July, 2009
Greetings and welcome to Atwater Commons!
For the 2009–10 academic year, we are serving as the ‘Co-heads’ of Atwater Commons. Atwater is one of five residential neighborhoods at Middlebury, consisting of a community of students from all four classes, a collection of dormitories, and a wonderful residential life team that you will meet during orientation and get to know quite well throughout the year. Our Commons team includes: the Commons Heads – Jeff and Diane Munroe, the Commons Dean – Scott Barnicle, the Commons Coordinator – Debbie Cousino, the Commons Residential Advisor (CRA) – Ali Levy ’09, six First-Year Counselors (FYCs), three Commons RAs, and the co-chairs of Commons Council.
Like you, we will be new to Atwater Commons this fall, as we are serving as interim Commons Heads while Pete and Michelle Nelson are on sabbatical. Yet while we are new to this role, we have both been working at Middlebury for the past eight years. Jeff is an associate professor in the Geology Department, and Diane works in the Environmental Studies Program as the Coordinator for Community-Based Environmental Studies. Our teaching responsibilities provide considerable opportunities for interactions with upperclassmen, but we are particularly excited by the chance to work closely with incoming students through the Commons system.
One of the many advantages of attending a residential college is the powerful learning opportunities that emerge at serendipitous moments in unpredictable places. A major goal of the Commons system is to foster such moments and provide support for developing the intellectual interests of students. Our challenge as Commons Heads is to work within the Commons system to develop ways to extend the learning environment beyond the classroom.
As part of this effort, we worked with the Heads of the other four Commons to select a reading for you to complete before arriving on campus this fall. Our selection, “Everything is Illuminated,” by Jonathan Safran Foer, is a challenging and provocative exploration of identity and the importance of personal history in a time of transition. During your orientation week in September, you will be divided into small groups for the opportunity to discuss this reading with fellow students as well as with Middlebury faculty and staff. We anticipate that the themes of this story will resonate with you as you make the transition from home to life at Middlebury, and we hope it will provide fertile ground for the first of many intellectually engaging conversations you will have throughout your Middlebury careers.
We readily admit that neither of us is an expert at interpreting and discussing literature. Jeff is a geologist who studies landscape evolution and records of climate change in mountain environments. Diane’s background is in water resources management and her current work is focused on community-connected teaching, research and learning in environmental studies. However, engaging unfamiliar topics is precisely what learning within a liberal arts environment is all about, and encouraging these types of exchanges is an important mission of the Commons system. Some of our most rewarding interactions with students and colleagues at Middlebury have occurred through conversations as part of Commons events, and we are excited to discuss this reading with you during orientation.
We look forward to meeting you as you arrive on campus, and we hope to get to know you better throughout the year through conversations in the Atwater Commons offices and at various Commons events. Best wishes for a relaxing and restful summer, and we will see you in September!
Jeff and Diane Munroe