News

MIDDLEBURY, VT. – Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the College Katy Smith Abbott has announced four recent changes in titles and responsibilities within the Student Life staff.

Derek Doucet has been named associate dean of students for student activities and orientation. Doucet started working at Middlebury in August 2003 as the assistant director of the Center for Campus Activities and Leadership. With the creation of Middlebury Outdoor Programs in January 2005, he transitioned to outdoor programs director. In the fall of 2011, he assumed oversight of the club sports program as well. During his time at the College, Doucet has helped expand outdoor education and recreation opportunities, delivered leadership-training opportunities, and instituted industry-standard risk management practices for outdoor pursuits.

Doug Connelly has been named director of outdoor programs and club sports. In this role, he is responsible for oversight of all outdoor programming at the College, including orientation trips, outdoor-focused student organizations, the Middlebury Outdoor Programs catalog of skills courses, trips and expeditions, and all climbing wall operations. Connelly will also assume responsibility for club sports, including supervision of the club coaches. He brings 15 years of field instruction and program supervision with the National Outdoor Leadership School, extensive experience as a club crew coach at the collegiate level, and significant work with college outing programs. Prior to his appointment at Middlebury, Connelly worked at the University of Vermont.

Roberto Lint Sagarena has been named director of intercultural programs. The associate professor of American and international & global studies has been serving as director of the Anderson Freeman Resource Center and the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, and as co-chair of the Alliance for an Inclusive Middlebury (AIM). He will continue in those various roles, now consolidated under one title. Lint Sagarena began teaching at Middlebury in 2009.

AJ Place has been named dean of Brainerd Commons, having previously served as associate dean for judicial affairs and student life. His previous experience in higher education includes 14 years in residential life at colleges and universities in California, New York, and Vermont. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, and his master’s in higher education and student affairs administration at the University of Vermont. Place is especially interested in building community in residential life and brings experience in living and learning communities, social justice education, and student development to the Middlebury Commons system.