In Memoriam: Kathleen Doyle
Provost Michelle McCauley, Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeremy Ward, and Dean of Faculty Roberto Lint Sagarena shared the following message with members of the campus community on July 17.
Dear Colleagues,
We write to share the sad news that Kathleen Doyle, 62, who played an important role in science instruction at Middlebury over the past several years, died on Friday, July 11, at her home in Middletown Springs following an illness.
“Kathy was a gifted and creative teacher who was able to blend quantitative analysis with deep thinking about human–nature relationships,” wrote our colleague Marc Lapin, associate laboratory professor and College lands conservationist. “Her legacy and pedagogical imprint live on in ES 112, in which we continue to incorporate many of the great ideas and activities that Kathy developed as a lab professor.”
Kathy was born on March 8, 1963, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the third of four children. A graduate of Newburyport High School, she went on to study natural resource management at Cornell University, later earning her MS and PhD in botany from the University of Wyoming. She moved to Vermont in 1997, where she taught on the faculty of Green Mountain College, worked as a local environmental consultant, and organized nature camps.
She first came to Middlebury in 2016 as a visiting assistant in science instruction. In 2018 she was appointed visiting assistant lab professor, and in 2021, assistant lab professor. From 2022 to 2024, she served as a visiting research scholar in environmental studies.
For a glimpse into Kathy’s thinking as an educator and scientist, we invite you to read her 2018 essay “Swamp Things” in the spring issue of Middlebury Magazine, in which she eschewed the popular political metaphor “draining the swamp” in favor of restoring actual swamps to their rightful place in the landscape. Following is an excerpt:
“Swamps have a lot to teach us about broader perspectives. Before heading into Cornwall Swamp in Vermont’s Champlain Valley, my students and I don hip waders. Solid ground gives way to uneven terrain, and we encounter with each step the complexity and variation in vegetation, soils, and water depth… . Students get sucked in; they let down their guards. They laugh and help pull each other out of the muck and appreciate each other in new ways. We all experience the quiet, the beauty, and the life-giving nature of the swamp, home to Canada warblers and moose, and a source of clean water downstream.
“Many students remark that they feel like they are in another world in the swamp. Perhaps visiting the swamp helps them understand the interconnectedness, the complexity of space and time and context in a new way. One can understand how events in the past and actions in the future make a difference in our lives.”
Kathy is survived by her mother, Eleanor Griffith Doyle; her husband, Jim Graves; her sons, John and Daniel; and her siblings, Anne, J.D., and Sue, and their families.
A memorial service will be held at the Pawlet Church, 38 Route 133, Pawlet, Vermont, on Saturday, July 19, at 1 p.m.
Sincerely,
Michelle McCauley
Executive Vice President and Provost
Jeremy Ward
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Roberto Lint-Sagarena
Dean of Faculty