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.

  • Julia Alvarez, writer in residence and member of the Class of 1971, appeared on the NPR program “Tell Me More” on Monday to discuss the Parsley Massacre in her homeland, the Dominican Republic. You can listen to the interview, or read more about the events of October 1937, including Julia’s explanation about why the Spanish word for parsley (or “perejil”) was so crucial, on NPR’s news blog.

  • For three days last week the Clifford Symposium infused the campus with enthusiasm as students, faculty, staff, and guests explored the subject of creativity and collaboration across a broad spectrum of subjects. Middmag covered the elaborate dance event called “A Curious Invasion,” and the illustrated lecture about the development of New York City’s High Line. Later this week watch for an interview with keynote speaker Julie Burstein, the author of “Spark: How Creativity Works,” and a video about the sister-and-brother wire-walking/music duo, Rachel ’06.5 and Ben ’10 Schiffer.

  • Middlebury is near the top of the list again. Teach For America just announced that the College has 15 recent graduates teaching in under-performing school districts this fall. That number of new TFA teachers ranks seventh in the country in the small-college category, which ties Middlebury with Williams.

  • The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week about whether the University of Texas at Austin exceeded its right to consider race and ethnicity in admissions decisions. To learn why this topic is important to Middlebury, see Dean of the College Shirley Collado’s blog, One Dean’s View.

  • The annual D.K. Smith Lecture will be given this year by Professor David G. Blanchflower on “The Economics of Youth Employment” on Thursday, Oct. 4, at 4:15 p.m., in Twilight Auditorium. Blanchflower is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College, and is a contributor to the U.K.’s New Statesman and Bloomberg TV.

  • The Parents Are Coming! Fall Family Weekend begins this Friday, Oct. 5. The slate of activities — from open classes and panel discussions to arts and athletics — is too numerous to list here, so be sure to visit the FFW website for details.