In May 2006, the Middlebury Board of Trustees voted unanimously to endorse a strategic plan, Knowledge Without Boundaries. This plan guides the College’s agenda and serves as the foundation for The Middlebury Initiative, launched in October 2007.
The present report outlines progress made with the strategic planning agenda in the period, February 2008 through June 2008. For convenience in reviewing the planning recommendations in their own context, this report identifies items by referring to numbered recommendations in the strategic plan.
#4: Identify and recruit more top-rated applicants.
Middlebury’s applicant pool for the Class of 2012 reached a new record high at 7823 applicants for 670 positions. We faced increased competition from the nation’s strongest universities, with some top Ivy universities having dropped their early admission programs and several competitors announcing financial aid packaging with zero loan expectations. Nonetheless, Middlebury’s admissions yield for the new entering class held very high at 45%.
Middlebury continued to fine-tune its efforts to compete for the academically most gifted students who apply both to Middlebury and to other very selective colleges and universities. We offered admission using early notification to a larger pool of these students than ever before, and 53 of them visited Middlebury for at least an overnight in April. Twenty-two of these students have now matriculated at Middlebury. The admissions office also tracks those students who do not choose Middlebury, and exactly half of them are attending an Ivy League university with the rest attending other top-notch universities and colleges across the country. It seems fair to conclude that Middlebury is competing in the big leagues for its superb student body, and is indeed competing very well.
#5: Move gradually toward a voluntary February admission program.
The numbers of students entering Middlebury in February had exceeded 130, but we expect 90 “Febs” in February 2009. The gradual reduction in the size of this program has probably led to more positive experiences for those who do enter in February. For example, all else being equal, choices for courses and for housing may be somewhat more favorable. Our stated goal is to have a Feb class in which all students chose to be in that program. This year, all but a handful of students who are joining us in February indicated when they applied to Middlebury their willingness to enter as a “Feb.”
#6: Increase the grant component in our financial aid packages.
In 2005-06 when the new strategic plan was being developed, students who qualified for financial aid were expected to take out $4000 per year in loans to help finance their education. The loan expectation was subsequently reduced for all students, with the largest reductions being for students from families at lower income levels. For students entering in the Class of 2012, the graduated loan expectations are:
family income < $50,000: |
$1,000 per year |
family income $50,000 to $80,000: |
$2,000 per year |
family income > $80,000: |
$3,000 per year |
#7: Increase the socio-economic diversity of the student body;
#8: Enhance recruitment and retention of students of color; and
#9: Maintain our strong international enrollment.
Of the 670 students who will enter as the Class of 2012, we expect approximately 42% (early June estimate) to qualify for need-based grant aid. The corresponding percentage for the Class of 2011 was 44%. The strong socio-economic diversity in these two classes should mean that the entire Middlebury student body in Vermont will have approximately 42% of its members receiving need-based financial aid in 2008-09. The 2006 strategic plan financial model assumed a gradual increase in this percentage to 43% by 2014-15, and so the gains through 2008-09 in the aided student population exceed those originally projected in the planning model.
Some of the increase in the socio-economic diversity of the student body is associated with increases in other forms of diversity, including gains in racial and ethnic diversity and our continued strong international student population. For all students of U.S. citizenship (both September admits and February admits) in the Classes of 2011 and 2012, approximately 41% are aided. Of the same group of students who are U.S. students of color, approximately 70% receive grant aid. Among our international students in these classes, around 70% receive need-based aid with a substantial portion of that aid coming from the United World Colleges program. Although greater socio-economic diversity and racial/ethnic diversity are distinct goals of the strategic plan, gains in these two areas tend to be correlated.
The dean of admissions and other admissions staff members have developed a comprehensive plan for further increasing diversity in our student body. This area was the subject of a president’s staff retreat in early June, 2008. The vice-president for institutional planning and diversity, dean of the college, the center for teaching, learning and research, and other departments continue work in developing strategies to further reduce attrition of students of color – an area that has seen substantial improvement in the past decade.
Middlebury continues its strong position with international students. Together, the Classes of 2011 and 2012 will have 9.2% international students and 70% of these students received need-based financial aid. Of aided international students in these two classes, 49% are United World College Students.
#12: Continue to offer leadership in addressing the relationship between intercollegiate athletics and academic mission .
#13: Establish a systematic procedure for consultation between coaches and other faculty members about the balance between athletics and educational mission.
Middlebury’s leadership role in the national College Sports Project data collection and analysis continues. The second round of data collection for 78 Division-III colleges and universities was recently completed; it has provided second-year data for the original student cohort as well as data on entering students in a second student cohort. The analysis of more than 60,000 student data records is beginning, and reports are scheduled to be mailed to the presidents of the participating institutions by the end of the summer.
The Athletic Policy Committee, representing both the academic and athletics faculty, has completed a review that explores how representative Middlebury intercollegiate athletes are of the overall student body. The committee will share its findings and recommendations with the Faculty Council by September.
#18: Initiate College-wide convocations.
The second annual College Convocation Series lecture was delivered in Mead Chapel on April 10 to a capacity audience. Robert Sapolsky, a well-known expert on issues of stress and stress-related disorders, spoke on the topic, “Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: Stress, Disease and Coping.” Sapolsky is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Museum of Kenya. He has focused his research on issues of stress and neuron degeneration, as well as on the possibilities of gene therapy strategies for help in protecting susceptible neurons from disease.
In keeping with the model for the College Convocation Series, additional events were held to develop the theme further and to engage the College community more widely. On April 14, Dr. Hrayr Attarian, Director of the Vermont Regional Sleep Center, and Associate Professor of Neurology and Medicine at the University of Vermont School of Medicine, lectured on the essential role sleep plays in helping us achieve our full learning potential. Throughout the rest of April, the Middlebury Office of health and Wellness Education offered a series of experiential workshops, films, and games designed to inform the community about ingredients necessary for a balanced and healthy life. Robert Sapolsky's visit and most of the follow-up events were organized by the faculty and staff members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Stress.
#20: Support staff matriculation at Middlebury College.
A small committee from the administration led by Dean of Faculty Susan Campbell developed a proposal that will enable staff members who have completed substantial course work toward the bachelor’s degree to apply for degree candidacy at Middlebury. This spring, the Educational Affairs Committee reviewed the proposals, and recommended that the faculty adopt a few changes in academic requirements that make it possible for staff members to complete a Middlebury bachelor’s degree.
In April, the faculty adopted the changes in a vote that was apparently unanimous. The changes in degree requirements for staff members are modest, yet are important if a staff member is to be able to complete the requirements and attain a degree:
1. The staff member will meet all Middlebury College BA degree requirements, with specified exceptions noted in points 2, 3, and 4:
2. The senior residency requirement is waived.
3. The 36 course total may include, but need not include, up to four Winter Term courses.
4. The staff member’s ad hoc admission committee may consider proposed substitute courses for those required for distribution or for the major requirement when, in the judgment of the committee, such changes enable the applicant to achieve the goals of his or her proposed program of study and when the proposed adjustments maintain the integrity of existing curricular requirements.
#25: Promote greater work-life balance.
A May meeting of nearly 100 senior staff members and department heads, held in McCullough and hosted by President Liebowitz and his staff, devoted most of its agenda to an examination of issues pertaining to work-life balance. Dean of Library and Information Systems Barbara Doyle-Wilch led a program in which staff members at each table brainstormed with a member of President’s Staff about potential steps for enhancing work-life balance among College employees. Each group shared highlights from its discussions, and it later assembled more detailed written summaries of the session. We expect this agenda to move ahead, with lots of opportunity for further input from staff members.
#31: Expand and support diversity in the staff and faculty.
A major report, the Report of the Task Force on the Status of Women at Middlebury College, was completed in March 2008. The report reviews progress made since a parallel report was issued in 1997; it also makes recommendations for the coming years, including recommendations for continuing to enhance Middlebury’s diversity. The report is available to members of the College community at: http://www.middlebury.edu/campuslife/diversity/groups/tsw/
#43: Require senior work in all majors; and
#47: Make better use of current teaching resources with a goal of achieving a more competitive teaching load for faculty.
Since the adoption of the strategic plan in May 2006, the academic administration, the Educational Affairs Committee, and chairs of departments and programs have undertaken a thorough review of the structure of academic majors, the prevalence of student independent work, faculty teaching loads, and the college’s use of its faculty resources. The goals of these efforts were:
1. to identify ways to strengthen the academic programs of students, particularly with respect to their culminating experiences at Middlebury;
2. to further strengthen the intense student-faculty interaction that characterizes the Middlebury undergraduate experience; and
3. to identify ways to use faculty resources more flexibly and efficiently in order to achieve more competitive teaching loads for the faculty.
By October 2007, department and program chairs had submitted drafts of their teaching programs for 2009-2010 that would enable them to move to teaching loads that conform to recommendations developed in the Educational Affairs Committee. These plans also addressed the logistics of implementing required senior independent work in those departments not already having a required capstone experience.
In May 2008 the faculty voted in a 95-12 vote to endorse the senior independent work requirement for all Middlebury graduates, beginning with the class that enters in fall 2009. Although the faculty does not vote on its teaching loads, the Educational Affairs Committee presented its recommendations in a context that incorporated the revised teaching loads and the gradual expansion of the faculty by 25 FTEs between now and 2015.
#46: Create a database for service learning projects.
Following a review of this project, which was initiated by the Alliance for Civic Engagement, we have placed the database development on hold until at least fall 2011. This decision responds to a need for directing resources in this area to other priorities (e.g., international service learning), and to a desire that its implementation be closely linked to the pending senior work initiative. We hope that incremental resources will become available then in order to appropriately create and manage the service learning database.
#50: Increase collaboration across Middlebury programs.
Through a new initiative co-sponsored by Middlebury¹s International Programs and Off-Campus Study, and the Office of Environmental Affairs, students are able to have a greener study abroad experience. Resources include:
- Sustainable study abroad grants for research on sustainability issues;
- A Going Green Guide for directors of the eight C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad in 12 countries, with guidance for greening the office and facilities, environmental programming, and other sustainability activities;
- The Green Passport program which helps students keep track of their actions while abroad within suggested guidelines for responsible travel;
- A carbon offset program to help reduce the impact of air travel and energy use while abroad;
- A list of sustainable travel resources including a sustainable travel checklist that includes considerations such as the travel provider¹s environmental policy and whether the provider supports environmental issues in the host country.
Get more information about these programs.
Middlebury¹s Environmental Council also awarded a grant in 2007-08 to the Middlebury College School in Spain to conduct a study and oral history of ancient structures in the region.
#59: Upgrade facilities at the Bread Loaf campus to ensure longevity of its historic buildings and allow for support of new teaching technologies.
A fiber-optics link to Bread Loaf became fully operational in May 2008. The wired network (Inn, Theatre, Library, and Barn) on the Bread Loaf campus now has a 1 Gigabyte per second link to the Middlebury campus.
#61: Explore opportunities for future collaboration with the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
President Liebowitz recently announced that Sunder Ramaswamy, Dirks Professor of Economics and Vice Provost for Institutional Integration, has been named President-Elect of the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Sunder will assume the presidency at Monterey when Clara Yu steps down at the end of the calendar year, after her three years of critically important leadership as Monterey’s president. Sunder is serving as Vice Provost for Institutional Integration, directing the “M-squared” Integration Task Force at Middlebury, leading integration efforts on both campuses, and making visits to MIIS to meet with administrators, faculty, and students. He is thus poised to continue the transition to a more fully integrated relationship between Middlebury College and its affiliate in Monterey, California.
#63: Revise and expand the campus master plan to reflect the strategic plan.
The completed master plan was a major agenda item for the Board of Trustees at its May meeting in Middlebury. After an extensive review of the various elements of the plan, the Board voted to endorse the new master plan. This endorsement comes with the understanding that the plan provides a broad context for the evolution of College’s physical plant and infrastructure here in Vermont. Specific proposals and initiatives in the coming decades will make reference to the guidelines, principles, and values provided in this document.
The College has just learned that our campus master plan has won a “top-tier award” in the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) campus planning awards program.
#65: Equalize housing opportunities for seniors.
The spring 2008 room draw was modified to give seniors and juniors greater flexibility in choosing their housing. It also reflected the decision that all first-year students and sophomores will be housed in their own Commons. The room draw went relatively well even with the projected large enrollment for fall 2008; the greatest pressures in the room draw were felt by members of the sophomore class.
#69: Pursue alternative environmentally-friendly energy sources.
Middlebury Staff Council and the Environmental Council co-sponsored an environmental fair aimed at College and Town community members as consumers. The event, held on April 9, was called beinggreen@home and it enjoyed large attendance and much sharing of practical information. McCullough social space was filled with exhibits from businesses and organizations throughout Addison County and beyond, aimed at helping people to develop more sustainable lifestyles. Dining services provided meals and snacks prepared with locally-grown ingredients, and offered at no cost to all attendees. A Vermont electric car was on display on the lawn in front of McCullough.
A seven kilowatt bank of solar panels was installed on the south roof of the Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest in early May. It is estimated that the electricity from this source of renewable energy will provide 15 to 20% of the power used in the building. A pyranometer will also be installed to collect data on the solar radiation falling on the roof, which will be used for research on the performance of the panels under varying climactic conditions.
A 10-acre test plot of willow shrubs was planted in the spring of 2007 just west of the campus along the north side of Route 125 as part of a three-year project with SUNY’s Environmental School of Forestry to test the feasibility of growing fuel for the new biomass gasification system. After a year’s worth of growth, SUNY researchers have said that the productivity of the test plots are as good as any they have seen in their years of research. The shrubs are harvested after three years of growth and the cut plants regenerate and grow back. The three year harvest cycle can go on for up to seven or eight cycles before new plants are needed.
#70: Energy efficient buildings and operations.
An energy saving air conditioning system was installed as part of the renovation of the Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest. The system uses groundwater from a drilled well as a coolant rather than an electric or steam powered evaporating system. The cold groundwater is used to absorb heat from a coolant that circulates to a classroom and two offices in Hillcrest, saving a significant amount of energy compared to a conventional air conditioning system.
#74: Work toward universal access on campus.
Facilities Services is currently working with a consultant to identify steps needed to continue our progress in addressing universal access that meets and exceeds ADA requirements.
Resources Supporting the Strategic Plan: The College launched a $500 million Initiative on October 6, 2007. More than half of the Initiative goal – $282 million as of June 15, 2008 – has been reached. The Middlebury Initiative is critically important to Middlebury’s ability to continue implementing the major strategic initiatives in the Strategic Plan. On a related note, the College announced on July 3, 2008, that alumni giving in 2007-08 reached a record 60% level; achieving this benchmark means that the College will receive a $1 million matching gift.
The examples outlined in this report illustrate the many efforts under way in the community to act upon the recommendations in the strategic plan. The College community is indebted to many people in our midst for their good work and leadership in advancing the College’s ambitious agendas.
John Emerson
Dean of Planning
July 9, 2008