MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The MacArthur Foundation recently named two people with close ties to Middlebury College as recipients of its renowned “genius grants.”
Deborah Bial, the founder and president of the Posse Foundation who received an honorary degree from Middlebury, and Peter Cole, the publisher, translator, and poet who attended the Arabic School and taught at Middlebury, were among the 24 recipients of the 2007 MacArthur Fellowships — five-year, unrestricted grants awarded to individuals who exhibit exceptional creativity in their work and the prospect for more innovative accomplishments in the future.
Since 1981 the MacArthur Fellows Program has generously supported the intellectual, social, and artistic endeavors of 756 supremely talented individuals from mathematicians, economists, and molecular biologists, to human rights leaders, performance artists, and fishermen.
Deborah Bial is an education strategist whose Posse Foundation is an alternative model for identifying and supporting promising young people from less advantaged, urban environments. By selecting motivated high school students and inviting them to join a “posse,” Bial forms small groups of pre-collegians who participate in an intensive eight-month training program that builds skills and forms a social support system for college.
Middlebury College was the fourth institution to align with Bial’s foundation and has been accepting “posse classes” since 1998. The Posse Foundation currently partners with 28 colleges and universities.
In May 2003, Bial received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Middlebury College during commencement exercises.
“Deborah Bial has transformed the face of higher education and the way that admissions officials are thinking about their work,” said Shirley Ramirez, Middlebury’s dean for institutional diversity and former vice president of the Posse Foundation.
“She is truly a genius and innovator because she is challenging all of us to expand our notions of merit, leadership and diversity. The Posse Foundation has pushed higher education to consider issues related to access, retention, and what it means to really make diversity sustainable at a college for every student and for the entire community. Debbie has changed Middlebury in the most dramatic ways during the last decade through our partnership with The Posse Foundation. We are forever grateful for her leadership, talent and fearless spirit.”
Peter Cole’s highly regarded translations of the poetry of Solomon Ibn Gabirol and Shmuel HaNagid, two of the great Hebrew poets of the Andalusian “Golden Age,” offer readers a lyrical illustration of the extraordinary Arab-Jewish cultural partnership that flourished in 10th- through 12th-century Spain. A poet himself, Cole’s translations infuse medieval verse with contemporary meaning while remaining faithful to the original text.
Also a publisher, Cole’s Ibis Editions produces little-known works translated from Arabic, Hebrew, German, French, and Ladino, enlightening English-speaking audiences to the thriving literary tradition of the Levant.
Currently living and working in Jerusalem, Cole taught January term classes at Middlebury in 2000, 2004, and 2007; was a speaker in the Silberman Symposium in Jewish Studies; and attended the Arabic School in the summer of 2004 with his wife, the writer Adina Hoffman, who also taught at Middlebury during the January term.
Robert Schine, the Curt C. and Else Silberman Professor of Jewish Studies at Middlebury, said: “When I learned that Peter Cole was awarded the MacArthur grant, my first thought was: Sometimes things just turn out right. For decades Peter has labored away in his Jerusalem study — writing, translating, publishing — all for the sake of a poetic vision that encompasses and transcends political and religious divisions.
“The MacArthur Foundation sees the organic unity of his work — whether in the artistry of his translations of medieval Hebrew poetry, in his translations from modern Arabic, or in the way his small publishing house, Ibis Editions, brings the literatures of the Middle East together, and to an English readership.”
Concerning Cole at Middlebury, Professor Schine added: “What the MacArthur Foundation probably does not know is that Middlebury students find Peter to be an inspiring teacher. After one of his classes about the cultural intricacy of Hebrew poetry in medieval Spain, one of his students said, ‘He taught us this very complex material without making us feel like idiots.’ To me that’s a sign of mastery.”
MacArthur fellows must be citizens or residents of the United States, and cannot hold elected office or high-level government positions. The stipend for each MacArthur Fellowship recipient is $500,000.
For more information about Deborah Bial, Peter Cole, or the 2007 “class” of MacArthur Fellows, go to www.macfound.org.