MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—On the Sunday of Homecoming Weekend, October 10, Middlebury College inaugurated Ronald D. Liebowitz as its 16th president. The ceremony took place on a cool autumn afternoon in front of the College's newest building, the library that was dedicated just two days before, and in the shadow of Middlebury's oldest buildings—Painter, Old Chapel and Starr, which make up Old Stone Row.
Following the ceremony, from left: faculty marshal Carol Rifelj, board chairman Frederick Fritz '68, President Ronald D. Liebowitz, and President Emeritus John M. McCardell Jr.
Liebowitz officially took over the job of president on July 1, succeeding John M. McCardell Jr., who had been president of the College since 1992. On Sunday, Frederick M. Fritz '68, chairman of the Middlebury Board of Trustees and head of the search committee that recommended Liebowitz to the board, formally named Liebowitz president and presented him with the College's most enduring symbol: a cane donated to the College in the early 19th century by one of Middlebury's founders, Gamaliel Painter.
The three presidents emeriti—John McCardell, Olin Robison and James Armstrong—then symbolically handed off a presidential medallion to Liebowitz. McCardell and his wife Bonnie had commissioned and donated to the College a new presidential medallion, which takes the place of one struck by the Board of Trustees in honor of President Samuel Stratton, but which no longer had room to add the names of future presidents.
A crowd of several hundred family and friends, faculty, staff, students, alumni and townspeople gathered for the ceremony in front of the new library on a gray fall day, in which change was literally in the air: a brisk north wind carried red and yellow leaves aloft and brought an early taste of winter. The ceremony began with a procession by Middlebury faculty, administrators and trustees—and representatives from colleges all over the country—in academic regalia. Liebowitz then heard welcoming messages from spokespeople for segments of the Middlebury community and beyond, including students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees.
Among the welcoming speeches were remarks in nine different languages—German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and Portuguese—by representatives of the Middlebury College Language Schools, where Liebowitz spent two summers studying Russian.
Andrew Jacobi '05, president of Middlebury College's Student Government Association, told the crowd that he met with Liebowitz and expected a brief encounter, but instead the new president engaged Jacobi in an hour-long discussion. "I left his office with the feeling that someone truly important cared about what I had to say," Jacobi said.
Speaking just before Liebowitz delivered his inaugural address, former Middlebury professor David Stameshkin, author of a two-volume history of the College, put the moment in historical perspective for the audience. [Read David Stameshkin's speech.]
In his remarks [read the speech here], Liebowitz recognized the three former presidents, acknowledged the help over the years of his colleagues in the faculty and administration at Middlebury, and added special thanks to his wife, Jessica: "We enter this challenge together, as partners, and I feel blessed that she is here beside me."
Liebowitz, whose academic background is as a political geographer, also spoke of Middlebury College's history, which dates to 1800, its "remarkably rich international curriculum" and its sense of place, geographic and human. He also talked about two charges: to encourage creativity and innovation, and promote the close relationship between learners and their teachers.
"What we do best," Liebowitz said, "is give students the opportunity to work directly with faculty—dedicated teachers who have mastered specific bodies of knowledge, who are mentors and motivators, and who see their role as participating in a four-year process of opening the hearts and minds of their students and preparing them for a lifetime of learning."