MiddNews
A monthly update of news and events on the Middlebury campus
Stewart Professor of English and Environmental Studies John Elder has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for 2005 for a book project titled, "Sugaring, Forestry, and the Destiny of Vermont." This year's 81st annual awards from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation were announced April 7. Only 186 scholars nationwide were chosen from among more than 3,000 who applied.
The book will combine an environmental studies topic with a work of creative nonfiction—a personal narrative of involvement in three sustainable forestry initiatives in northeastern Addison County.
Elder is the sixth Middlebury faculty member to earn a Guggenheim Fellowship since 1987. Four of the previous awards went to members of the English department: Sydney Lea (1987), Terry Hummer (1992), Jay Parini (1993) and Robert Cohen (2003). Michael Collier, director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, received a Guggenheim in 1995.
For more information about how the fellowship will support Elder's work, see www.middlebury.edu/about/newsevents/news632484824573135400.htm.
Former Middlebury College Vice President and Director of Development Walter Brooker died on March 30. He was 88.
Brooker came to the College in 1956 as executive assistant to the president with primary responsibility for development. In 1962, he became vice president and director of development. After serving under three presidents, he retired in 1981. During his tenure at the College, the total amount of gifts, grants, and bequests received exceeded $48 million.
In a message to the campus community, President Ronald D. Liebowitz said, "Few individuals in the history of the College have demonstrated the degree of affection, loyalty, and service to Middlebury that Walter Booker demonstrated on a daily basis for many, many years."
A memorial service will be held later in the spring. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Walter E. Brooker '37 and Barbara Carrick Brooker '40 Scholarship Fund at the College, or to The Porter Medical Center in Middlebury.
Springtime means lamb is what's for dinner for many of the gourmet persuasion, and if you had walked into the social space of McCullough Hall on March 22, your nose alone would have told you that lamb was the entree of choice. It was being cooked in abundance---but not for general consumption.
The occasion was a gathering of college dining service professionals from all over New England and parts of Canada at the 2005 regional meeting of the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) Conference held here at Middlebury. A highlight of the event (and the reason for the tempting aroma of lamb) was the association's culinary challenge. Eleven chefs from some of the 38 schools in the association competed for top honors. Each chef had one hour to prepare a dish featuring boneless lamb loin. As the American Culinary Federation-approved judges wandered the hall inspecting preparation techniques, a huge screen on the stage showed close-up pictures of the chefs' work. Judges looked for organization, creativity, taste, skills and craftsmanship.
Lisa Charbonneau of the University of Connecticut's Storrs Campus copped first place in the challenge with her preparation of "Roasted Lamb Loin with Gorgonzola Sauce and Pear Chutney," accompanied by "Papardelle Pasta with Walnuts and Beet Sauce." For more about the culinary challenge, see http://www.nacufs.org/regions/northeast/education/regional.html.
Roger Sandwick of the Middlebury College Chemistry and Biochemistry Department has been awarded the 2005 Perkins Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Perkins award is given every year to a member of the Middlebury College natural sciences division, alternating each year between mathematics and the natural sciences. The Perkins award honors outstanding performance as a teacher.
Sandwick has taught a variety of chemistry courses at Middlebury, including "Fundamentals of Chemistry," "Organic Chemistry," "Biochemistry of Macromolecules" and "Current Topics in Biochemistry." He is the co-author of several textbooks, including three study guides and a book of laboratory exercises, and has contributed to numerous publications.
Butch Varno received an Emmy last month. Middlebury resident Varno was the subject of a 2003 ESPN television segment that that ran on the network's "Sports Center" program, and captured the longtime tradition among Middlebury College athletes of picking up the wheelchair-bound member of the local community at his apartment and bringing him to home football and basketball contests.
Varno and Andy Tenet, ESPN producer of the segment titled "Picking Up Butch," came to center ice between periods during the NCAA Division III men's ice hockey national championship tournament, where Tenet presented the Emmy he won for the piece to Varno.
Middlebury College women's ice hockey coach Bill Mandigo has been named the American Hockey Coaches Association national coach of the year. This marks the third time Mandigo has won the award after garnering the honor in 2001 and 2004. Earlier this season, Mandigo became the all-time leader in wins among all NCAA women's ice hockey coaches.
This season was another exceptional one for Mandigo and his Panther team. Middlebury amassed a 26-3-1 record en route to NESCAC and NCAA championships. For more about Mandigo, see /athletics/news_box/2004-2005/whockey040605.htm.
S. Welcker Taylor '06 and Chui Ying "Rachel" Fong '07 have each received a Shepherd Poverty Alliance internship, an eight-week position that requires them to work directly with impoverished people and communities in the eastern and southeastern United States. Fong and Taylor are two of 50 interns selected by Washington and Lee University for the upcoming summer. Taylor will intern for the department of public advocacy in London, Ky., and Fong is scheduled for placement with Cabin Creek Health Center in Dawes, W.Va.
While still in high school, Fong joined several organized service trips to remote areas of Guangdong, China, and war-torn Sri Lanka. During two vacation breaks while at Middlebury, she traveled to Juarez, Mexico, on missionary trips organized by the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, a student organization on campus.
Taylor, a history major who chose law as the focus for his internship, also has a long-standing record of public service. In the summer of 2003, he helped create the Blueprint to End Chronic Homelessness Program while interning for the city in his home town of Chattanooga, Tenn., and in the fall of 2004, he co-founded the Middlebury College Civil Liberties Union, which, according to Taylor, is the first campus chapter of the ACLU to be started in the state.