East Meets West
If a Hollywood film director had choreographed the setting, most viewers would howl “fake.”
But reality is what it is, and, after record-breaking days of rain and gloom in northern California, it was wonderfully symbolic when bright sun finally broke through the clouds as Clara Yu took the stage to become the 12th president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
The sun wasn’t the only thing beaming. From the gala dinner the night before through the day’s more formal ceremony, Monterey faculty and students radiated happiness. None more than the new president herself, as she greeted an audience which included her family and some elementary school classmates from her native Taiwan, whom she had not seen in more than 40 years.
In many ways Clara Yu—an experienced internationalist—embodies all the attributes of the institution she now leads. She once directed the Middlebury Language Schools (while also serving as vice president for languages at the College) and later founded the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting liberal education, with an emphasis on emerging technologies. As Middlebury Trustee and MIIS Board Chair William Kieffer ’64 said while introducing her, “Hang on to your hats!”
Another Middlebury trustee, Felix Rohatyn ’49, was the inauguration’s featured speaker. A former U.S. ambassador to France and international investment banker who helped orchestrate the Time Warner and ITT consolidations, Rohatyn claimed the Middlebury-Monterey merger is the most exciting one he’s ever been involved with. Together, MIIS and Middlebury teach students from 90 countries; yet, Rohatyn spoke of the hard times U.S. schools face when trying to recruit international students. The number of foreign students in the U.S. has dropped in recent years, largely a result of tightened student visa requirements following the September 11, 2001, attacks. “The country needs to get on the ball if it wants to attract tomorrow’s Nobel laureates,” Rohatyn proclaimed. “Schools like MIIS and Middlebury are the schools of the future.”
With roots in both California and Vermont, the inauguration truly was a case of East meets West. Bagpipers led the faculty, clad in traditional academic regalia, to the podium, and the first readings at the event were from the Book of Rites , written at least 2,200 years ago, in which the Chinese philosopher Confucius stressed that we all live in one world. (All copies of that book were burned in the year 213 B.C.E. on the orders of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. A scholar later transcribed the entire text from memory.)
In her remarks, Yu said that the ruler who burned those books believed ignorance kept people under control. “But knowledge,” she countered, “is the first line of defense from terror and hatred.”
Of course, today’s challenges include lethal weapons of mass annihilation that have become more affordable and more portable. “Violence seems the choice solution for so many. How do we turn this around?” Yu asked. The answer, she said, is to train more multilingual people as international problem solvers. “We will build a network of global problem solvers,” she said matter-of-factly.
The fate of the world may depend on it.
Everything You’ve Wanted to Know about Commencement
Location, Location: In the 206 years of Middlebury commencement exercises, degrees have been conferred in several locales, including Mead Chapel, along Old Stone Row, and Battell Beach (behind Battell Hall). Since 2004, Middlebury’s commencement has taken place on the expansive lawn between Voter Hall and the McCullough Student Center.
Rain or Shine: To accommodate all of the family members of the graduates, the College now holds commencement at the outdoor Voter location—come rain or shine. Tents are set up to provide shelter for at least some of the crowd, and live broadcast stations are made available in the McCullough Social Space and in Mead Chapel.
Speech, Speech! Each year, a student speaker and a commencement speaker deliver commencement addresses. The process for choosing the commencement speaker begins more than a year before, when the Honorary Degree Committee first convenes. Composed of students, faculty, and trustees, the HD Committee meets several times a year and wades through a number of nominations before submitting a recommendation to the president, who chooses the speaker.
The student speaker is selected during spring term. A call for submissions goes out to the senior class, and candidates submit draft speeches to be considered by a committee of four students (selected by the heads of the Senior Committee, the editor of the Campus, and the president of the Student Government Association). Finalists make mock presentations before the committee, which ultimately chooses the designated speaker. The secretary of the College serves as an ex- officio, nonvoting member of the committee. This year, 12 seniors submitted speeches for consideration.
Programs, Get Yer Programs, Here! Queen City Printers, in Burlington, prints 6,000 commencement programs (and 100 in large-print), which are designed by the College’s Reprographic Services. In addition to containing the lyrics to “Gamaliel Painter’s Cane” and Middlebury’s alma mater, the program also provides a detailed record of participants and dignitaries. Members of the Board of Trustees are listed, as are the names of the faculty and student marshals. Each graduate, grouped by major, is listed. Also recorded are those who graduated with distinction; those who received departmental honors; the students appointed to Phi Beta Kappa; descriptions of senior prizes and awards, and the names of the graduates who received them; the names of endowed scholarships received by members of the class of 2006; and bios of the honorary degree recipients. Because much of the program’s content—graduates with distinction, departmental awards, Phi Beta Kappa—isn’t determined until the last minute, Reprographics and Queen City Printers have a very short window in which to produce the finished product. This year, Reprographics sent the digital file to Queen City on Thursday evening and had programs in hand by Friday afternoon.
To Each, A Cane: Since 1995, each graduating senior receives not only a diploma but also a replica of Gamaliel Painter’s cane. Painter, a founder of the College and patron of the town, often strode around the village with his wooden walking stick. This cane is now one of the College’s most treasured artifacts and is carried by the president in academic processions.
Nations United: The flags that fly from the roofline of Voter Hall represent the home countries of the class of 2006. This year, flags from 38 countries—from Algeria to Zimbabwe—and one territory (Guam) were on display.
True Colors: The colorful academic regalia sported by faculty members originated at Oxford and Cambridge, in England, in the 1300s. Each costume features a gown and a hood, and some include caps. Traditionally the gowns are black; though, in recent years, institutions have adopted their school’s colors—cardinal red for Stanford, crimson for Harvard, and so on. The size and shape of the hood distinguishes the college degree of the wearer. The inside of the hood bears the color of the institution that conferred the degree; the outside color corresponds to the field of study, such as dark blue for philosophy or scarlet for theology.
The March: Seniors march in alphabetical order, within their academic department, also arranged alphabetically. (Students who are double or triple majors are asked to designate which department they want to walk with.) The first senior to receive his degree this year was Ryan Armstrong, an American civilization major from Whitman, Massachusetts. The last senior to cross the stage was Lauren Curatolo, a women’s and gender studies major from Bayside, New York. During the procession, student marshals lead the students onto the event site. They were followed by the faculty marshal, faculty members, trustees, the College administration, and honorary degree recipients.
Drink Up: Dining Services maintains two tents stocked with iced water, hot water and tea bags, lemonade, hot chocolate, and coffee. On hand this year: 350 gallons of iced water, 320 gallons of lemonade, 310 gallons of iced tea, 50 gallons of regular coffee, 35 gallons of decaf, and 20 gallons of hot chocolate.
The Landscape: How much planning goes into the physical aspect of the event? Facilities Services begins planning in January, when it orders tents and sound and lighting equipment. By commencement weekend, 13 tents have been erected on campus and more than 6,000 folding chairs have been set up on the Voter lawn. Staffers arrive at the graduation site well before the sun rises (at 5:00 a.m. to be precise) to make a final sweep of the area, assist Dining Services in setting up the beverage tents, and deliver programs.
Mind Your Manners
Each summer more than 1,200 people arrive on campus to attend one of the nine Languages Schools, and since the students must forsake English during the course of their summer studies at Middlebury, it’s helpful for others to know a few basic words—in nine languages. So if you’re visiting the College this summer and someone holds the door open for you, check to see if they’re wearing a button indicating their Language School and offer one of the following thank yous. (And to make the exercise just a bit more challenging, you’ll have to match the word with the language.)
1. Gracias
2. Arigatoo gozaimasu
3. Shukran
4. Danke
5. Spasibo
6. Grazie
7. Obrigado
8. Merci
9. Xiexie
|
A. Arabic
B. Chinese
C. French
D. German
E. Italian
F. Japanese
G. Portuguese
H. Russian
I. Spanish |
Answers: 1 I; 2 F; 3 A; 4 D; 5 H; 6 E; 7 G; 8 C; 9 B
The Mighty Pen
Artist Edward Koren started drawing cartoons when he was a child and has since contributed nearly 1,000 drawings to the New Yorker , as well as to the New York Times , Boston Globe , Sports Illustrated , Esquire , Vogue, Fortune , and Vanity Fair . A collection of his work for the New Yorker , spanning the years 1990–2006, is on exhibit at Middlebury’s Museum of Art until August 13, 2006.
Q&A
Back in April, New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert was on campus to deliver a lecture titled “After the Ice: Reporting from a Warming World.” Kolbert’s three-part New Yorker series on climate change recently won the coveted National Magazine Award for Public Interest Journalism and served as the primary material for her new book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change .
Following her talk, which was part of the College’s Meet the Press lecture series, Kolbert sat down with Middlebury Magazine to discuss what she has learned and how Middlebury can impact the environmental landscape.
Q: What motivated you to write this book?
A: When I started at theNew Yorker back in 1999, I was already concerned about global warming, but it took me a long time to figure out how to write about it. Tragically, people were starting to find very tangible things happening that they could point to and say this is global, and that, sadly, made it easier. Over eight years, I logged a lot of miles, which was a fossil-fuel-intensive thing to do. I went to Alaska twice; I went to Greenland; I went to Iceland; and I went to the Netherlands. Under the instinct of my editors, all this reporting grew into a three-part series in the New Yorker , and then into the book.
Q: So how much did you know about climate science when you started? Were you like the rest of us, a lay observer, a pretty good reader of newspapers and magazines ?
A: Yes, and what was shocking to me was that I was convinced from what I had read that there were certain unresolved issues about climate change. But I found that the deeper I got into it, that there are no unresolved issues. I mean, the basics have been resolved. We can argue around the margins, but the basics have been resolved for a very long time, and that was a very sobering thing for me to learn.
Q: You said this is stuff that people have known for 25 years and haven’t really done anything about. Twenty-five years covers both Republican and Democratic administrations, which suggests that if it’s politicized, it’s politicized in an apolitical way; that it doesn’t matter who’s in power, because they’re all going to find a reason to reject the conclusions or the science because it doesn’t represent their agendas or their best interests.
A: Well, you’ve got two forms of the same thing, and if you look at what has happened with emissions recently, you won’t see much difference at all. The Clinton administration, to give them some credit, negotiated and signed the Kyoto Protocol, but they never submitted it to the Senate, where it never would have passed. Now, you can criticize them very fairly for not putting any political muscle behind this issue. There are things they could have done short of getting the treaty ratified to raise public awareness, and they didn’t put a lot of political capital behind it and that’s just a fact; it’s not making a judgment. Then what happened is the Bush administration came in, and they started to unravel even the small steps that had been taken under the Clinton administration. So now we are further behind in terms of a political consensus than we were when George Bush Sr. went to Rio in 1992 and signed the framework on climate change. We are now disavowing that commitment, so we’ve actually been taking steps backward.
Q: One of the things you said was, we know what we have to do and we’ve known what we have to do for a long time. So what is it we have to do? What is it that we haven’t done, and can we still do it?
A: Well, there’s only one way, if the problem is emissions of greenhouse gases—which it is—then what is the solution? Well, it’s to emit less. That’s the only solution. We can cut our consumption, that’s really our only option.
Q: You’ve spent a certain amount of time in and around academic institutions. Do you see them as leaders in any way in effecting any kind of change on this issue, and if you do, what kind of change do you see happening in those places and what kind of leadership role do you think they could play?
A: Well, I think there’s a real tension on many campuses right now at what I would call “elite institutions”—for lack of a better term—between understanding the problem and wanting to participate in dealing with it, especially given the building campaign that many campuses are on. You build a new theater and that’s a wonderful thing, but you’ve got to heat that theater, air-condition that theater, and it’s very hard to cut emissions when you’re adding capacity like that. So I think that there’s a tension there that has unfortunately prevented campuses from taking a leadership role, and the priority has been given to new capital projects as opposed to making old capital projects more efficient. I do think there could be a tremendous leadership role, and I think that colleges and universities have an obligation as places where people are being educated, where the next generation is going to be educated, where taxpayers’ money is being used, where the future is being molded. If colleges and universities started to really take serious action, it could have a tremendous impact.
Q: What if one of the leads that they take—and this is something Middlebury has been doing—is trying to make their buildings energy-efficient as they’re putting them up or trying to change some of the infrastructure, like here, where they’re hoping to replace the power plant with locally grown biomass. Obviously we have a lot of wood here in Vermont. Do you see that as a sort of leadership?
A: The point is always, in any climate, to reduce your emissions. So if you build a new building and under normal circumstances it would put out 100,000 tons of CO2 and you build it to only put out 50,000 tons of CO2, then obviously, you’ve saved that 50,000 tons, but you’ve also added 50,000 tons, so it’s really a pretty simple mathematical calculation. Now if you build that new building to put out 50,000 more tons, and you make other changes on campus to save 50,000 tons, well then you’re still neutral, which is better, but cutting emissions really means cutting emissions and there’s just no way around it.
Q: What about the role of programs like Middlebury’s environmental studies program?
A: I think they are really important. They inspire kids to take this issue seriously, and once you take it seriously, when you really do the numbers, what you see is needed are really serious actions. So it’s great to educate kids, and it’s great to inspire them and from my conversations with Middlebury students, I can see that that’s what’s happening here. The next step is to take that inspiration and to translate it into something tangible.
Behind the Curtain
During two days in April, the Middlebury theater department’s production of The Bewitched was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The ambitious play—more than 50 roles were cast—was one of four national finalists in the American College Theater Festival, earning the trip to the nation’s capital after wowing judges in regional competition. Between previews at Middlebury, performances at regionals, and the two curtain times in D.C., more than 1,000 people enjoyed the Middlebury production. What they weren’t privy to, however, were the 36 hours prior to the curtain going up at the Kennedy Center. Until now.
Monday afternoon: The two trucks ferrying sets for the performance arrive and the scenery is unloaded. Those who accompanied the trucks—and those who traveled on their own to Washington—get their first look at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.
It’s a stately space on the rooftop level of the facility, high above the Potomac River. The lobby and theater are decorated in lush purple colors, and rich wood defines the stage’s proscenium arch. The audience section is steeply raked, which, notes actor Bill Army ’07, will work well for many of the play’s dramatic monologues, which are directed out toward the audience, and facing up, addressing God.
Tuesday morning: Terrace Theater is a jumble of bodies, stage pieces, drapes, flying scenery. Two student technicians perch on ladders and lifts, as assistant technical director Hallie Zieselman barks out instructions. The student in the booth turns on each lighting cue for Hallie, who stands in the spotlight on stage, asking for the lights to be focused, shuttered, gelled, moved. The fog machine is lifted onto the stage and tested. Set designer Mark Evancho is working with a student on the flying items that must be dropped in and out of each scene. Director Richard Romagnoli arrives and surveys the space, wondering how the entrances originally staged for the aisles in Wright Theatre can be reworked for this much steeper space. It seems that several portions of the show will need to be restaged.
Backstage, the costumers and hair and makeup workers are hard at work. A character’s skirt is missing, so costume designer Jule Emerson rushes off to a fabric store so she can get material and quickly sew a replacement for the evening performance. Actors are already having their elaborate hairdos started—they’ll have to go to lunch with their hair in rollers and scarves. “Can we go to lunch together ?” asks one, worried about her odd look.
In a company of nearly 50, it’s Murphy’s Law that someone will be sick or hobbled, and this show is no exception. Actress Leah Day ’07 is on crutches—she suffered a fall during another production two weeks earlier and tore a ligament in her right knee. Her crutches have been incorporated into the performance and are now wrapped in black tape, made to look ragged, so she can fit in to the 14th-century period shown in The Bewitched. Meanwhile, leading actress Julia Proctor ’06 has come down with what may be the flu. She heads back to the hotel at 10:30 to rest. The cast agrees “not to tell Richard.”
Tuesday afternoon: 3:15, two hours before the dinner break. “Are you ready?” someone quips. Cast member Rachel Dunlap ’06 replies, “Well, we still have a couple of hours . . .” By 6:30, the lobby of the theater is starting to fill up, and backstage, lead actor Bill Army is hit with the first symptoms of food poisoning. (His performance will be flawless, though each time he exits the stage, he’ll rush to the bathroom.) As the clock ticks toward 7:00, it appears that last-minute jitters have subsided. The curtain rises.
Observed
At the May board meeting, the trustees unanimously approved the College’s strategic plan, “Knowledge Without Boundaries” (See ‘Thumbs Up). The Board also granted tenure to eight Middlebury faculty members. . . . Alex Stanton ’07 won the Student Government Association presidency. His first goal: implementing the Safe-Rides program. . . .Merisha Enoe ’08 and Angelica Towne ’08 received the Angels Award, an annual accolade presented to a sophomore woman of color who “embodies the spirit” of four Middlebury students who died in a car accident in 2000. This was the first year that there were co-recipients. . . . The Middlebury Open Queer Alliance held a panel discussion in April titled “Straight Talk about Gay Sex.” The forum, held in McCardell Bicentennial Hall, was well attended and filled with honest talk. . . . An anonymous donor pledged $20 million to the College and asked that the funds be directed toward the principal goals of the strategic plan. . . .Ainsley Close ’06, a four-year letter-winner on the women’s soccer team, was the inaugural winner of the Sally Guard ’84 Award. Established in memory of Guard, who succumbed to cancer in 2001, the award is given to one “whose display of support and caring, both on and off the pitch, is an inspiration to her teammates and coaches.” . . . A committee tapped to study human relations at the College issued its report this spring. Of the 35 recommendations, the primary proposal called for the creation of a dean of institutional diversity. . . . Pieter Broucke, associate professor of history of art and architecture, was awarded not one but three major humanities fellowships for his research project “Reconstructing the Pantheon of Agrippa: Architecture, Sculpture, and Meaning.” . . . Vermont congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Sanders was on campus in April, taking part in a panel discussion that focused on social activism and policy making. The panel was the culminating event for Midd8, a month-long series of events organized by students to raise awareness of global issues. . . . Cable Channel VH1 taped an episode of its program Best Week Ever at Pepin Gym in April. Students seemed less than enthused about the taping and turnout was low. . . .The Middlebury community raised more than $187,000 to benefit the American Cancer Society by participating in the national Relay for Life walking event. . . . Timothy Billings, associate professor of English, was awarded a major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The award is designed to foster interdisciplinary work at the highest level by allowing early- to mid-career academics to receive formal training in a discipline not originally their own. The grant will fund Billings’s study for a master’s degree in sinology at the School for Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. . . . Middlebury President Ron Liebowitz announced in April that the College would not invest in companies that support the Sudanese government and policies in Darfur. . . . Interior demolition began in Starr Library, kicking off the Axinn Center at Starr Library construction project. Removal of the Meredith Wing and foundation work for the Center’s new wings is expected to occur by the middle of summer. . . . The Mischords and the Dissipated Eight, two of the a capella groups on campus, held their traditional end-of the-year spring jam in a packed Mead Chapel in mid-May. It was a rockin’ affair. . . . Erin Quinn ’86 was tapped to succeed Russ Reilly as Middlebury’s director of athletics. For the past 15 years, Quinn masterfully led the men’s lacrosse program. He concludes his coaching career with 203 victories versus 38 losses. . . . Middlebury placed 31 student-athletes on the All-NESCAC Academic team this spring. To be honored, one must be at least a junior, be a varsity letter winner, and have a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.35. . . . Women’s lacrosse standout Elizabeth Renehan ’06 received first-team All-American honors. Gabe Wood ’06 was a first-team selection on the men’s side. . . . The baseball team enjoyed its best season in school history. The Panthers posted a record 26 wins (vs. 11 losses), advanced to and won the NESCAC tournament for the first time, and won a pair of games in the NCAA tournament, also a first. . . . And while there were no national champions crowned at Middlebury this spring, five Panther squads—men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s tennis, and baseball— competed in their respective NCAA tournaments; three members of the men’s track and field team also competed in their NCAA championship. . . . Nearly 600 seniors graduated under warm sunny skies on May 28. Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, delivered an inspiring commencement address, stating, “One person who works to make a difference is worth 1,000 of those who are on the sidelines, complaining about the state of the world.” Martin Rajcan, an economics major from Slovakia, was the class’s valedictorian; Jonathan Fink Mosser, a biochemistry major from York, Pennsylvania, was the salutatorian. Lauren Curatolo was selected by her classmates to deliver the student speech. . . .More than 80 facilities staff were involved in the set up of 6,000 chairs, planting nearly 350 flowers, and mowing 40 acres of the campus. In addition, a team of 16 workers from the Vermont Tent Company raised (and subsequently broke down) 13 tents for the ceremony. Less than 48 hours after the end of commencement, the campus had returned to normal. In fact, you wouldn’t even know that the event had taken place. . . . Not ones to rest on their laurels, the facilities group had four days to get the campus ready for Reunion Weekend. By all indications, they pulled it off without a hitch.
Faculty Shelf
1. True or False: According to J. R. R. Tolkien, fairy stories include beast fables, travelers’ tales, and anything explained away as mere dream.
2. The statement “Myth does not essentially exist in words at all” can be attributed to:
A. J. R. R. Tolkien
B. C. S. Lewis
C. Ursula Le Guin
D. J. K. Rowling
3. When J. R. R. Tolkien wrote “[Myth] is at its best when it is presented by a poet who feels rather than makes explicit what his theme portends; who presents it incarnate in the world of history and geography” he was referring to:
A. The Iliad
B. The Odyssey
C. Beowulf
D. Metamorphoses
Answers to the above can be found in the fascinating new work From Homer to Harry Potter: A Handbook on Myth and Fantasy (Baker Publishing, 2006) by Matthew Dickerson and David O’Hara ’91. Using Lewis, Rowling, Tolkien, and others as sources, the authors examine the influence of mythology and legend in our fantasy-literary culture.
A computer science professor at the College, Dickerson has authored several books on myth and fantasy, including Following Gandolph: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in the Lord of the Rings and the forthcoming Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R .R. Tolkien . O’Hara, a former student of Dickerson, is an assistant professor of philosophy and instructor of classical Greek at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
And if you’re dying to know the answers to the above questions—and can’t wait to read the book—see below.
Answers: 1) False. “Most good ‘fairy-stories’ are about the adventures of men in the Perilous Realm or upon its shadowy marches,’ Tolkien wrote. He specifically excluded beast fables, travelers’ tales, and dreams. 2) D. 3) C. One of Tolkien’s most famous scholarly works was an essay titled “Beowulf: The Monster and the Critics.” Beowulfian plot devices figure prominently in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Recently Published
Saving the World (Algonquin Books, 2006) by Julia Alvarez ’71, writer-in-residence
Dark Wild Realm (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) by Michael Collier, director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference
Summertime Nine
Whether you’re on a weekend sojourn or spending your entire summer in Middlebury, you obviously have plenty of options for recreation and entertainment. Still, we believe there are at least nine things you shouldn’t miss.
1. See a foreign film. The Middlebury International Film Festival kicked off on June 17 and will run on consecutive Saturday’s through August 12. Sponsored by the Language Schools, the festival features nine films in nine different languages.
2. Star gaze. The College’s observatory will be open to the public on several evenings in late July and early October, offering viewers a glimpse—weather permitting—of our celestial neighbors.
3. Go to the theater. The Burgess Meredith Theater on Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus, to be exact. Each year, the Bread Loaf School of English brings professional actors to the mountain to take part in dramatic literature classes and to mount a summer production. This year’s play is Charles Mee’s play Big Love , which is loosely based on Aeschylus’s The Suppliant Maidens .
4. Hike the Snow Bowl. Hop on the Long Trail at the top of Middlebury Gap (just past the Snow Bowl entrance on Rte. 125) and head south. The trail crisscrosses the Snow Bowl’s slopes and offers spectacular views of the Adirondacks to the west.
5. Dig in the garden. Middlebury’s student-run organic garden is located just west of the College off Rte. 125. You’ll find students there all summer. If you pitch in, you won’t leave empty handed.
6. Olé, olé, olé, olé. It’s not exactly the World Cup, but the fervor that surrounds Language Schools soccer matches is a sight to behold. The caliber of play is actually quite good, but it’s the cheering sections that warrant the most attention. Take in a match; you won’t regret it.
7. Chill. Really, what is more relaxing than kicking back in an Adirondack chair on a late summer afternoon, iced tea in hand, while the sounds of Mead Chapel’s carillon bells wash over you. The annual Summer Carillon Series runs through August.
8. Wander the Museum of Art. Tickle your funny bone with the summer exhibit of illustrator Edward Koren’s New Yorker cartoons or channel the Far East in the Robert F. Reiff Gallery of Asian Art.
9. If you’re around in late August, you’ll want to go back up the mountain for one of the nightly public readings at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Check out www.middlebury.edu/academics/blwc/ for a schedule and make your way to the Burgess Meredith Theater. Enjoy .
Thumbs Up
Middlebury’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the College’s new strategic plan—“Knowledge Without Boundaries”—in early May. The document, which includes 82 recommendations, is available online at www.middlebury.edu/administration/planning.
Anatomy of a Goal As far as dramatic moments go, this was the athletic equivalent of Richard III offering his kingdom for a horse. With the NESCAC title—and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament—hanging in the balance, the Middlebury men’s lacrosse team was a man down with 30 seconds left in regulation. The upstart Wesleyan Cardinals, which had beaten the Panthers earlier in the year, were poised to end Middlebury’s five-year run as NESCAC champions. With possession of the ball in a 9-9 game, Wesleyan whittled nearly 15 seconds off the clock before making a move to win the game. What unfolded, however, was one of the most unexpected and dramatic outcomes in Middlebury’s storied lacrosse history.
:16 Wesleyan’s Glenn Adams curls from behind the Middlebury net, but loses control of the ball in front of the crease.
:15 Middlebury defenseman Gabe Wood ’06 scoops up the ground ball and heads upfield.
:11 Wood crosses midfield as two Wesleyan midfielders streak back.
:08 Reaching the top of the restraining box on the far side of the field, Wood cuts toward the middle and is double teamed by the Wesleyan midfielders.
:06 Wood beats the double team.
:04 Wood dodges a Wesleyan defender and switches to his left hand.
:02 Now 10 feet from the crease, two Wesleyan defensemen converge on Wood.
:01 Wood fires a left-handed shot to the lower left corner of the goal.
:00 As the clock ticks to zero, Wood’s shot beats the Wesleyan goalie and ripples the back of the net. Game over. 10-9, Middlebury.
Rounding the Bases
Baseball is a sport ruled by stats. It’s also a sport dominated by characters. So it’s fitting that the most successful baseball season in College history was filled with stat-busting performances and diamond characters right out of central casting.
Capturing the essence of such a season on the printed page is no easy task, so Middlebury Magazine turned to another baseball pillar—awards—to tell the story.
The Rocket Man Award
Righty Jack Britton ’08 did his best Roger Clemens impression in sealing Middlebury’s first NESCAC championship. The sophomore hurler struck out 11 and did not allow an earned run in the Panther’s championship clinching 8-1 victory over Tufts. Britton finished the season with a 6-2 record and a 1.83 ERA.
The ’27 Yankees Award
OK, we know it’s blasphemous in these parts to compare anybody favorably to the Yankees, but how best to describe the Panther bats this year? Consider the school and NESCAC records Middlebury set in 2006: Most hits by a team in the NESCAC tournament (59); most hits by a player in the NESCAC tournament (11, John Lanahan ’08) most runs scored by a player in the NESCAC tournament (7, Nick Lefeber ’08); most team hits in a game (27, vs. Hamilton); most runs by a team in a game (26, vs. Hamilton); most home runs by a team in a game (5, vs. Hamilton); most hits by an individual in a game (5, John Lanahan vs. Bowdoin); most doubles by an individual in a game (4, Joe Ramoin ’06 vs. Skidmore); most total bases by an individual in a game (10, Joe Ramoin vs. Salem State); most hits by an individual in a season (60, Nick Lefeber); most runs scored by an individual in a season (44, Nick Lefeber); most runs batted in by an individual in a season (49, John Lanahan); most doubles by an individual in a season (21, Joe Ramoin); most hits by a team in a season (478); highest batting average by a team in a season (.361); most runs batted in by a team in a season (281); most doubles by a team in a season (84); most triples by a team in a season (16). There. Got all that?
The Skipper of the Year Award
Fairly straight forward with this one. Bob Smith was named NESCAC Coach of the Year; this is the second time he has earned the honor.
Best Underclassman Nickname Award
DJ Kid Nicky, aka Nick Lefeber ’08. You’ll have to ask tri-captain Ryan Armstrong ’06 about the story behind that one. He bestowed the moniker on the Middlebury catcher.
The When the Dust Cleared Award
When the dust cleared on the 2006 season, the Panthers set a bushel of hitting, fielding and pitching records (see above and below). A few marks, however, rise above the rest: most wins in a season (26), longest winning streak (10), and best of all, the program’s first NESCAC tournament appearance and title, and the first appearance and wins (2) in the NCAA tournament.
The Twice as Nice Award
Driving in the game-winning run is a thrill in its own right, but driving in the game-winning runs in both games of a doubleheader? Joe Ramoin ’06 knows the feeling after back-to-back game-winning knocks against Tufts on April 15.
The Hey, We Can Field, Too, Award
Bats alone don’t win you 26 games. The Panthers were deft with the glove, as well. First baseman Alex Casnocha ’06 set a single-season team record with 264 putouts, while shortstop Noah Walker ’08 obliterated the Panther record for assists in a season with 117. The previous mark, set by Gil Kim ’05 in 2002, was 75.
The Best Baseball Name Award
Dom DiDomenico ’06. One of the sweetest sounds at Forbes Field this year was when the public address system would crackle to life, and you’d hear the announcer say: “Now batting for the Panthers, center fielder DOM DeeeeeeeeeeeDominico.” Beautiful. Now that’s a baseball moment.
Ya Gotta Have Arms, Too, Award
Bats and gloves alone don’t win you 26 games. You need pitching, and the Panthers had a whale of a staff, starting with ace Jack Britton. The 6'3" righty set a College record with a miniscule 1.83 ERA. And were it not for A. J. Husband ’99, one of the best pitchers ever to take the mound at Middlebury, Britton would have set the marks for strikeouts and victories in a season, too.