Join faculty, staff, and community members at the Carol Rifelj Faculty Lecture Series to hear faculty members discuss their research.

Carol Rifelj

This lecture series is named for the late Carol de Dobay Rifelj, who came to Middlebury in 1972 as an Assistant Professor, serving also at that time as Director of the Château, and of the French House. Carol received tenure in 1979, was promoted to the rank of Full Professor in 1985, and was named Jean Thomson Fulton Professor of French in 1993. She retired from Middlebury in spring 2010 after 38 years on the faculty. An energetic scholar, Carol was the author of several books and numerous articles and essays. She was also active and innovative in electronic publication, producing a significant website, Le Lexique, that won a prize in 1996 from the American Association of Teachers of French and has continued to be an influential resource for French teachers worldwide.

During her time on the faculty, Carol served on all the College’s major committees, and she held numerous administrative posts, serving as Dean of the French School from 1985 to 1987, as Dean of the Faculty from 1991 to 1993, and as the Dean for Faculty Development and Research from 2004 to 2007. Carol was an unstinting supporter and advocate for the faculty and their professional development. It is thus richly appropriate that this lecture series, which features Middlebury’s own faculty, bears her name.

2023-24 Schedule

  • Wednesday, September 27 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Mike Dash, “Patterned Brain Activity is the Basis for Brain Function”

     
  • Wednesday, October 4 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Genie Giaimo, “Academic Workplace Well-Being: Searching for Wellness in the Neoliberal Institution and Beyond”

     
  • Wednesday, October 11 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Febe Armanios, “Heavenly Bakes: Food, Gender, and Religion among Coptic Orthodox Christians”

     
  • Wednesday, October 25 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    John McLeod, “Architecture for All - Community Engagement Through Architecture”

     
  • Wednesday, November 15 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Daniel Houghton, “Launching the Middlebury Makerspace”

     
  • Wednesday, November 29 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Summer Jack, “Bringing the Past to Life: Historical Research and Theater Costume”

     
  • Wednesday, January 17 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Christal Brown, “The Pedagogy of Vision”

     
  • Wednesday, January 24 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Michael Kraus, “Digging in the Ruins of Holocaust Memory: Reclaiming My Family’s Past”

     
  • Wednesday, February 21 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Murray Dry, “Teaching at Middlebury for a Quarter of the College’s Existence”

     
  • Wednesday, February 28 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Rachael Joo, “Greens, Bunkers, and Roughs: The Geomorphologies of Korean Golf”

     
  • Wednesday, March 6 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Erin Wolcott, “Did Racist Labor Policies Reverse Equality Gains for Everyone?”

     
  • Wednesday, March 13 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Laurel Jenkins, “Choreography as a Practice in World Building”

     
  • Wednesday, March 27 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Amanda Gregg, “Vermont’s Nineteenth-Century Economic Transformation”

     
  • Wednesday, April 3 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Jason Mittell, “What is a Videographic Book (and why is this one about Breaking Bad)?”

     
  • Wednesday, April 10 | 4:30 pm, Franklin Environmental Center, The Orchard-Hillcrest 103

    Sean Peters, “The Volcanic Evolution of Mars: Insights from Comparative Planetology”