In Memoriam: Clara Yu
In Memoriam: Clara Yu
Language professor Clara Yu, former president of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, died January 1, 2026, at the age of 77. In her nearly 20 years at Middlebury, Yu served in multiple leadership roles that advanced language education across the institution.
“It was a real pleasure to work with her,” said former Middlebury president Ron Liebowitz. “Clara was one-of-a-kind: creative, brilliant, collegial, and selfless. She did administrative work for all the right reasons and saw the possibilities in even the longest of long shots that might expand and enrich our students’ education. The College, Language Schools, Schools Abroad, and MIIS all benefited greatly from her talents and dedication.”
Yu was born in 1948 in Chongqing, China, the third daughter in a family of five. While she was still a child, the family moved to Taiwan, where she flourished in academics. She earned her BA in English from the National Taiwan University and then continued her studies in the United States, graduating from the University of Illinois with a PhD in comparative literature. She taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Maryland before coming to Middlebury in 1987 as an assistant professor of Chinese language and literature.
In 1992 she published a poetry collection, To the Interior: Poems by Clara Yu, in English and Chinese.
She received tenure in 1993 and was later appointed vice president for languages and director of the Summer Language Schools. In that capacity, she restructured the operation of Middlebury’s Language Schools and Schools Abroad and designed a rigorous three-year program that became the prototype for Middlebury’s international studies major. She founded and became the director of the College’s Center for Educational Technology in 1996.
In 2001, she helped establish and became the first director of the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), a nonprofit that promoted technological innovation and collaboration among over 80 liberal arts colleges.
In 2005, she came out of a short-lived retirement to assist in Middlebury’s acquisition of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and from 2006 to 2008 she served as president of the newly established Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Former Middlebury president John McCardell said, “Clara was a dynamo—intelligent, articulate, amazingly well-read, and, perhaps most to the benefit of the College, entrepreneurial. Those traits manifested themselves in so many ways and so many places—in the classroom, with colleagues, and especially before donors, most especially the Mellon Foundation, without whose support the NITLE initiative simply would not have happened. Her gifts were many, her leadership exemplary, her devotion to Middlebury abiding, and her impact, both on the College and in the wider world of technology and language pedagogy, profound and enduring.”
Trustee Emeritus William “Bill” Kieffer III ’64, who worked with her during the early years of the Middlebury Institute, added, “Clara was devoted to MIIS and she was devoted to Middlebury. Her books of poetry bring to life the world around us. She was one of the most self-effacing individuals I have ever known, and her memory will be with me forever.”
Yu is survived by her husband, John Deppman, whom she married in 1997; her three sisters, May Yu Tsao, Hsiang Yu Pan, and Alice Yang Yu; 10 nieces and nephews; and John’s children: Ann, Hsiu-Chuang, and Benjamin Deppman, and their families, including 10 step-grandchildren and one step-great-granddaughter.
She was predeceased by her older brother, James Zhao Yu, and her stepson Jed Deppman.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that those who wish to honor Clara’s memory perform small acts of kindness in whatever ways feel meaningful to them.