Professor Povitz was my first professor at Middlebury. I say the first because, although I had 3 other professors at the same time, she is the professor who takes you in and makes you feel seen. She doesn’t just impart knowledge or wisdom–she enters into relationship with every class and student she has. It must be exhausting work; I think every student who has had the opportunity to take Povitz’s class will understand how she raises the bar of commitment as a professor to an almost superhuman standard. She understands that the work of a college professor is a triple bottom line: it is not only to produce scholarly work, not even just to teach (although she does a hell of a lot more of that than the average professor) but to engage in community. To nurture it, to make it more whole than when she started. She has been one of the most successful professors in my estimation and experience when it comes to these three facets of a professor’s work.
Connor Wertz ’22