Live Well ~ Learn Well ~ Be Well

Parton Center promotes student well being. Our excellent medical, counseling, and sports medicine staff are here to help you if physical, emotional, or interpersonal issues become a problem. In addition, we have a wealth of health and wellness resources to support you as you navigate a demanding academic and social schedule.

Health Services

Our medical staff provides comprehensive acute health care for Middlebury students in order to assist them in meeting their health needs and to increase health promotion, health maintenance and health care access.

Counseling

Counselors strive to promote, enhance and support students’ emotional and interpersonal well-being within a safe, confidential environment through a range of mental health services.

Sports Medicine

We provide traditional athletic training and sports medicine to students who are members of College intercollegiate teams, students who are candidates for intercollegiate teams beginning one month prior to the start of their competitive season, and to students who are members of rugby or crew. Students who fall outside these guidelines may seek care through Health or Counseling services described above, at Porter Hospital, or by a doctor of the student's choice.

Costs of Services

Services provided in our offices are free. If your medical or mental health needs require a referral to a community specialist or other health care provider, that provider will bill you for services. For this reason, all students are required to maintain health insurance. If you do not have health insurance, you may purchase insurance through the College. Call us or click here for more information on health insurance.

 

The Dance Program at Middlebury College focuses on the creation of original creative work in a context that is interdisciplinary, grounded in both biological and environmental perspectives, and deeply connected to the current dance field.  The program distinguishes itself through a rich curricular tradition of improvisation, somatic learning, and utilization of the arts in the quest for cultural and environmental awareness.  

Our core curriculum consists of a series of courses in contemporary approaches to technique, composition and performance, experiential anatomy and somatics, dance history and cultural study, creative process, and improvisation. Further depth and range, tailored to the strengths and interests of each student, are achieved through study in theatre, art, music, philosophy, and other disciplines represented in the larger Middlebury curriculum.

Joint and full dance majors propose independent projects in their senior years. Projects, which often culminate in performance but which may take many forms, are designed to deepen learning and cultivate special areas of research or creative interest. Many of our students study abroad during their junior year joining programs all over the world that support their investigations of dance in other cultures.

The mission of the Department of Biology is to provide students the opportunity to explore the science of life, in all its complexity and diversity, within the tradition of the liberal arts. We are committed to excellence in our teaching and research programs. We strive to develop each student's ability to acquire and critically interpret knowledge of basic facts and theories of biology, to relate that knowledge to other subject areas in the liberal arts, to add to the body of biological knowledge through research, and to communicate his or her understanding to others both within and outside the field of biology. We take pride in our innovative approaches in the laboratory and our availability to students. In the laboratory and in the field, students work in small groups directly with the faculty. We offer a variety of upper-level courses in each area, and we are well equipped to offer laboratory and field courses throughout the curriculum.

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Full Mission Statement:

(Adopted December 8, 1995)

The mission of the Biology Department at Middlebury College is to provide students the opportunity to explore life, in all its complexity and diversity, within the tradition of the Liberal Arts. We are committed to excellence in our teaching and research programs.

The department is committed to helping students acquire:

• a knowledge of basic facts and theories in biology,
• the ability to interpret critically this knowledge and to relate it to other subject areas in the Liberal Arts,
• the ability to add to the body of biological knowledge through research, and
• the ability to communicate their understanding to others both within and outside of the field.

To achieve this mission the department must provide a suitable educational and research environment for both students and faculty. Therefore, the department has established the following goals:

1) To provide a comprehensive major.

Students in the department should complete introductory courses that cover the breadth of the discipline.

The major should allow students choice among a range of sub-disciplines that span all levels of biological organization.

Electives should provide opportunities for students to customize their majors to achieve their own educational goals.

Some electives from all sub-disciplines should be offered each year.

Cognates should provide tools and interdisciplinary perspectives necessary to allow students to function as biologists.

Prerequisites for courses should provide the preparation necessary to be successful in the courses.

2) To place biological knowledge in context.

Both majors and non-majors should be introduced to the way biologists think and the historical development of biological thought, not just to the results of that thought.

Introductory courses should be intellectually accessible to non-majors and should provide the necessary foundation for students continuing in the major.

Connections should be made at every opportunity between biological knowledge and other disciplines.

The department should participate in general education at the college by offering first-year seminars, writing courses, and non-majors science courses. 

3) To encourage active rather than passive learning.

Courses should emphasize investigative participation in science.

Students should be taught to think critically and to solve problems.

Students who have successfully completed appropriate preparatory courses should have the opportunity to pursue independent study and research. 

4) To improve student communication skills.

Within each course, students should be required to make written and/or oral presentations.

Part of the student research experience should include formal writing and public presentation.

Faculty should work with students to improve their writing, emphasizing clarity and conciseness. 

5) To provide an effective system of student advising.

Students who consider majoring in biology, a related program, or a joint major should be made aware of the educational objectives, demands, and opportunities of these majors, so they can choose the one that best helps them achieve their personal goals.

Faculty should help students understand the requirements and opportunities, as well as the relative merits and disadvantages, of the various biological careers that they might eventually undertake.

Students should be made aware early in their undergraduate careers the courses necessary to prepare for their post-graduate goals. 

6) To provide access to courses and resources in Biology that meet the needs and demands of students and allow faculty and staff to carry out the Mission.

Each introductory course should be offered each semester.

All students should have access to an introductory biology course each semester.

All courses required as part of joint majors and related programs should be offered at least once each year.

All courses that serve as electives for the major, joint majors, and related programs should be offered at least once every other year.

Enrollment in the lecture portion of each course should be under 100 students.

The enrollment and format of laboratory sections should be appropriate for the sub-discipline.

The department should provide courses that serve as foundations for subsequent post-graduate education, including medical and graduate school.

The College's commitment to library holdings, particularly journal acquisition, should reflect the nature of the department's mission.

The College's commitment to information and research technology and support should be consistent with the department's mission.

The College's commitment to faculty development should reflect the nature of the department's mission.

The department should maintain an active program of visiting scholars who interact with students and faculty.

Faculty should have enough flexibility in their schedules to be able to participate in the first-year seminar program at least once every four years.

Each faculty member should teach in the introductory instructional program for the department or for interdisciplinary programs supported by the department, but should also have the opportunity to teach advanced level courses in their sub-discipline each year.

Assistants-in-Instruction should be available for all introductory courses.

Preparators should be available for all courses in which media, culture, animal, or plant preparation is necessary.

7) To provide opportunities for students to participate in faculty research.

Faculty should engage in active research programs, including professional presentation of results, that can include undergraduate participation.

Faculty should not be required to address so much of their energy to teaching and community service that their scholarship is no longer progressive.

We've organized this section of our site to provide a view into how LIS is organized, how we prioritize our work, our planning process, and the range of services that we provide.

Administration: the membership of the LIS administrative team

Organization Chart: a .pdf of the areas and workgroups of LIS

Services: a high-level description of the major services that we provide

Mission and Values:  Our department mission statement and values

Strategic Direction and Goals:  What Middlebury College needs from LIS

Goals FY2014: a list of LIS goals for FY2014 and beyond

Priorities: a working document that lists the top projects taking place within LIS

Teams: membership and charges of the cross-functional, matrix teams that provide some of our services

Blog: our regularly updated blog that provides an insider's view of what's going on within LIS

Annual Reports: our annual reports, along with other useful reports

Orientation Checklist for LIS Staff:  An orientation checklist for supervisors to go over with new LIS employees

Strategic Planning: an internal LIS (password protected) Goals document 

 

Contact Us

Our Mission

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research aims to design, develop and integrate resources that enrich learning and teaching at Middlebury,and to provide a locus for conversations, both within the Middlebury community and with other institutions, about excellence and innovation in a residential liberal arts education.

The Middlebury College Farm and Food Project provides students, staff, faculty, and community members the opportunity to participate in and learn about agriculture.

Our mission is to promote awareness of issues surrounding food production by:

• Providing instruction and hands-on learning at the farm
• Facilitating events, speakers, farm visits, and screenings related to food issues

Staff from Environmental Affairs oversee the farm in collaboration with the Middlebury College Organic Farm (MCOF) student organization. There are community and student opportunities to volunteer and intern at the farm.

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Directions

The farm is located on a knoll in the field behind Bicentennial Hall. To get there, walk or drive down the hill from the college west on College Street (Rte. 125) for a half-mile. Take a right at the wooden sign that reads "Middlebury College Organic farm." If you are driving, you can leave your car at the sign and walk the short dirt road to the farm.

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Our Crew

Jay Leshinsky, Farm Educator
Jay has a master's degree in Education and Human Development from the University of Maryland. While there, he began an organic market garden influenced by his visits to the Rodale Organic Research Center and Walnut Acres organic farms in nearby Pennsylvania. After moving to Vermont in 1975, Jay continued to expand the market garden business and combine it with his work for private and public educational programs in Vermont. He collaborated with foundations and schools to develop programs for school gardens, agriculture centered curriculum, and staff training to more effectively use local food products in Head Start nutrition programs. Jay has advised the Farm since it's beginning in 2003.

Sophie Esser Calvi ' 03, Global Food Studies Coordinator
Sophie holds a master's degree in Food Culture and Communications from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy and a BA in International Studies from Middlebury College. She is thrilled to be back at Middlebury, ten years after starting a children's garden at the college farm. She then ventured out into the wider world of food and wine, where she has worked for wineries and various garden, farm and food organizations. She directs the FoodWorks program and works closely with students, faculty, staff, as well as the broader food community, on numerous food initiatives.

Volunteers and  Interns

The farm is dependent on student volunteers and interns for all activities, from tomato starts to fall harvest. Although this work is coordinated by two student interns, volunteers do the bulk of the labor. Visit the "Get involved" page for more information on volunteering and applying for the coordinator positions. We love visitors!  Come by any time to help out.

From mid-May to September the farm is maintained by four summer farm interns who see to the production and sale of food crops as well as participating in weekly farm visits.  This popular internship program is funded by the previous year's crop sales and generous alumni gifts.