Class of 1977

For a complete list of Reunion events, please check the Schedule Page closer to June 2027.

Remember When?

Rediscover fond and fun memories with your classmates by browsing these collections!

• The Kaleidoscope 1977
• New Faces 1973

Connect with Classmates

Share photos or memories and plan that meetup with your friends in the Class of 1977 Facebook Group. 

Reunion Volunteers

Contact your Advancement staff liaisons and find helpful volunteer resources.

Class of 1977 50th Reunion Class Gift

Please consider a special gift in celebration of your milestone 50th reunion. Gifts can be of any size or type. Your support will help open the door to Middlebury College for generations of deserving students. Thank you!

Donor Stories

Frank Sesno

Tell me about your time as a student; how has your Middlebury experience impacted your life?
Middlebury shaped and influenced me in more ways than I can count.  Some of it was intellectual, but a lot was experiential—what I saw, where I went, the experiences I had, the people I encountered.  

I have so many Middlebury friends 50 years on. They are fellow travelers in life, on the slopes, in the shared moments that make us who we are. The classes I took in history, writing, languages, and so much more shape the way I think and work. My career in journalism was inspired by studying history and the research I dove into for my thesis. I came to realize history cannot be spelled without s-t-o-r-y. It was a lesson that stuck. In my career at CNN and doing documentaries for The History Channel and others, I’ve tried to turn history into stories that come to life.

For me, the world came to life through languages.  Spanish opened a hemisphere that I covered extensively in the 80s and 90s. My undergrad studies in French and the Middlebury French Summer School opened a different lens that was helpful when I was based in London.  Kathy and I continue to spend time in France. We still study the language. And every time we go, I dedicate our travels to Midd and the professors who drilled past participles into my brain. 

Middlebury inspired a love of learning and introduced me to the most wonderful, caring, inquisitive professors.  John Spencer became a mentor.  His career change inspired mine, and I dedicate my work as a professor, trying to inspire the next generation, to him.  

Finally, Middlebury inspired the most important part of my life: my wife and partner of 46 years, Kathy Sanderson.  We met via a mutual Middlebury friend, Denise Schlener, after graduation (somehow we went through four years at Midd without meeting). Since then, we have had a remarkable and richly rewarding journey that has taken us around the world, forged great friendships, inspired two of our three children to go to Midd, and brought us back to Vermont regularly. It’s a journey that reflects our love of the great outdoors … and the strength of hills.

What keeps you connected to Middlebury?
The mission, for one. Teaching and motivating the next generation of learners, leaders, inventors, and cultural ambassadors is incredibly inspiring.  I taught a J-term class - my first experience teaching - in January 1993.  Bill Clinton had just been elected. I was covering it all at CNN, and that intensive month with those students left a lasting impression. They dazzled me with their nuanced thinking about the world, their tough questions for our class guests, and their thoughtful, often provocative approach to issues of who we are and where we should be going as a country.  

I was asked to be a trustee after that, and honored to serve. Ever since, I’ve been impressed by the purpose of the place and the genuine caring that the faculty bring to their teaching, their research, and their mentoring. Middlebury’s leadership is also a reason I’ve stayed connected.  From professors to the presidents I’ve known, they project a dedication that is deep and genuine. This is a remarkable, caring, and compassionate community. It has challenges and confronts setbacks like any other, but the candor and empathy with which it confronts those challenges is a trademark of a unique place. And located as it is between the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks, it is a beautiful and evocative place that connects us all. 

What inspires you to support the College?
The students inspire our support. The school’s mission inspires us. The Middlebury family - focused on the planet yet grounded in a small community, embracing the widest range of ideas, committed to cultural respect, curious about the lives and experiences of others, grounded in harsh winters and enlightened by technicolor autumns - is such a unique place. And at a time when so much is pulling us apart, Middlebury has proven itself to be a place determined to bring people together. To live. To learn. To struggle. To laugh. These are experiences worth supporting - and why we’ve done so.

What makes you most proud to be an alum?
All of the above! But most of all, seeing what’s going on in the world and in higher education, what makes me most proud is Middlebury’s commitment to learning, integrity, rigor, and the beauty and bounty of the planet on which we live. 50 years from our ‘commencement,’ we are no longer beginners.  We have lived most of our lives, pursued our careers, built our friendships. There is much more to come, but we all realize how precious and how fleeting time actually is.  So what makes me most proud is the permanence of Middlebury’s foundation of curiosity and caring. The place is built on the bedrock of ideas and experience and people who have populated it. I am confident that, despite the change and churn in the work, Middlebury is positioned to keep building on that foundation. And that makes me incredibly confident.  And proud.

Karen Stolley

Tell me about your time as a student; how has your Middlebury experience impacted your life?
I loved every minute of my time at Middlebury, from the moment I drove from Erie with my parents and saw the College on the hill waiting for me to our graduation weekend almost 50 years ago. My Middlebury experience was defined by great teaching - I applied to Middlebury because my wonderful high school Spanish teacher had gotten his MA at the Summer Language School. Once I arrived, I was constantly challenged and inspired by professors like Roberto Véguez and Marisol Maura, Pardon Tillinghast and Marjorie Lamberti, Murray Dry and John Elder. I went on to earn a PhD in Spanish and have spent my entire life trying to share with my own students the passion for teaching and learning that my Middlebury faculty shared with me. 

What keeps you connected to Middlebury?
I feel fortunate to have had strong family connections to the College, having followed the Middlebury tradition of marrying a fellow Midd graduate, David Littlefield, Jr. (‘79). David and I met in Perkins, AKA the Spanish House, and we began our friendship observing the language pledge and speaking only in Spanish for months! My beloved in-laws, David and Jean Littlefield (now deceased ), were beloved members of the Middlebury community who opened their home and their hearts to countless generations of Midd kids. My two siblings followed me to Middlebury; brother Jim established the Stolley-Ryan Prize in American Literature; sister Beth married Midd graduate Harry Drucker. They are committed environmentalists who’ve supported Chicago Posse and The Knoll; all three of their kids (Will, Emma and Nat) graduated as Febs. My sister-in-law, Sarah Gordon Littlefield, is a Midd grad; she and Christopher Littlefield’s son, Hayes Littlefield, is a current student.

I’ve also had the great good fortune to teach at the Spanish Summer School and serve on the Middlebury Board of Trustees (now as Emerita).

What inspires you to support the College?
I believe in the mission of a liberal arts education and in the extraordinary opportunities that Middlebury offers its students. I want everyone to have access to the educational experiences in and beyond the classroom, locally and globally.

What makes you most proud to be an alum?
Middlebury has always understand that in order to be a citizen of one’s community, country and the world, one needs a rigorous and capacious understanding, multi-lingual and multi-cultural competencies, curiosity and compassion. I am proud every day of the work we all do together.

Do you have any advice for classmates considering a gift?
I would encourage people to talk to the terrific Advancement team in order to explore the many options for curating a gift that works for them. And I would also remind them that every gift matters!

Bobo Sideli

Tell me about your time as a student; how has your Middlebury experience impacted your life?
At Middlebury, I had the opportunity to be both a scholar-athlete and an active musician. My undergraduate years allowed me to develop and strengthen these passions, and they have remained an important part of my life ever since. To this day, I continue to pursue the same interests that first flourished during my time at Middlebury.

What keeps you connected to Middlebury?
It gives me great satisfaction to know that, in my own small way, I am helping Middlebury continue to grow, thrive, and provide exceptional opportunities for future generations of students.

What inspires you to support the College?
I was able to attend Middlebury only because of the generosity of those who came before me. Their support opened doors that otherwise would not have been available, and I feel a deep responsibility to carry that tradition forward by helping ensure future generations of deserving students have access to the same exceptional education through the strongest possible financial aid program.

What makes you most proud to be an alum?
I am proud to have been educated at such an outstanding institution and even prouder to be part of a community whose alumni continue to make meaningful contributions to our nation and the world. It is an honor to be associated with so many accomplished people who dedicate their talents to improving the lives of others.  

Do you have any advice for classmates considering a gift?
While I have always been a strong supporter of Middlebury’s Annual Fund—because those gifts provide immediate support for the College’s day-to-day operations—for our 50th Reunion, I encourage my classmates to also consider making a life-income gift. A charitable gift annuity is a wonderful way to support Middlebury while helping ensure that future generations of students benefit from the same outstanding educational experience that we enjoyed.

I am especially enthusiastic about taking advantage of the current tax provisions that allow a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) from an IRA to fund a charitable gift annuity. It is a remarkably simple way to make a meaningful gift while receiving guaranteed lifetime income.

My own Middlebury charitable gift annuity provides quarterly payments, and I’ve been using those funds to cover my annual tuition for Alumni College, held each summer at Bread Loaf. I like to joke that, fifty years later, I’m once again attending Middlebury on financial aid—just as I did as a student!