury’s Course Hub during the Idea Lab at thecourse hub award New Media Consortium Summer Conference in Portland, Oregon. The Hub won a “Judges’ Choice” award, and this has developed into discussions with other colleges and universities about the Hub concept and how it has worked for Middlebury College during the past three years.

The Course Hub is the location for faculty to find web-based resources available to them for their courses, and for students to find the resources for all of their classes in a given semester. Last year, 83% of faculty used the Hub to share resources for their courses, and 99% of students took a class that had a resource in the Course Hub.

Many have contributed to the success of the Course Hub, and the panther’s-share of the effort in the building and maintenance of the service has been executed by Adam Franco, Senior Application Developer. The Hub now has 9 possible services that can be accessed through each course’s hub page: Eres, Links, Middlfiles, Moodle, RSS Feeds, SANSSpace, Second Life, Shared Resources, and Syllabus. Congrats to all involved!

The 2014 Feminist of the Year Awards

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A time-honored tradition, the Feminist of the Year Awards took place on Saturday, May 3, 2014 at the annual GSFS/Chellis end-of-the-year fest in the backyard of Chellis House. These awards honor people who have made outstanding contributions to and shown great leadership in improving the status of women and/or fostering gender equity in the Middlebury College community. This year, 24 people were nominated: Marianne Anderson, Lily Andrews, Jeanne Bartlett, Luke Carroll Brown, Sally Caruso, Veronica Coates, Rebecca Coates-Finke, Andrew Catomeris, Rebecca Crochiere, Anna Flinchbaugh, Joanna Georgakas, Elli Itin, Maddie Orcutt, Jackie Park, Xhesika Pasholli, Alex Strott, Angie Walker, and Sade Williams in the student category; Shannon Bohler-Small, Barbara McCall, and Stacey Reardon in the staff category; and Suzanne Gurland, Harshita Kamath, and Roberto Lint Sagarena in the faculty category.

The jury had to make hard decisions and select among all the worthy nominees. In the end, Veronica Coates ’14, Jackie Park ’15, and Alex Strott ’14.5 won the Student Feminist of the Year Award. Veronica was chosen because of her long history in organizing and participating in feminist events on campus and for her “grounded non-judgmental presence even as she speaks hard truths in the classroom.” Jackie garnered the award for her tireless efforts to create a more inclusive community at Middlebury through student organizations such as Women of Color and the Queer Studies House and for “living out her passion for feminism every day.” Alex received the award because over the past two years she has made consistent efforts to integrate intersectional feminist topics into the campus conversation through the student organization Feminist Action at Middlebury by organizing events such as the poetry slam “Sister Outsider.” A resident and organizer at the Queer Studies House, Alex also is a trained MiddSafe advocate, serving as a resource for anybody who has been affected by sexual assault.

Shannon Bohler-Small garnered the Feminist of the Year Award in the staff category. Since she started working at Middlebury six years ago, Shanon has been the staff representative of Vermont Women in Higher Education. This organization aims to foster connections among women in various sectors of higher education and promotes women’s leadership. Shannon has made great efforts to encourage staff and faculty members to attend VWHE’s annual two-day conference and many participants have remarked on the useful and inspiring nature of the event.

Harshita Kamath from the Religion Department was chosen as the faculty Feminist of the Year. Harshita has been an energetic and central member of the Program in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, playing major roles in organizing the feminist pedagogy workshop and the Gensler Symposium. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Awards Ceremony on May 6

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Please join us Tuesday, May 6, 4:15 – 6:15pm, at the McCullough Crossroads Cafe (The Juice Bar).

This ceremony will honor the recipients of the Marjorie Lamberti Faculty Appreciation Award, Rodney and Beverly DeGray Staff Appreciation Award, and the Exceptional Advisor Award. The Lamberti Faculty Appreciation Award is given annually to a Middlebury College faculty member who, following the example set by Professor Lamberti, demonstrates excellence and dedication in teaching. Recipients of the DeGray Staff Appreciation Award are acknowledged for their outstanding contribution to the student body. The Exceptional Advisor Award acknowledges a faculty or staff member who serves as the advisor of a student organization and has excelled in the position. These awards recognize the incredible staff and faculty on our campus and all members of the community are encouraged to attend. Food will be served.

 

Seeking Nominations for the Annual Student Leadership Awards

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We have such amazing students that are doing great things, in and out of the classroom, and on and off campus. We hope you will take the time to recognize their leadership, talent, and impact by nominating them for any of the student leadership awards and prizes available.

Visit go/awards to learn more and to submit nominations electronically by March 20.

Any questions? E-mail Jennifer Herrera at jherrera@middlebury.edu .