MiddNews
Fred Rogers, host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for over 33 years, will be the speaker for the College's commencement ceremonies on May 27, 2001. The host of the long-running PBS children's television program announced recently that he will end production of the program in January 2001 after almost 1,000 episodes.
Early decision letters have gone out from the Middlebury admissions office to some 547 applicants. The number of early decision applicants this year represents a seven percent rise in numbers of applications over last year. Those who are accepted must agree to withdraw their applications to other schools and enroll at Middlebury.
President John McCardell presented a check for $15,000 to the Middlebury Fire Department to help the department purchase a thermal imaging camera. The College's donation came about following a request to the College on behalf of the department by five Middlebury students who are volunteer fire fighters with the Middlebury Fire Department. The remainder of the camera's $30,000 cost will be met by donations from a variety of other sources.
John Elder, professor of English and environmental studies is the editor of "The Return of the Wolf: Reflections on the Future of Wolves in the Northeast." Published by University Press of New England, the book is part of the Middlebury Bicentennial Series in Environmental Studies. Among those contributing essays to the book are Bill McKibben, and Rick Bass. The issue of restoring wolf populations to the north woods has provoked an intense debate. The book explores a variety of views on the subject and shows the complexity of the biological and ecological issues involved.
The Sheldon Museum and Middlebury College have announced plans to co-locate their archives in a new facility on museum property adjacent to the museum in downtown Middlebury. A modern facility is planned that will have sophisticated climate control, technology to preserve collections, and electronic access to off-site materials. Planners from the College and the museum see co-location of archival materials as an opportunity to provide improved access to town and College historical documents for researchers, students, the region's historical societies, community organizations, and businesses. The new facility is expected to include space for classroom instruction in addition to areas for exhibitions.
The boards, glass, and scoreboards that were removed from Duke Nelson arena when Panther hockey teams started using the new Chip Kenyon Arena were donated by the College to the Middlebury Amateur Hockey Association and installed in the youth hockey program's Howard E. Brush arena. The College's old Zamboni was also donated to the youth hockey program. College President John McCardell spoke at the dedication of the refurbished arena, and dropped the ceremonial first puck as the Middlebury Union High School Tigers faced off for an inaugural game against Rutland on December 2.
The Middlebury Career Services Office (CSO) has been designated a "firm-wide school" by the financial services firm, Goldman Sachs. This designation means the firm recruits at Middlebury for all divisions of the company. CSO staff said that the upgraded status conferred by the Goldman Sachs decision has attracted the attention of other leading financial firms. Several that had not previously visited Middlebury recruited here for the first time last fall.
Robert "Bobby" Ritter has been named the new head coach of Middlebury College football. Ritter has served for the last six seasons as the football panthers' offensive coordinator under Mickey Heineken, who served as head coach for 28 years. Heineken, who coached this year's team to a tie for the NESCAC championship, announced his retirement following the team's final game this season.