Faculty

This section offers information and remembrances about Middlebury faculty members who taught during our undergraduate years at the College. More information will follow. We invite you to add your own comments (see the "Contact Us" page).

Professor David K. Smith

I write with the sad news that Professor Emeritus of Economics David K. Smith died on Wednesday.

“D.K.” Smith was an undergraduate economics major and a member of the Middlebury College class of 1942. Following his graduation from Middlebury, David served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  He then earned his master’s in business administration, and a master’s and doctorate in economics at Harvard University. David taught briefly at Lake Forest College and Tufts University before returning to the Middlebury College Department of Economics in 1950, where he taught for 37 years and was department chair for 15. During the 1970s, he created a course in environmental economics that helped the College further develop its innovative and nationally recognized program in environmental studies.

David was dedicated to his students and to the academic life of the College. When he retired, friends and family created the Professor David K. Smith Visiting Economic Lecture Series that assures a yearly guest lecturer or forum on some dimension of applied economics. The David K. Smith ’42 Chair in Applied Economics was established in 2001 and is held by Phanindra Wunnava.

A native Vermonter who was proud of his heritage, David was an active member of his local and state communities. He served on the Vermont Council of Economic Advisors for Governors Hoff, Davis, Salmon and Kunin. He was a trustee of the village of Middlebury as well as a consultant for Central Vermont Public Service; the latter for 23 years. A musician and Vermont humorist, David was also an avid skier and served as a board member of the Catamount Trail Association.

He is survived by his four children, including David K. Smith, Jr. ’68; their spouses; and nine grandchildren. His wife Carol, a 1943 graduate of Middlebury, died in 2004.

There will be a Christian Science service at a time yet to be announced.  Contributions may be made to the Christian Science Church and the Catamount Trail Association.

Ronald D. Liebowitz
 

Charles P. Scott

It is with sadness that I notify you that Charles P. Scott, Chaplain Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Religion at Middlebury College, died peacefully at his home in Middlebury, on Saturday October 10th, surrounded by members of his family.  He had been in declining health for a number of months.  I visited with Charlie only a few days ago to inform him that Middlebury's religious life facility in Hathaway House will become The Charles P. Scott Spiritual and Religious Life Center following trustee approval earlier this weekend.

A native of Pittsburgh, Charlie was an undergraduate bacteriology and chemistry major at Ohio State University before entering Princeton Theological Seminary, where he received his Bachelor of Divinity degree.  He was ordained in the Episcopal Church in 1954, and later did graduate work at Harvard and Mansfield College at Oxford.  

Chaplain Scott was an ambassador to generations of Middlebury students for more than 50 years.  He joined the Middlebury faculty in 1951 as an instructor in religion and college chaplain.  Realizing that the study of religion would become as important for many students as the observance, he founded the department of religion at Middlebury, serving as its first, and for many years, its only faculty member. 

After he stepped down from the chaplaincy in 1986 as the most senior college chaplain at a college or university in the country, he continued to serve the College, traveling extensively to visit alumni around the country.  A respected scholar, teacher, and preacher, he was the recipient of numerous academic honors, including a Danforth Foundation study grant, a field archeology grant from Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem, and The Kellogg Lectureship at Episcopal Theological School.  Chaplain Scott was president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains in the late 1960s, and served as a guest preacher at numerous colleges, universities and schools.  He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Middlebury College in 1992.  Following his retirement, he served for a year as interim rector of Grace Church in Manhattan. 

When Chaplain Scott came to Middlebury, students were required to attend chapel services on alternate weekdays and on Sunday.  In the early 1950s, he became the first Middlebury chaplain to permit men and women to sit together during chapel.  After all chapel and Sunday service requirements were dropped in 1961, Chaplain Scott assisted students in forming voluntary religious groups.  Within a few years of his arrival at Middlebury, for example, he was instrumental in encouraging and supporting a few Jewish students on campus who were interested in establishing a Jewish cultural and social club, which led to the founding of a Hillel chapter at Middlebury College in 1954.  He also helped students organize the Christian Association. 

In addition to his work as college chaplain, Charlie was active in the greater Episcopalian community, filling in as priest in various parishes around New England and elsewhere.

Chaplain Scott counseled and advised generations of Middlebury students.  He presided at numerous weddings and occasionally officiated at the weddings of the children of couples he had married in previous years.  He was revered as a friend and trusted counselor.  The Middlebury community has lost an icon.  Chaplain Scott's influence will continue to be present at Middlebury for generations, as the foundation he established for spiritual expression at Middlebury continues to flourish.

Charlie's two sons graduated from Middlebury, Wayne in 1971 and Charlie, Jr. in 1977.   His wife Tana Sterrett Scott is a 1965 graduate of Middlebury.  Grandson Matthew Hershenson is a member of the class of 2007.  Chaplain Scott is also survived by three daughters and four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held in Mead Chapel on Wednesday, October 13, at 1:00 pm.

Ronald D. Liebowitz

Click here for memories of Charlie Scott from many alumni, including 1959's Sue Work Knirsch.

Howard Munford

Professor Munford is a Middlebury alumnus, Class of '34. In 2004 he was elected to alumni membership in the Middlebury chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.  He received a standing ovation during the June 5, 2004, Alumni Convocation in Mead Chapel.

Howard Munford, center, at our 25th reunion (in foreground, Martha Larsen Bissell and Barbara Simpson Jordan)

Howard McCoy Munford
B.S., Ph.D.
Charles A. Dana Professor Emeritus of American Literature (1941); Emeritus (1977)

A '59 classmate's comment:

The best teachers in any setting, I believe, help us think and evaluate. They frequently take us beyond the matter at hand.  For me, Professor Howard Munford was one of these.  In his poetry class he not only taught us to understand a poem in depth and in its various aspects, he also related poetry to language and life in remarkable ways.  He was known for this; a number of students who were not American literature majors took this course.

In his prose-literature courses Munford related literature to psychology, politics and philosophy, history, and  other aspects of life and of the world, again in a far-reaching and non-stereotypical manner.  

We American literature majors enjoyed the complementary styles of the department's three professors:  Cook, Beck, and Munford.  Perhaps later I'll write about the other two. 5
                                                                                                   -- Lucy Paine Kezar, June, 2005