Middlebury's undergraduate liberal arts program is, and should remain, at the core of its identity and mission. Radiating outwards from this central point, however, is an array of affiliated programs that enhance the luster of the College as individual and distinctive entities, and also combine to create a network of opportunities that is unique among liberal arts colleges. These programs, situated across the United States and around the world, represent knowledge without boundaries both for undergraduates and for the hundreds of graduate students whom they serve.
Middlebury College is not simply an undergraduate institution of 2,350 students. It also encompasses several graduate and specialized programs that take place during the summer and academic year, in the U.S. and in other countries. It includes nine intensive Language Schools that enroll 1,300 students each summer, taught by 215 faculty; seven Schools Abroad, which enroll more about 140 graduate students and 180 undergraduates yearly; the Bread Loaf School of English, which enrolls 500 students at five sites; and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, with its 230 attendees each summer at the Bread Loaf campus. In addition, Middlebury College now has an affiliate, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, with whom our relationship is beginning to develop.
These programs offer tremendous advantages, both educational and logistical, to the College. The Language Schools and Schools Abroad have solidified Middlebury's dominance in language learning and strength in international studies. The Bread Loaf programs embody a proud tradition in literature that is crucial to the College's traditional liberal arts identity. The affiliation with the Monterey Institute expands Middlebury's commitment to language study to graduate professional programs that demonstrate the importance of language mastery to many careers and forms of public service. While these programs differ from each other in the extent of their connection to the undergraduate curriculum, all of them chart pathways outward from the undergraduate experience that are a model of the kind of expansive, continuing education that Middlebury seeks to cultivate in its students. In addition, many of them offer specific opportunities to Middlebury undergraduates that are available nowhere else.
While many colleges strive to recoup campus operating costs and keep staff employed year-round by hosting miscellaneous meetings or high school sports camps on their campuses when college is not in session, Middlebury offers summer programs that contribute significantly to its reputation and its mission. Many students come to Middlebury on the recommendation of a high school English teacher who attended the Bread Loaf School of English; many faculty interviewing for positions across the College mention that they first heard of Middlebury through its renowned summer Language Schools; many visiting poets and novelists know Middlebury primarily as the host of the country's first extended writers' workshop, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. We are very fortunate in claiming programs of such distinction.
Nevertheless, it became clear in the course of the planning process, as well as in discussions leading to the College's recent affiliation with the Monterey Institute of International Studies, that we could do a better job of articulating, and capitalizing on, the synergies created among the separate educational entities that make up Middlebury College. This chapter offers some recommendations about ways to strengthen the links between these programs and the undergraduate college, as well as some recommendations specific to individual programs. We believe that understanding the connections between Middlebury's various components is essential to creating a unified sense of purpose among all areas of the institution.
Recommendation #50: Increase collaboration across Middlebury programs.
Middlebury's specialized programs are a resource that should be more systematically integrated with thinking about the undergraduate curriculum. Our undergraduate program could benefit greatly by increased cooperation of faculty and students at Middlebury College with faculty and students at our partner institutions and C.V. Starr Middlebury Schools Abroad, the Language Schools, the Bread Loaf School of English, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The directors and deans of all of these programs should be encouraged to work with the College's academic administration and faculty to seek productive venues for exchange and collaboration. For example, we recommend the creation of a joint position, the Robert Frost Writer-in-Residence, which would serve both the summer and the undergraduate programs. The establishment of such a position should be a fundraising goal for the coming campaign, and other specific points of connection should be developed that would allow for more cross-fertilization among programs. Increased collaboration among programs will maximize the resources of each and enhance the cohesiveness of the College as a whole.
Recommendation #51: Establish a Board of Trustees subcommittee devoted to the summer program, schools abroad, and affiliates.
Currently, issues specific to the Language Schools are discussed by the Board in the Educational Affairs Committee. This committee is also the main venue for discussion of curricular matters, faculty issues, faculty salary goals, admissions updates, and other important matters related to the undergraduate academic program; thus, Language School and Bread Loaf-related issues receive limited attention from the Educational Affairs Committee. While matters specific to facilities, budget and finance, etc. would continue to be discussed by the board committees concerned with these areas, general curricular and strategic issues related to the graduate and auxiliary programs should be given a full airing in a separate board subcommittee. Although the Monterey Institute is governed by its own Board, issues related to collaboration between Middlebury and the Monterey Institute of International Studies would also be within the purview of this committee. Establishing a separate subcommittee would increase the general knowledge about these programs among trustees and ensure that they remain a visible part of Middlebury's strategic direction.
Recommendation #52: Strengthen connections of alumni from the Language Schools and the Bread Loaf School of English with the Middlebury alumni community.
Although they receive Middlebury College diplomas, the alumni of the Language Schools and Bread Loaf School of English tend to consider themselves graduates of those programs first and foremost, and only secondarily graduates of Middlebury College. We recommend developing and enhancing connections with the alumni of these programs. Removing boundaries that may now be present has the potential to create a broader network for all alumni, and to help the College strengthen financial support for the programs these alumni attended as well as for the College as whole. Some initial steps, such as including the Language Schools and Bread Loaf School of English in traditions like the awarding of canes at graduation, have already been taken. In addition, hiring an individual in College Advancement whose work is devoted solely to Language Schools and Bread Loaf fundraising might prove an effective means of directing energy towards that body of alumni. Targeting alumni of these programs in specific mailings, and looking for more opportunities to include them in campus activities sponsored by departments including Career Services, as with undergraduate College alumni, would also help to solidify that relationship. If Middlebury's programs are to function as a coherent whole, graduates of those programs should feel a shared affinity with the College and with each other.
Middlebury Summer Language Schools
The gradual expansion of the Middlebury Summer Language Schools over nearly a century has paralleled the development of an increasingly internationalized undergraduate curriculum. The first Middlebury Summer Language School, the School of German, was established in 1915 as a graduate program. Middlebury now has nine schools—Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish—which offer a range of courses for both undergraduate and graduate students. With approximately 1,300 students, the Language School population is more than half that of the Middlebury undergraduate student body. In 2005, the Middlebury Language Schools awarded 207 graduate degrees: 204 M.A.'s, and 3 D.M.L.'s, Doctor of Modern Languages. Approximately 100 Middlebury undergraduates attend the Language Schools each summer in order to prepare to go abroad or accelerate their language study, and the Language Schools curricula are designed to articulate seamlessly with the Middlebury programs in each language.
The unique—in fact, trademarked—"Language Pledge" refers to the 24/7 immersion method used by the Language Schools. With all of its successes, this approach to language instruction also poses many logistical challenges on the Middlebury campus. The need for rapid reconfiguration of residence halls into language-specific communities that incorporate classrooms, dorm rooms, faculty housing, and dining and program space, places an enormous strain on the Middlebury staff. While staff members have risen magnificently to the challenge, this process could be better integrated with other aspects of College planning.
Recommendation #53: Ensure that the needs of the College's summer and auxiliary programs are represented in committee and administrative structures that are responsible for operational planning.
Middlebury College benefits from having year-round operations with a variety of schools and programs. It is easy to forget that Middlebury is a 12-month operation that does not enjoy the "downtime" for maintenance and repair that other schools take advantage of during the summer. The consequence is that facilities decisions are often made with the undergraduate program in mind, and without full consideration of the effect on summer programs. We recommend that an automatic second stage of consideration be routinely added to all major campus planning decision-making processes. In particular, facilities planning should be considered incomplete until the question of effect on summer programs has been carefully addressed. Each major facilities planning committee should always have at least one member who represents the College's summer programs. Administrative decisions on major building maintenance, upgrades, and renovations should be made early enough in the fiscal year that these projects can be factored into enrollment decisions for the summer programs. Better integration of planning for all of Middlebury's programs will ensure that they are viewed not as competing with each other, but as complementing each other.
Recommendation #54: Strengthen financial aid for the Language Schools.
For the Language Schools, as for the undergraduate program, financial aid is necessary to ensure access by a wide range of students. The Language Schools are in a very strong competitive position. Nevertheless, attending a Language School at Middlebury is in many cases more expensive than studying at a program overseas, and students for whom expense is a factor may choose to go elsewhere. (Current total costs for the 6-week, 7-week, and 9-week programs are $5,700, $5,850, and $7,700 respectively.) We recommend that the College seek to increase the amount of financial aid available to potential applicants to the Language Schools through fundraising efforts directed toward Language School alumni.
Because the burden of paying for graduate study often follows an accumulation of undergraduate loans, Language School students are very sensitive to the level of funding available, and must make decisions about attendance with those considerations in mind. We recommend that the process by which Language Schools financial aid is awarded become as transparent as possible, and that every effort be made to shorten the turn-around time for financial aid applications so that students who travel to the summer programs from all over the United States can make travel arrangements in a timely manner. This will help ensure that qualified students are able to take advantage of these unique programs.
Recommendation #55: Expand the scope of the Language Schools curriculum by integrating broader cultural content in Language School courses.
The Language Schools curriculum has had a longstanding focus on language and literature. Increasingly there is also interest in particular regions and cultures. Expanding the amount of cultural content in summer language courses will provide Language School students with as much of the cultural "reference" or "background" knowledge of the foreign culture as possible. Given the varying levels of difficulty among the Schools, the depth of content coverage will vary, but developing a curriculum that is more consistent across similar levels or groups of languages will allow for the possibility of some common programming in the summer schools. It will also increase the opportunities for participation from non-language undergraduate faculty, further strengthening the ties between the Language Schools and the undergraduate curriculum.
Recommendation #56: Consider adding summer graduate programs in languages that are currently taught only at the undergraduate level.
The Language Schools do not currently offer a comprehensive degree program in every language. Several of the programs offer undergraduate courses only. For the first time in 2006, the Schools of Arabic and Chinese will each run one non-degree graduate-level course with a focus on continuing education for language instructors teaching at the college and high school levels. If these experiments are successful, the Language Schools may seek to add M.A. degrees in Arabic and Chinese to the existing graduate offerings in French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish. In addition, a recent external review of the Doctor of Modern Languages program offered recommendations that would make that degree truly competitive with existing Ph.D. programs by drawing on both the Middlebury Language Schools' traditional strength in language teaching methodology and the future focus on the teaching of a broad-based cultural studies expertise. All of these developments have the potential to enhance the scholarly credibility of the summer language programs.
Discussions are currently ongoing regarding the possibility of adding or expanding language programs on non-Middlebury sites. Given the space constraints on the Middlebury campus, this seems the only viable way to consider adding programs. The affiliation with the Monterey Institute may offer the possibility of basing some language programs in California rather than Vermont, but any Middlebury Language School would have to replicate the isolation and intensity of the Middlebury environment in order to provide an authentic Language School experience. Any new Language School program would need to generate its own operating revenue, as do the current Language Schools. All of these recommendations for possible expansion are contingent on comprehensive institution-wide planning that considers plans for Language School development in conjunction with developments in the undergraduate curriculum in languages, international studies, and related fields.
C.V. Starr Schools Abroad
Recommendation #57: Explore possibilities for adding new sites abroad that support the undergraduate curriculum.
Middlebury seeks to create an integrated Language Schools/Schools Abroad curriculum that co-articulates not only with the language programs, but with relevant academic-year disciplines at Middlebury College. It is important, therefore, to be alert to new emphases in the undergraduate program that may require the addition of new sites abroad in areas that are of interest to our students. For example, Middle East Studies faculty at Middlebury have been involved in discussions for several years about the possibility of adding a C.V. Starr School in an Arabic-speaking country. Depending on future political developments, we may also explore further the possibility of a site in Israel. We should be flexible in responding to curricular needs, both in considering new programs where necessary, and in allowing for program reduction where a need no longer exists.
Bread Loaf School of English
Recommendation #58: Integrate the Bread Loaf School of English into the College's international focus by considering further expansion beyond the U.S. borders.
The Bread Loaf School of English has historically sought to establish itself mainly as an institution at the service of American teachers teaching literature written in English. Even BLSE's campus at Lincoln College, Oxford, fits this pattern, as British literature has historically been at least as central to American education in English as has American literature.
The time will come, however, when the Bread Loaf School of English must look beyond the borders of the U.S. and consider both opening campuses abroad and recruiting more secondary-school teachers from abroad. This expansion is in keeping with the increasingly international focus of Middlebury College. Instruction in the languages of the countries into which BLSE moves, for the better understanding of literature and other cultural forms, may be contemplated. At some point, the Bread Loaf School of English may consider possible cooperation or overlapping with the Middlebury Language Schools and Schools Abroad.
The opening in the summer of 2006 of a new school in North Carolina gives the Bread Loaf School of English a campus in every quadrant of the country. The Bread Loaf School of English may eventually consider expanding into countries other than the U.S. and the U.K. Mexico remains an attractive possibility, because of demographic patterns in the U.S. So do regions of the world about which American and British writers have written extensively, such as Provence and Tuscany. Other countries where the Bread Loaf School of English might find fertile ground for development, both for the education of American teachers in non-U.S. cultures and for work with non-U.S. populations of teachers, might include (among many possible examples) East Africa and India. Explorations of some of these possibilities have already begun.
Recommendation #59: Upgrade facilities at the Bread Loaf campus to ensure longevity of its historic buildings and allow for support of new teaching technologies.
The Bread Loaf campus is a "jewel" in the Green Mountains near Ripton. Although programs on the Bread Loaf campus do not compete with the undergraduate program for control over the design and use of spaces, they do operate in an environment in which repairs have been a lower priority. The best season for maintenance work is also the time of peak usage; not surprisingly, these facilities have not been maintained to the high standard of the Middlebury campus.
An assessment of the buildings at the Bread Loaf campus has found that most of the major buildings need substantial work on their foundations. The needed work began in the summer of 2005 with the replacement of one foundation, and similar projects will be needed over the coming years to preserve the integrity of the historic buildings at Bread Loaf.
The Bread Loaf summer programs seek additional space for classrooms and rehearsals and additional space (beyond the computer center in the basement of Davison Library) for technology and technology training. Bread Loaf would also benefit from having more space for training its students in new teaching technologies. The Bread Loaf School of English has been a leader in the use of technology by teachers to exchange teaching materials and stay networked with their fellow classmates year-round. Keeping the technology on the mountain campus current while also respecting the rural, isolated atmosphere so prized by participants is a challenge that we need to meet.
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Recommendation #60: Develop stronger ties between the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference and our academic year programs.
The success of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is apparent in its many imitators. Other colleges and universities offer summer writing workshops modeled on the Bread Loaf experience, and some have evolved into serious competitors. But the Writers' Conference is more competitive, and more highly regarded, now than it has been for many decades. Middlebury stands to benefit from increasing the visibility of its connection with the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Some of those who have heard of the BLWC have no idea that it is part of Middlebury College; some of its attendees do not associate their experience in Ripton with the programs offered to undergraduates on the Middlebury campus. Middlebury's strong program in literature already takes advantage of the connections of our Middlebury College writers with their colleagues at the Writers' Conference, and Middlebury student writers have opportunities to participate in the conference if they are qualified. Nevertheless, Middlebury College's reputation in literary study could be strengthened further by encouraging writers who are here for the conference to return during the academic year, so that they are aware of what our undergraduate program offers.
Monterey Institute of International Studies
Recommendation #61: Explore opportunities for future collaboration with the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is a cluster of graduate programs with approximately 700 students. Through graduate programs that, along with the Middlebury Language Schools, are unique in their emphatic focus on cross-cultural understanding and language fluency, the Monterey Institute prepares professionals for business, public sector, and non-profit organizations in the international arena.
Though the affiliation is not expected to affect Middlebury's undergraduate curriculum or undergraduate faculty directly in the near term, adding the graduate programs in international studies as affiliates to our current offerings strengthens Middlebury's impact in the area of international education, and allows the College to play on a larger and more visible national and international stage in this increasingly important area of the curriculum.
The Institute encompasses four graduate schools that offer a variety of possibilities for eventual collaboration with Middlebury's graduate programs.
The Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation (GSTI, or T&I), is recognized as the best program of its kind in the country, with a prestigious international reputation. It is well-positioned to develop programs that would complement our existing summer language curriculum. Due to the "No English Spoken Here" ethos of the summer language schools, we cannot presently offer courses in translation, interpretation, English as a Second Language (ESL), or the teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Affiliating with the Monterey Institute of International Studies allows us to plug this gap without undermining the summer language school pledge.
The Center for Non-proliferation Studies (CNS), the largest non-governmental organization in the world devoted to non-proliferation research and training, offers the only graduate concentration of its kind in the United States, and is one of two in the world. With satellite offices in Washington, D.C., and Almaty, Kazakhstan, CNS provides training, internships, and research opportunities which could be offered to Middlebury faculty and students as well. CNS routinely imports chemists, biologists, and physicists to teach courses on weapons of mass destruction it is otherwise unable to offer. Already, collaborations are underway between CNS and Middlebury science faculty. This summer, for example, Middlebury and Monterey will jointly sponsor a conference at Middlebury that will provide training to college and university faculty interested in developing courses dealing with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, or biological) and related nonproliferation policies.
The Graduate School of International Policy Studies (GSIPS), a policy school requiring fluency in a second language, offers potential programmatic links not only with the Language Schools but possibly with Middlebury's programs in international studies. Faculty exchanges in the future could give interested Middlebury faculty the opportunity to experience graduate teaching.
The Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics (GSLEL) complements Middlebury's graduate language programs with graduate courses in linguistics, applied linguistics, and second language acquisition. It may be possible to develop joint programs in the future.
The Fisher Graduate School of International Business (FGSIB) is unique in requiring language competency for graduate study in international business. It seems likely that in the future, Middlebury's Language Schools could be a source of language competency for many Fisher students. Though this program may seem furthest removed from the liberal arts college curriculum of Middlebury, already some Middlebury economics faculty members have expressed interest in exploring the possibility of Middlebury undergraduates taking business courses at Fisher.
Monterey has the potential to increase the College's visibility, expand important networks for both undergraduate and graduate students, offer non-academic opportunities for our students and faculty, and make the undergraduate college more competitive within our group of peer institutions. It should allow the College to project itself more broadly and extensively as a leader in the ever-important area of international education. Monterey's content-based M.A. programs (beyond degrees in language, literature, or culture, which is what our Language Schools now offer) have the potential to broaden the reach of the Language Schools, which do not offer M.A.'s in foreign language pedagogy, in translation and interpretation, in linguistics, international public policy, or international business.
The presence of graduate programs at Monterey has already attracted strong interest from our 21 partner universities of the C.V. Starr Middlebury Schools Abroad (in Europe, Asia, and Latin America), institutions that have not pursued collaborative ventures with Middlebury, or with our faculty, because we are an undergraduate institution with few opportunities for their students or faculty. Monterey's programs offer students at those 21 partner universities graduate programs and research positions that would invite engagement with Middlebury here in Vermont as well as with a Middlebury at Monterey. Uses of new technologies such as streaming video may contribute to educational ties among the various Middlebury programs around the world.
The partnership with the Monterey Institute offers great potential, but it is important to establish a mechanism for ensuring that the two institutions continue to explore ways in which they both might benefit from further collaboration.
Recommendation #62: Establish a liaison group to explore programmatic connections between the Monterey Institute of International Studies and Middlebury programs.
This liaison group should consist of representatives from the Language Schools and also the undergraduate program, and would be charged with considering ideas from individual faculty or administrative offices to establish programmatic connections with the Monterey Institute of International Studies, as well as with generating such ideas themselves. Members of this group would help to ensure that the newest addition to Middlebury College's array of affiliated programs finds an appropriate point of connection with the College as a whole. Just as the Language Schools and Bread Loaf School of English began as administratively independent entities that gradually grew closer to their home institution, so the Monterey Institute may become more closely connected with the Language Schools and other parts of Middlebury College over time. A gradual and natural evolution may lead to educational links between the Monterey Institute and Middlebury programs, thus supporting our goal of knowledge without boundaries. One of Middlebury's greatest strengths throughout its history has been its ability to evolve and expand as an institution. Our historic success in doing that, while remaining committed to maintaining the residential liberal arts college environment, provides a valuable blueprint for the future.