College Street

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The Nicholas Garza ’11 Tragedy

Early in the evening of May 27, members of the Middlebury Police Department, assisted by members of the Vermont State Police, recovered the body of Nicholas Garza ’11, the first-year student who had been missing since the night of February 5.

A makeshift memorial to Nick Garza '11 appeared near the foot of the Otter Creek falls.

The police had been focusing on the waterway after an aerial photo taken in April showed what could have been a body submerged in the creek nearly a mile upstream from the falls. By the time the photograph was developed and provided to the authorities, a search of the area revealed that whatever had shown in the photograph was no longer there. A follow-up ground search with specially trained search-and-rescue dogs in early May subsequently tracked Nick on a route from Stewart Hall, down past the Service Building, along Porter Field Road, across South Street, behind the baseball field, to a trail along the creek near a footbridge, and then to a six-foot drop-off into the water.

The state medical examiner confirmed that Nick had suffered no injuries or trauma and the authorities do not believe foul play was involved.

Following the recovery, Middlebury President Ronald D. Liebowitz said: “I have shared my deepest sympathies with Nick’s mother, Natalie, and let her know that the thoughts and prayers of the entire Middlebury community are with her, the Garza family, and with Nick’s many friends. I want to express thanks to the police and to the search teams who have worked so tirelessly over the last few months.

“May the unity that comes from the terrible sadness we all feel at this time be a source of comfort and strength for the Garza family.”

Natalie Garza posted the following message on the Web site nicholasgarza.org: “On May 27, 2008, our beautiful Nicholas was recovered from Otter Creek. We are filled with unspeakable grief and sadness with the loss of our beloved boy. We thank everyone for their prayers and support.”
—Matt Jennings

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Ramaswamy Heading West

Sunder Ramaswamy, Middlebury’s dean for faculty development and research and the Frederick C. Dirks Professor of International Economics, has been appointed the president of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Ramaswamy succeeds Clara Yu, who announced in May that she would retire at the end of 2008 after serving three years as Monterey’s president. MIIS became an affiliate of Middlebury College in 2005.

“Sunder Ramaswamy is the perfect successor to Clara at this crucial juncture in the relationship between our two institutions,” Middlebury President Ronald D. Liebowitz said in announcing the appointment. “His scholarly background and credentials, his administrative experience at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and his knowledge of both institutions give us great confidence that Sunder will build on Clara’s successes. As the project director overseeing the affiliation between Middlebury and Monterey, he has become well acquainted with all facets of both organizations. “He is also a respected scholar in his field, who understands the challenges facing institutions of higher education in the 21st century—a century dominated by globalization—and how Middlebury and Monterey are uniquely qualified to address these challenges,” Liebowitz added.

Yu, a former vice president of languages at the College and director of the Language Schools, was called out of retirement to assume the presidency when the affiliation was finalized in 2005.

“Clara Yu has achieved remarkable results during her time as president of Monterey, and I am grateful to her for all her hard work during the Institute’s first years as an affiliate of Middlebury,” said Liebowitz. “Since her arrival, she has raised the morale of the MIIS community and taken enrollment and fund-raising to new highs. The Institute’s physical infrastructure and facilities have been greatly improved. In a short period of time, Clara has achieved her objective of setting the stage for the Institute’s next phase of growth. She believes that while there still is work to be done, MIIS is now stable, strong, and prepared for this next phase.”

The Ramaswamy File

Sunder Ramaswamy
Wife: Varna
Son: Srivatsan, 5

Current Positions
Dean for Faculty Development and Research, Middlebury College
Frederick C. Dirks Professor of International Economics, Middlebury College
Project Director, Middlebury-Monterey Integration Task Force, Middlebury College
Visiting Professor of Economics, Madras School of Economics

Education
St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, B.A. in economics (1984)
Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, M.A. in economics (1986)
Purdue University, M.S. in economics (1988)
Purdue University, Ph.D. in economics (1991)

Books
Development and Democracy: New Perspectives
on an Old Debate, ed. with Jeffrey Cason

Social Capital and Economic Development:
Well-Being in Developing Countries, ed. with
Jonathan Isham and Thomas Kelly

The Economics of Agricultural Technology in Semi
Arid Sub-Saharan Africa, with John H.
Sanders and Barry Shapiro

Economics: An Honors Companion, with Kailash
Khandke, Jenifer Gamber, and David
Colander

Abroad View
From 2003-2005, Ramaswamy took a sabbatical from Middlebury to serve as the director of the Madras School of Economics in Chennai, India, which is one of the premier institutes for graduate education and economics research in India. He has also been involved with both the World Bank and the United Nations, working on a number of economic reform projects for his native country.

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Fund-Raising Record Set

With the close of the fiscal year on June 30, Middlebury announced that the College had set a record for alumni participation in annual giving. More than 61 percent of the alumni body made a gift to the alumni fund, shooting past the College’s goal of 59 percent and triggering a one-million-dollar gift from an anonymous donor.

The 60-percent rate marks the fourth year in a row that the alumni fund has set a school record for participation. In 2004, alumni giving was hovering around 50 percent when an anonymous donor made a five-million-dollar challenge: if Middlebury could increase the alumni giving rate each year for the following five years, the College would receive an additional one million dollars a year.

The unrestricted gifts are used to support virtually every segment of College operations—from faculty-student research opportunities to financial aid, student-run symposiums to purchases by the library and athletics department. In addition, all annual fund gifts count toward meeting the $500-million goal of the Middlebury Initiative.

“The result is testimony to the loyalty of our alumni, the strength of our institutional momentum, and the goals established in our strategic plan,” said Frederick M. Fritz ’68, chair of the board of trustees.

“Reaching 60 percent reflects the genuine hard work and commitment of our College Advancement team plus those hundreds of alumni who assisted in the success, especially since it was accomplished during difficult economic times and amid skittish financial markets.”

1,350: Language School students on campus this summer

40,000: Number of people who have attended one or more Language Schools since 1915

1: New language, Hebrew, being taught this year

0: Words of English LS students are allowed to speak

50: Number of performances LS students will produce

1,245: Number of hours of rehearsals this will require

615: Number of daily classroom hours, spread among the ten languages

100: Number of students whose summer study is fully funded by the Kathryn Davis Fellowships for Peace

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Read All About It

Earlier this summer, we posed a question to a handful of faculty members: “If you could recommend one or two specific books that incoming first-years should read before they arrive at Middlebury, what would the titles be and why?

Mountains Beyond Mountains
by Tracy Kidder
This book demonstrates the power of one person who sees possibilities in the world as opposed to limitations. Paul Farmer’s efforts are for the greater human good and put his education and intelligence to work.
—Scott Barnicle, Atwater Commons Dean

“Ithaka” by C.P. Cavafy
It’s impossible for me to choose just one book, but there is a poem, C. P. Cavafy’s “Ithaka.” It captures the spirit with which I hope students will embark on and pursue their undergraduate education: it’s about leaving one’s fears behind, having a sense of curiosity and exploration, and knowing that although there is a goal, it ultimately consists of living a full life on the way to it.
—Jane Chaplin, Professor of Classics

Ficciones or The Aleph
by Jorge Luis Borges
It seems to me that the college experience is all about questioning one’s assumptions, pushing oneself to the edge of a comfort zone, and looking at issues from a new perspective. Students benefit from the Argentine master of short fiction by being encouraged to think in new ways, to break down barriers of all kinds, and to let their imagination run wild. In addition, Borges’s concise prose and economy of word creates a model of good writing.
—Miguel Fernandez ’85, M.A. Spanish ’ 89, Associate Professor of Spanish

The End of Nature
by Bill McKibben
Nothing else matters if we don’t get climate change right. We are so close to the tipping point. Everyone needs to be aware of the urgency here.
—Missy Foote, Director of Physical Education and Head Coach of Women’s Lacrosse

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas Kuhn
Kuhn’s book is one of the most widely cited contributions to understanding the history and development of science. The book popularized the idea of a “paradigm shift” and sparked decades of debate, continuing today, concerning whether or not science can be properly understood as progressive. Intellectuals from many disciplines have had to contend with Kuhn’s arguments as they strive to come to terms with the objectivity of science alongside the influence of culture in scientific practice.
—Heidi Grasswick, Associate Professor of Philosophy

A Sand County Almanac
by Aldo Leopold
This book has taught me—and continues to teach me—a great deal about the place of humans in the larger world; about humility, integrity, and beauty; about changing the human role “from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it.”
—Christopher Klyza, Stafford Professor of Public Policy, Political Science and Environmental Studies

The Communist Manifesto
by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
The ideology might seem outdated, but their way of thinking—yoking economic and social analysis—still has the power to explain how the world works.
—Tim Spears, Acting Provost and Professor of American Studies

The Omnivore’s Dilemma
by Michael Pollan
What should you eat? And why? Pollan addresses these simple, yet complex, questions in this fascinating and rich exploration of food production in the United States. Even if I weren’t a botanist, I’d recommend this book because first-year students are at a major transition point in their lives: moving away from home for the first time (for many), having to decide how to allocate their time and energy, how to handle conflict with maturity, and, yes, what to eat.
—Helen Young, Associate Professor of Biology

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Observed

On the Sunday before Memorial Day, 567 graduating seniors received their diplomas and were encouraged by Dr. Walter E. Massey, the Commencement speaker, to go out into the world and make a difference. The day was sunny and warm—a beach ball made an appearance at one point—and everyone seemed in a jovial mood. . . Middlebury honored an unsung hero of World War II as the first recipient of the Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn Global Citizenship Award. The award was presented posthumously to Varian Fry, an American citizen who is credited with saving the lives of more than 1,500 European Jews from the hands of the Nazis. His 84-year-old widow, Annette, accepted the award in his honor. . .  Two giants in the realm of student life—Leroy Nesbitt ’82 and Ann Hanson—said their professional farewells to Middlebury this summer. After 15 years of service to the College, Leroy Nesbitt ’82, senior adviser for institutional diversity, announced that he would be returning to his native Washington, D.C., where he will be working on issues pertaining to college access and k-16 education. Leroy is regarded as a trailblazer for diversity initiatives at the College and leaves behind a rich legacy. Ann Hanson, who served as dean of student affairs until last year, leaves Middlebury after 20 years of service. Ann touched the lives of tens of thousands of students during her tenure at Middlebury and her wise counsel and friendly countenance will be missed. The magazine will be catching up with both in the fall issue, when we’ll learn about what they’re doing post-Midd and they’ll reflect on what they learned during their time at the College. . . In the giving-new-meaning-to-the-word “sentence” category: more than two dozen high school students who were found guilty of vandalizing the Homer Noble Farm, the summer residence of Robert Frost for many years, had the infraction wiped from their records after participating in two poetry sessions with Jay Parini. Parini, the D. E. Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing at Middlebury, is the author of a Frost biography and agreed to conduct the tutorial after being approached with the creative proposal by state’s attorney John Quinn. After the Associated Press reported on the unusual court diversion program, newspapers worldwide picked up the story; the New York Times addressed it in a Sunday editorial; and Parini was interviewed by a number of media outlets, including National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.” . . . Middlebury appointed a new dean of library and information services. On August 1, Michael Roy will become the L. Douglas and Laura J. Meredith Dean of Library and Information Services, replacing Barbara Doyle-Wilch, who is now working on the Project on Creativity and Innovation in the Liberal Arts. Roy comes from Kenyon College, where he was the vice president for library and information services. . . . The first year of the Middlebury-Monterey Language Academy kicked off this summer with sessions in three locales: Colchester, Vermont; Atherton, California; and Amherst, Massachusetts. The four-week residential camps offer Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish to pre-college students. More than 600 students are participating this year. . . . Nathan Williams ‘10 joined four other students from Vermont colleges in a 47-day, 1,800-mile bike trek across the United States, part of an effort to register voters in cities big and small across the country. . . .  A bit farther afield, sophomore Ben Wessel ’11 is spending part of his summer in the Arctic. Wessel joined 17 other students from nine countries on a World Wildlife Fund-sponsored trip that is intended to give them a crash course in the science of climate change. The excursion, called “The Voyage for the Future,” was covered by ABC news.