August, 2008
Greetings and welcome to Atwater Commons!
We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Atwater Commons and to introduce ourselves.
We are the ‘Co-heads’ of Atwater Commons, one of five residential neighborhoods consisting of a community of students from all four classes, a collection of dormitories, a dining hall, 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 – Pete and Michelle Nelson, the Commons Dean – Scott Barnicle, the Commons Coordinator – Debbie Cousino, the Commons Residential Advisor (CRA) – Matt Boucher ’08, six First-Year Counselors (FYCs), two community RAs, and the co-chairs of Commons Council. As Commons Heads, we work within the Commons system to develop ways to extend the learning environment beyond the classroom.
Some of the most powerful learning opportunities emerge at serendipitous moments in unpredictable places, and one of the goals of the Commons system is to foster such moments and provide support for developing the intellectual interests of students outside the classroom. Like you, we will be new to Atwater Commons this fall, as we have just accepted this appointment as Co-heads, and we are excited to begin this journey with you, our inaugural Atwater Commons first- year class. While we are new to this role within the Commons, we have both been working at Middlebury for the past nine years. Pete is a professor in the geography department, and Michelle works as an assistant director of admissions. Earlier this summer, you received a collection of poetry about war compiled by the group of Commons Heads, and this collection will serve as the basis for the first of many intellectually engaging conversations you will have throughout your Middlebury careers.
We have to admit, when poetry was proposed as this year’s common reading, we were initially quite intimidated. Neither of us is a poetry scholar. Pete is a social scientist who mainly employs statistical techniques in his teaching and research, and Michelle is a professional staff member with a background in neuroscience. Poetry was very much outside our comfort zone. As we began to explore the multitudes of war poetry and offer our own contributions, we found the exercise very engaging and we enjoyed several meaningful discussions inspired by each of our unique interpretations of these provocative works. This type of exchange is precisely what learning within a liberal arts environment and the Commons system are all about. We look forward to the poetry discussion during orientation as well as many other equally engaging conversations that will inevitably emerge throughout the year. While we are eager to meet you as you arrive on campus and during orientation, we also look forward to getting to know you better throughout the year by interacting in the Atwater Commons offices (in Allen Hall) and at Commons events, some of which will take place in Nichols House, our home.
You can easily walk to Nichols House from campus by following the path located behind the Atwater Dining Hall. Nichols House is kept quite lively by our five-year old son, Lucas, who loves anything to do with Star Wars, our one-year old son, Baker, who loves anything to do with Lucas, and our 4- year- old cat, Henny, who loves anything that she can scratch. In closing, we hope your summer provided ample time for rest and relaxation, and we share in the excitement about the upcoming year.
Michelle and Pete Nelson