Board of Trustees Approves Fiscal Year 2026 Budget, Tenure

May 16, 2025

The Middlebury Board of Trustees at its May 10 annual meeting approved a fiscal year 2026 budget with revenues of $335.3 million and expenses of $344 million. The board also amended the core retirement plan, received an update on For Every Future: The Campaign for Middlebury, and approved tenure recommendations.

David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration, said budgeted fiscal year 2026 expenses will increase by $6 million over 2025 projected expenses due to higher health insurance costs, salary increases, new residence hall depreciation and interest, an increase in the borrowing costs of new operating debt, and other inflationary adjustments. Overall, the approved fiscal year 2026 budget assumes an $8.6 million deficit.

Motions Passed

Board Chair William F. “Ted” Truscott ’83 notified the board that in April the Prudential Committee authorized Middlebury to borrow up to $45 million to provide working capital to fund operations. The loan was secured at 4.66 percent and will be paid back over 10 years.

During the annual meeting on Saturday, the board passed a resolution amending the College’s core retirement plan, reducing the nonelective contribution for participants who are 45 years old and hired before July 3, 2017, from 15 percent to 11 percent, effective for payroll periods beginning on or after January 1, 2026.

In addition to the operating budget, trustees also approved a fiscal year 2026 capital budget of $28.6 million with $18 million in funding from 2025 bonds and $10.6 million from positive cash flow depreciation. The funds will be used to pay ongoing construction of the new residence hall; renovation of Stewart Hall and Armstrong Library, and upgrades to IT and facilities; building space changes over the summer; and other capital expenditures.

Reaffirmation of Institutional Autonomy and Board Independence

Truscott notified the board that he had signed a letter from the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) titled “Reaffirming the Independence of Higher Education Governance: A Call to Action.” Later in the day, the full board passed a resolution recommended by the AGB. It reaffirms the trustees’ commitment to institutional autonomy and board independence, including the following:

An unwavering commitment to maintaining the independence of the institution’s governance.
A pledge that all decisions will continue to be made in the best interests of Middlebury’s educational mission, students, faculty, staff, and public service, free from external political pressures.
A call for all stakeholders—policymakers, higher education leaders, and the public—to defend the autonomy of America’s colleges and universities as essential to a thriving democracy and economy.
Authorization of the chair and president of the Board of Trustees to communicate this commitment publicly and to advocate for policies that protect board independence and institutional autonomy.

President’s Report

Interim President Stephen Snyder thanked the board, senior leadership, faculty, staff, and students for their support during his tenure, which ends June 30, 2025. He said his time as president allowed him to experience the “brilliant teaching, learning, research, and community life that characterize every aspect of Middlebury College, the Institute, and Schools.” Snyder listed a number of events he attended that he described as “intellectually impressive, artistically dazzling, and ethically inspiring events and people.” Among them were lectures and discussions that represented diverse opinions, but that were respectful, inclusive of a range of opinions and deep differences, and “in which students, faculty, and staff were able to come together to better understand one another.”

Admissions Update

Nicole Curvin, vice president for strategic enrollment and dean of admissions, updated trustees on the College Class of 2029 and 2029.5, which included a combined total of 11,831 applications. Acceptances were sent to 13.9 percent of the applicant pool. In March, 1,136 students were admitted through the Regular Decision round, joining 519 students admitted through the Early Decision 1 and Early Decision 2 rounds. Throughout the month of April, Admissions welcomed hundreds of admitted students and their families for Preview Days that included visits to classes and dining halls, tours, and special programming.

Curvin shared some of the following highlights of the Class of 2029 and 2029.5 admitted students:

1,112 high schools represented from around the world
95 languages spoken
73 countries represented
49 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico represented
18 percent first generation
$19.7 million in financial aid

Tenure Promotions

The board approved tenure recommendations for the following eight members of the College faculty, effective July 1:

Samuel Byrne, Biology, Global Health
Kirsten Coe, Biology
Michelle Leftheris, Studio Art
Alex Lyford, Mathematics and Statistics
Gregory Pask, Biology
Lana Povitz, History
Andrea Vaccari, Computer Science
Erin Wolcott, Economics

Campaign Update

Dan Courcey, vice president for Advancement, gave an update on For Every Future: The Campaign for Middlebury—the largest, most comprehensive of its kind in Middlebury history. To date, Middlebury has raised $86 million in new commitments during the current fiscal year, bringing our overall campaign total to $543 million.

On Saturday, May 10, trustee Parker Harris ’89, P ’20 made a surprise announcement that he and his spouse, Holly Johnson ’87, P ’20, will be giving a $15 million campaign gift. Motivated by the vision of incoming president Ian Baucom, Harris said this commitment will be allocated in the following ways:

$8 million to endow and underwrite midd.data and provide support to professors
$5 million in endowed funding for pedagogical innovation related to AI and other emerging technologies
$2 million in support of the proposed art museum

Harris, who is chief technology officer of Slack and cofounder of Salesforce, is also co-chair of the For Every Future campaign. He and his family previously gave $7 million for endowed financial aid and to bolster the midd.data program.

Overall, the campaign moved closer to its goal of engaging 85 percent of alumni by having 78 percent of graduates attend an event, volunteer, communicate with Middlebury, or make a gift.

Progress toward meeting the pillars of the campaign is as follows:

Access and financial aid: 76 percent of $215 million goal
Academic excellence: 90 percent of $120 million goal
Experiential learning: 79 percent of $70.5 million goal

Board Elections and Appointments

The trustees elected the following officers for the 2025–2026 fiscal year: William F. Truscott (chair); Leilani Brown ’93 (vice chair); Kirtley H. Cameron ’95 (vice chair); Ian Baucom (president); Hannah S. Ross (secretary); Susan Parsons Ritter ’83 (associate secretary); Charlene M. Barrett (assistant secretary); David J. Provost (treasurer); and Alberto Citarella (assistant treasurer).

Other elected positions included Koby Altman ’04, who was elected to serve as a term trustee (he previously served a five-year term as an alumni trustee); Janine Hetherington ’95 (alumni trustee); Alexander “Alex” J. Finkelstein ’97 (term trustee); Patrick M. Dorton ’90 (term trustee); and Xi-An “Andrew” Li ’99 (term trustee).

Trustees elected the following new partner advisors: Suhail Shaikh (College Board of Advisors), Jed A. Smith ’88 (College Board of Advisors), Keith R. Nilsson P’25 (Institute Board of Advisors), Henry “Tyler” Nottberg ’98 (Institute Board of Advisors), and Joel A. Smith ’75 (Schools Board of Advisors).

The Trusteeship and Governance Committee appointed Sam Flint (Staff Constituent Advisor) and Nicole Meyers ’26 (Student Constituent Advisor) to the College Board of Advisors; Jeni Henrickson (Staff Constituent Advisor) and Marley Uyemura ’26 (Student Constituent Advisor) to the Institute Board of Advisors; and Ian Barrow (Faculty Constituent Advisor) and Brenae’ Ervin ’26 (Student Constituent Advisor) to the Schools Board of Advisors.