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MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The Middlebury alumni who returned to campus for Homecoming 2016 were greeted by a perfect late-September day, victories on the playing fields, and ample opportunities to experience college life again.

The Green Mountains shimmered under billowy clouds on Saturday, September 24, as the women’s field hockey team defeated Bowdoin 3-2 in a thrilling rematch of last fall’s Division III national championship game.

The Panthers almost made it a clean sweep of the visiting Polar Bears with a lopsided victory in football and a 2-1 triumph in men’s soccer, while the women’s soccer team was defeated by Bowdoin 1-0. The volleyball team also enjoyed a successful Homecoming with straight-set victories over St. Lawrence and Hamilton.

President Laurie Patton and Provost Susan Baldridge discussed Middlebury’s future and took questions from the alumni at the 40th annual Alumni Leadership Conference. The conference hosts reunion committees, class agents, and Cane Society representatives.

Alumni Leadership Conference also spotlighted the insights of political science professors Bert Johnson and Matt Dickinson into presidential politics, and later in the evening alumni were entertained by tenor William Burden ’86, the Alumni Achievement Award winner.

Over the course of the weekend, President Patton was everywhere greeting alumni, speaking at events, and even presenting NCAA championship rings to members of the 2016 women’s lacrosse team at halftime of the football game. She addressed alumni on Saturday morning and mingled at the alumni reception at Kirk Center after the football game.

The president was also on hand for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the new Center for Creativity, Innovation, and Social Entrepreneurship at 118 South Main Street at the corner of Storrs Avenue.

This year’s Homecoming on September 23-25 dovetailed with the annual Clifford Symposium, which gave alumni the opportunity to participate in a movement workshop and improvisational laboratory experience in the Dance Theatre at the Mahaney Center for the Arts. With its theme of mindfulness, the symposium also offered panel discussions about the art and science of the topic as well as practice samplers in yoga, aikido, tai chi, modern qi gong, and meditation.

The Museum of Art opened early on Saturday so alumni could enjoy the featured exhibitions of the post-pop prints of Keith Haring and the “Bloom and Doom” exhibit of visual expressions and reform from Vienna.

“Hundreds of alumni returned for Homecoming, including some of our most loyal volunteers,” says Meg Storey Groves ’85, vice president for alumni relations and annual giving. “Everyone had a chance to reconnect with friends and to get to know President Patton. We love welcoming alumni back to campus, and we could not have wished for a more perfect weekend to share Middlebury with them.”

For More Information

Homecoming Photo Album