At its meeting in New York City in December, the board of trustees voted to grant tenure to six Middlebury faculty members: Randy Ganiban, classics; Barbara Hofer, psychology; Roger Sandwick, chemistry and biochemistry; Daniel Scharstein, computer science; Marion Wells, English; and Dave West, geology.
According to the Middlebury College Handbook, tenure is awarded by recommendation of the president and vote of the board of trustees to faculty members who are of "exceptional quality as teachers and who are scholars or artists of significant achievement as recognized by the broader academic community beyond Middlebury."
An article in the January issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine titled "100 Best Private College Values" overstates Middlebury's costs by $7,100. The magazine ranked 100 institutions according to quality, cost, and value.
The magazine erroneously listed Middlebury's total cost to students as $46,682 per year, and stated that this figure made Middlebury the most expensive college in the nation.
Following several calls and e-mails to the magazine, the writer of the piece, Brian Knestout, reported that the magazine's inflated cost figures for Middlebury were due to someone's failure to take into account the fact that the College's comprehensive fee includes room and board. Apparently the magazine added an amount believed to be the additional cost of room and board, without contacting the College for confirmation.
In a telephone conversation with Phil Benoit, Middlebury's director of public affairs, Knestout stated that the magazine's Web site would be changed to reflect the correct figure (see http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2003/12/privatecollege.html), and that a correction would run in the March issue of the magazine.
A renovated ski cabin at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl—the oldest original base lodge in the nation—will be renamed Hubbard Cabin in honor of Richard C. Hubbard '36, the College's first ski coach, in a ceremony to be held on Saturday, Jan. 17. The Middlebury Ski Club will join members of the Middlebury College community in a dedication that will include remarks by Rick and Pete Hubbard, sons of Richard "Dick" Hubbard, who was also one of the founding members of the club.
The cabin was constructed in 1938 by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) with the help of local residents, including Dick Hubbard. The structure was built with trees that CCC members, Hubbard, and others had cut in 1937 to clear the first ski trails at the Snow Bowl. Serving as the base lodge for the Snow Bowl until the current lodge was completed in 1962, the cabin became a caretaker's residence for approximately three decades. It has been vacant since the mid-1990s.
Middlebury faculty member David Napier, organizer of the cabin's renovation and former board member of the ski club, and other ski club members worked for the past several years to renovate the cabin. It will now serve as a meeting place for the club, which operates a ski racing program for children in elementary school through college.
For additional information about the cabin and Dick Hubbard see: /about/pubaff_port/news_releases/news_2004/snowbowl_cabin.htm.
Simon Isaacs '04 won second prize in the College Essay Contest sponsored by the National Geographic Traveler on Campus. In an e-mail informing Isaacs that his essay on South Africa was a winner in the contest, Keith Bellows, editor in chief of National Geographic Traveler said, "The selection of your essay from among those we considered confirms your ability to capture the spirit of our theme, 'Experience of a Lifetime.'"
Isaacs will receive an award of $500, and his essay will be published on the National Geographic Web site in March at www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/0403/oncampus.
Faculty member Ted Perry, film and media culture, was one of 13 jurors for the motion pictures category of the American Film Institute (AFI) Awards of 2003. Perry, an AFI trustee emeritus, served on last year's jury as well. Two juries—one for television and one for motion pictures—are made up of scholars, artists, critics, and AFI trustees. Names of jury members remain confidential until the awards have been announced.
Among the 10 films receiving AFI's recognition this year are "American Splendor," "Finding Nemo," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Monster," and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." For a complete list of winners see http://www.afi.com/tvevents/afiawards03/movies03.aspx.
Middlebury President John McCardell has been at the center of a lively debate over the past several months about controversial proposals to change NCAA Division III rules. As chair of the president's council for Division III collegiate athletics, McCardell presided over deliberations about a recommendation to eliminate an exception to Division III rules dating from 1983 that permits Division III schools that field some Division I teams to award scholarships to athletes who play on those teams. The proposal to eliminate the exception was part of a package of proposed rule changes that was voted on at the January meeting of the NCAA in Nashville, Tenn. On Jan. 13, member institutions voted overwhelmingly to retain the exception and permit the eight schools involved to continue to award athletic scholarships.
McCardell, who supported the recommendation, was quoted in The Gazette, a Colorado Springs newspaper, saying, "I certainly would not expect the issue of the waiver to come again for a very long time."
In an article titled "Midd-Life Crisis" in the December 17-29, 2003, issue of the Burlington, Vt., weekly newspaper Seven Days, Editor Paula Routly '82, wrote about her experiences returning to the classroom at Middlebury College. Routly signed up for a fall term course called "Politics and the Novel," which was team-taught by Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of English Alison Byerly and Associate Professor of Political Science Jeff Cason. The course required a total of 4,801 pages of reading, according to Routly. She took the course as a typical student would, participating in discussions in the classroom and online, writing papers, and receiving grades. She described the course as a "book group on steroids." Noting that reading assignments ranged from 400 to 600 pages a week, Routly, who attended every class, described the discipline needed to keep up as satisfying. "I came to look forward to my six-hour reading sessions—it was like yoga for the brain," said Routly.
"Do I feel any smarter?" asks Routly in summing up her experience. "No, but I read eight books and got a midd-life look at my alma mater that convinced me that it's a much more 'serious' place than it was when I was kicking around on campus." Read the entire article at /about/pubaff_port/news_releases/news_2004/Paula+School.htm.
At 15 below zero, bright sunshine fails to mitigate harsh, if slight, winds. Pedestrians cross campus with an urgent gait, heads bowed, faces averted from northern exposure.