2010-2011 Events
2010-2011 Scott Center Events
Reunion Chapel Service
Sunday, June 5, 2011
10:00 a.m.
Mead Memorial Chapel
Ecumenical Christian service led by Chaplain Laurie Jordan.
King James Bible 400th Anniversary Celebration
Wednesday, May 4th, 2011
4:00-5:00 pm
Special Collections, Davis Family Library
Join us for a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James version of the Bible. With brief presentations by Chaplain Laurie Jordan, Assistant Professor of Religion Ellie Bagley and Curator of Special Collections and Archives Andrew Wentink. Special Collections will offer an exhibit of 16th and 17th Century Bibles that preceded the King James Version, as well as a recently acquired 1629 edition of the KJV.
Refreshments will be served.
Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony
Sunday, May 1, 2011
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Mead Memorial Chapel
Join us in Mead Chapel for a service of commemoration of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day.
Co-sponsored by Middlebury College Hillel, The Addison County Jewish Congregation: Havurah, The Middlebury Area Clergy Association, and the Chaplain’s Office.
Easter Sunrise Service
Sunday, April 24, 2011
6:30-7:00 a.m.
Alumni Stadium (Kirk Alumni Center in case of rain)
Ecumenical Christian service led by Chaplain Laurie Jordan.
Passover Seder
Monday, April 18, 2011
6:00-9:00 p.m.
Atwater Dining Hall
RSVP’s are required; please call Ellen McKay at 802-443-5626, or email emckay@middlebury.edu.
Presented by Middlebury College Hillel, The Chaplain’s Office, and
Havurah—The JewishCommunity of Middlebury.
Carillon Concert in Honor of the People of Japan
Monday, March 21, 2011
6:00 p.m.
On Monday, March 21st, at 6:00 p.m. Middlebury College Carillonneur George Matthew Jr. will perform a carillon concert of Japanese music in Mead Chapel in honor of the people of Japan. The bells will be heard ringing across the campus, and our community is encouraged to pause for a moment of reflection and prayer.
Please click here for more information on other campus activities related to Japanese disaster support.
The Promise and Practice of Mindfulness
lecture by Florence Meleo-Meyer
Friday, March 11, 2011
4:30 p.m. lecture
229 Axinn
Mindfulness is an innate human capacity to pay wise attention to what is happening in one’s life. It leads to a deeper, more compassionate and skillful connection with one’s gifts, challenges and choices. Mindfulness might best be described as our capacity for moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. In its most fundamental dimensions, mindfulness is a highly developed form of attention training – an instrumental method for learning to focus, sustain, deploy and refine attention.
Florence Meleo-Meyer, M.S., M.A., is a senior teacher at the world-renowned Stress Reduction Program at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School. She directs Oasis, the Institute for Professional Training, as well as the Mindfulness in Education Project. With depth, clarity, humor and warmth, she has taught mindfulness to students, educators and professionals in medicine, psychology and business in the U.S. and abroad.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workshops Participants will leave these Saturday workshops (one for faculty and staff, and one for students) with mindfulness practices which can immediately be incorporated into busy days. Guided-practice CDs to deepen practice will be provided to all Saturday workshop participants. We will cultivate the following:
- Concentration
- Mental stability
- Resiliency
- Listening
- Responding rather than reacting
- Creativity
Additionally, we will learn and practice:
- Basic mindfulness meditation skills and theory;
- Current information on stress psychology and physiology experienced directly;
- How “being awake” in the moment can impact our experience with stress, self-esteem and social interactions.
For Middlebury College Faculty and Staff: Saturday, March 12, 2011
9:00 a.m.-12 noon, 229 Axinn Center
For Middlebury College students: Saturday, March 12, 2011
1:00-4:00 p.m., 229 Axinn Center
Registration is required for the workshops, but not for the Friday lecture; please contact Ellen McKay to register, emckay@middlebury.edu. Refreshments will be served on Saturday.
Holi-Purim Party
Thursday, March 17, 2011
5:30-7:00 p.m.
Atwater Dining Hall
Enjoy a joint celebration of the Hindu and Jewish holidays with presentations by Prof. Vasuda Paramasivan and Rabbi Ira Schiffer, and a dinner of Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Please RSVP to emckay@middlebury.edu. The first 150 will be able to attend.
“Who Do We Think We Are: Animals and Christianity”
Thursday, March 3, 2011
4:30 p.m., 216 McCardell Bicentennial Hall
Holy dogs, wise lions, humble oxen - is Christianity only about humans or can some of these other animals also come into the circle of Christian compassion, care and meaning? What are the implications of the inclusion or exclusion of animals from Christian practice and consideration? Laura Hobgood-Oster explores some of the sources for Christian consideration of animals and suggests some of the responses that contemporary Christians might contemplate and enact.
Dr. Laura Hobgood-Oster holds the Elizabeth Root Paden Chair in Religion at Southwestern University, where she specializes in the history of animals in the Christian Tradition. She helped found and then co-chaired the Animals and Religion Consultation of the American Academy of Religion (2002-2008). Her overall areas of research include animals in religious traditions and in the history and theology of Christianity; animals in contemporary religious-ethical systems; religion and ecology; environmental studies; ecofeminism, and women in the Christian tradition.
Recent publications include:The Friends We Keep: Unleashing Christianity’s Compassion for Animals (2010), Holy Dogs and Asses: Animals in the History of the Christian Tradition (2008), The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature (2005), Executive Editor (Bron Taylor, editor in chief)and Crossroads Choices: Biblical Wisdom Literature into the 21st Century (2000)
Meditation for Academic Excellence — And Beyond
An interactive talk with Arthur Zajonc
Thursday, February 10, 4:30 - 6 pm
Bi Hall 216
Arthur Zajonc (rhymes with “science”) is a physicist who speaks about the relationship between science and meditation. He uses data to show that incorporating contemplative practice in academic settings can dramatically improve learning by developing the inner resources of the student. High-level students like those at Middlebury are already enchanted with Thoreau’s idea of “awakening to a poetic or divine life.” Dr. Zajonc uses the work of many of the world’s great teachers (Rumi, Rudolf Steiner, Basho, Thoreau, Goethe, and Buddha) to show how we can redirect our process of learning toward that goal. These practices can:
- increase one’s sustained voluntary attention;
- break patterns of reactive, associative thinking
- make us better able to use contradictions in what we study to think more broadly;
- create a more conscious tempo in our lives that supports higher learning.
Arthur Zajonc is professor of physics at Amherst College and author of several books, including The Heart of Higher Education: A Call for Renewal and Meditation as Contemplative Inquiry. He serves as scientific coordinator for the Mind and Life dialogue with H.H. the Dalai Lama whose meetings have been published as The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama (Oxford 2004) and The Dalai Lama at MIT (Harvard UP, 2006). He directs the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society which supports appropriate inclusion of contemplative practice in higher education. http://www.arthurzajonc.org/
Co-Sponsored by the Ad-Hoc Committee on Campus Stress, the Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, the Department of Education Studies, and funded through an Alfred E. Sloan Work-Life Balance mini grant through the Office of Faculty Development.
Prof. Zajonc will conduct a Contemplative Pedagogy Seminar/Workshop for faculty and staff on Friday, February 11, 1 - 4 pm in Axinn 229. Lunch provided at 12:30. Please contact Catharine Wright at the Center for Teaching, Learning and Research to register, cwwright@middlebury.edu<mailto:cwwright@middlebury.edu>.
Research shows that secular contemplative practices such as silent focus on an image, concept or the breath can help the brain process information, sustain inquiry into contradictions and promote well-being. In this seminar, Arthur Zajonc will present research on the effects of mindfulness techniques, describe how faculty across the disciplines have incorporated such techniques into their classes, and lead participants in contemplative practice.
Co-sponsored by the Faculty-Staff Meditation Group and funded by an Alfred E. Sloan Work/Life Balance mini-grant through the Office of Faculty Development.
Bread for the Journey Prayer Service and Dinners
Monday, January 24
Tuesday, February 15
Tuesday, March 1 and 15
Tuesday, April 12
5:30 p.m., Freeman International Center Annex
We will begin in candlelight with a brief service of evening prayer in the Christian tradition, led by Chaplain Laurie Jordan. We will share a simple family-style meal together following the service.
Please RSVP to emckay@middlebury.edu with your college ID number for a dinner headcount.
Lessons and Carols for Advent and Christmas
Sunday, December 5, 2010
4:00 and 7:00 p.m.
Mead Memorial Chapel
Lessons & Carols for Advent and Christmas, an annual traditional program combining choral music, congregational singing and the biblical texts of the season, takes place on Dec. 5 in Middlebury College’s Mead Memorial Chapel. Chaplain Laurel Macaulay Jordan ‘79 will officiate at this celebratory community service. George Matthew Jr. will ring in the service with selections on the chapel carillon; Emory Fanning, professor emeritus of music, will play the organ, and the Middlebury College Choir will perform.
There will be two services, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Both are free and open to the public. Donations collected for local charities. Read more …
Diwali, Hindu Festival of Lights
Saturday, Nov. 6, 2010
Pooja ceremony at 6:00, followed by dinner at 7:00
Freeman International Center Annex
With talks beginning at 6:15 by Professor of Art and Architecture Cynthia Packert and Professor of Religion Vasudha Paramasivan.
Sponsored by the Hindu Student Association and The Chaplain’s Office.
Please contact asinha@middlebury.edu with questions.
33rd Annual Addison County CROP Hunger Walk
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Middlebury Town Green
Registrations begins at 11:30 a.m.
Walk begins at 1:00 p.m.
CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.
Join Sister Isoline Duclos, this year’s Honorary Chair, in a fun 2.4-mile walk to raise money for seven Addison County food shelves and for hunger and sustainability projects around the world.
Call Patty Hallam at 802-388-1561 for a walker packet, or go online at churchworldservice.org to start raising money on the web.
*** As of Oct. 27, our total amount raised is over $23,000!
“How to Be a Peacemaker: Nonviolence in a Time of War”
Lecture by Colman McCarthy
Wed., September 29, 2010
7:00 p.m., 220 McCardell Bicentennial Hall
Colman McCarthy is an American journalist, teacher, lecturer, pacifist, an anarchist and long-time peace activist. He has been teaching courses on nonviolence and the literature of peace since 1982. He has taught at Georgetown University Law Center, American University, the University of Maryland, the Washington Center for Internships, Wilson High School, Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and School Without Walls. In 25 years, he has had more than 7,000 students in his classes. He founded the Center for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in Peace Studies.
Colman wrote columns for The Washington Post from 1969 to 1997. His topics ranged from politics, religion, health, and sports to education, poverty, and peacemaking. He has written for The New Yorker, The Nation, The Progressive, and Atlantic Monthly. He has written bi-weekly columns for The National Catholic Reporter since 1997. Smithsonian Magazine has said that he is “a man of profound spiritual awareness.”
Sponsored by the Newman Catholic Student Organization, Ross Commons, the Religious Life Council, and the Chaplain’s Office.
Fall Family Weekend Events sponsored by the Chaplain’s Office
Fall Family Weekend Chapel Service
Sunday, October 10, 2010
10:00 a.m.
Mead Memorial Chapel
Ecumenical Christian worship service led by Chaplain Laurel Macaulay Jordan ‘79.
Fall Family Weekend Bagel Brunch
Sunday, October 10, 2010
11:00 a.m.
Jewish Center at Freeman International Center
High Holidays 5771 Schedule
September 2010
Rosh Hashanah
Wednesday, September 8
7:00 p.m. Evening Service at Mead Chapel. Babysitting space in Hepburn Lounge*
8:30 p.m. “Apples and Honey” Reception in Forest East Lounge
Thursday, September 9
9:30 a.m. Shacharit – Morning services at Mead Chapel. Babysitting space in Hepburn Lounge *
5:00 p.m. Tashlich Service at Otter Creek Footbridge, Marble Works side
Friday, September 10
9:30 a.m. Shacharit – Morning Services and babysitting space at Havurah House*
Yom Kippur
Friday, September 17
6:30 p.m. Kol Nidre at Mead Chapel. Babysitting space in Hepburn Lounge.*
Saturday, September 18
9:30 a.m. Shacharit – Morning Service at Mead Chapel. Babysitting space in Hepburn Lounge *
11:15 a.m. Yizkor – Memorial Service at Mead Chapel
5:00 p.m. Minchah – Afternoon Service and Ne’ilah – Concluding Services at Mead Chapel
6:45 p.m. Shofar Blowing and Havdalah at Mead Chapel
7:00 p.m. Break-the-Fast: RSVP’s are required. Please contact emckay@middlebury.edu to add your name to the list.
* Babysitting space is provided, but Havurah does not provide babysitters. If interested in sharing a babysitter, please call Karen Lefkoe, at 388-3105.