MiddNews
Community members, legislators, and volunteer agency representatives from Addison County heard details about Middlebury's service learning efforts-which combine academic work with service to the community-at a recent luncheon for Vermont Higher Education Week. Administrators, faculty members, and students discussed with other guests various programs and classes designed to integrate coursework and community service.
David Parfitt (biology) described a course he taught in January term 2000 in which 26 students learned about the biology of Multiple Sclerosis, and also how it affects its victims personally. Students visited with Addison County residents afflicted with the disease, and performed household chores, errands, and helped with childcare. The social interaction with these MS sufferers was a service to the patients, but it was also a part of the learning process for students. Other presenters at the luncheon included Nan Jenks-Jay (environmental studies), Amy Gibans McGlashan (Vermont Campus Compact), and Peter Nelson (geography).
For the fourth consecutive year, three Middlebury seniors have received Thomas J. Watson Fellowships. Each will receive a $22,000 stipend to support a scholarly project. Molly Holmberg, a geography major, will travel to Peru, Mongolia, and Madagascar to pursue her project, "Mapping Footsteps: Travel Routes of Rural Highland Communities." Biology major Elizabeth Harper, whose topic is "Exploring the Diversity of Tropical Frogs," will travel to Tanzania, Guyana, and Thailand, and Jonathan Reiber, a religion major, will study "Faith-Based Peacemaking Communities and the End of Estrangement" in Italy, Northern Ireland, and South Africa.
The Watson Fellowship Program was established in 1968 by the children of Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM. Students are selected on the basis of character, academic record, leadership potential, willingness to delve into another culture, and the personal significance of the proposed project.
Two student video producers recently received honors. Ben Coello '01 won the Middlebury College Friends of the Art Museum Award for Distinction in the Visual Arts as the outstanding Middlebury College senior. His video project, "Fantastic," was one reason he received the award, which also recognized his outstanding academic record, his service to the community and his leadership qualities.
Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo submitted his video production, "Wicked Harmonies," to an online video contest (www.firsteye.com) and won the grand prize-a Sony VX-2000 camera. "Wicked Harmonies" was produced last fall as a part of Sight and Sound II, a course taught by Jeff Ruoff, assistant professor of film/video.
Not to be overshadowed by the arts, the sciences have produced students of achievement as well. Physics student John Colianni was awarded a grant for $2,200 by Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society for a project titled "Identifying UV 'Light Bulbs for Probing Cold Material in Supernova Remnants." The project will be supervised by Middlebury professor of physics Frank Winkler.
Colianni was also one of 70 students nationwide selected to present his research in Washington, D.C., at an event, titled "Undergraduate Research Posters on the Hill," sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research.
Middlebury College ranks number one nationally on the list of colleges and universities with alumni currently serving in the Peace Corps according to Charles R. Baquet III, the organization's acting director. In a letter to Middlebury president John McCardell, Baquet said the tally of Middlebury graduates currently serving as Peace Corps volunteers is 32. It has been 40 years this year since the Peace Corps was established during the presidency of John F. Kennedy.
Two items related to Middlebury's prominence in matters environmental: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $284,500 grant to Middlebury to strengthen its senior-level environmental studies course, which requires students to present research on local environmental issues to the community. The grant will also improve the science component of the curriculum, expand student research, and create internship opportunities for environmental studies students abroad.
Middlebury's commitment to the environment was noted prominently in the April 6 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education in "The Chronicle Review" section. An opinion essay by Dartmouth's Noel Perrin titled "The Greenest Campuses: an Idiosyncratic Guide" describes the administrative commitment to Middlebury's environmental efforts in the areas of academics and operations, including the environmental studies program, composting, and pesticide and herbicide-free policies. Last year Perrin wrote an article for Vermont Life magazine about the "green" features of Middlebury's Bicentennial Hall.
In 1965, Middlebury became the first undergraduate liberal arts college in the country to offer a major in environmental studies, which is currently the fourth largest major on campus with an average of 50 students (about 9 percent of the senior class) who graduate each year with a degree in the field.
A year ago, in April of 2000, the Middlebury College community was rocked by the deaths of four first-year students who were killed in an automobile accident. This year a number of commemorative activities were scheduled during the first week in April.
The Angels Award was established by the parents of the memorialized students. It is given annually to a sophomore woman of color who embodies the spirit of Anisa Gamble, Tiffany Holmes, Iniko Johnson, and Maika Prewitt.
Other observances included a ceremony to dedicate a grove of memorial trees planted in memory of the women at a site near Bicentennial Hall, and a concert by the Orange Grove Gospel Choir. A booklet titled, "4 Divas Writing Project" was produced as a collection of reflections and reminiscences about the four women.
Cook Commons plans a 60s retrospective in mid-April. The event is a reflection on and celebration of the years 1965-1975. Organizers see the occasion as an example of how the commons system provides opportunities to blend perspectives among students, faculty, and staff members. In this case, there is an opportunity for those on campus who "lived" the history of that time to speak directly with those who did not.