What is Student Success?

The path to student success is the ability to articulate and take positive steps towards achieving personal, life, and academic goals. As students transition to and through their time at Middlebury, many components will influence their ability to meet these goals.

The Center for Student Success aims to empower every Middlebury student to thrive academically, socially, and personally. 

The Care Form

The responsibility to support and care for one another is a core component of the Middlebury College community. The Care Form helps us provide guidance and assistance when students are facing challenges beyond the classroom. Find more information about Using the Care Form.

Working with Students

Through a collaborative process, the Center for Student Success guides students in their own unique Middlebury experiences toward the following:

  • Accessing opportunities and resources
  • Support with transitions
  • Understanding academic policy
  • Personal growth

This is also a place where students can come when they are facing obstacles to their success. Through partnerships with Assistant Deans for Student Success, students will learn how to:

  • Set and prioritize goals
  • Identify and anticipate challenges to their success
  • Seek out resources that appropriately address their needs
  • Synthesize information and advice across multiple areas to make well informed decisions

Quick Links

Working with Faculty and Staff

The Center for Student Success also serves as a resource for faculty and staff. We are a sounding board for mentors, advisors and course instructors seeking to support student engagement. 

Faculty and staff may work with the Center for Student Success on the following and more:

  • To better understand academic policy in their roles as students’ primary academic advisors
  • To share concerns about student disengagement or academic struggles in the classroom, primarily through the use of Course Alerts
  • As a partner in supporting students through Academic Probation
  • When they have general concerns about students

Quick Links

Working with Family and Friends

Learn more about our process for how we share Information for Families.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Center is a centralized hub that integrates Class Deans, Care Management, and Equity Initiatives. We aim to empower every Middlebury student to thrive academically, socially, and personally. 

To simplify access for students and faculty, enhance coordination, and create a more flexible, team-based approach to student support.

Instead of one dedicated Class Dean per student and two Care Managers for the whole student body, Middlebury now has five Assistant Deans for Student Success and one Assistant Dean for Academic Success who work collaboratively to support students. In addition, the Center for Student Success has a Student Success Coordinator and an Operations Manager to coordinate and facilitate operations within the Center. The Center for Student Success team all report to the Vice President of Student Affairs & Dean of Students.

Faculty and staff will benefit from the following:

  • One clear point of contact for student concerns
  • Faster, coordinated responses
  • Continued partnership on academic and personal issues
  • Accessing opportunities and resources
  • Support with transitions
  • Understanding academic policy
  • Personal growth

The Assistant Dean for Academic Success serves as the primary liaison for academic policy and faculty support.  Students should reach out to studentsuccess@middlebury.edu

Contact Us

Email studentsuccess@middlebury.edu for any student concern. Our team will triage and connect you with the appropriate Assistant Dean or resource.

Upcoming Events

For more events, please visit MiddPresence.

  • Weekday Morning Sitting Meditation

    Join us for 15 minutes of silent meditation every weekday morning, led by various staff, faculty, and students.  No registration required.  Drop in any day that works for you!

    McCullough Crest Room

    Closed to the Public

  • The SlowDown

    Come slow down with beads, collaging, watercolors, grown-up coloring books and more. Homemade hot chai and cookies too! 

    McCullough Crest Room

    Closed to the Public

  • Weekday Morning Sitting Meditation

    Join us for 15 minutes of silent meditation every weekday morning, led by various staff, faculty, and students.  No registration required.  Drop in any day that works for you!

    McCullough Crest Room

    Closed to the Public

  • Writing Effective Letters of Recommendation

    Join Hannah Benz, Mary Lothrop, and Lisa Gates for a conversation about writing letters of recommendation for different purposes: fellowships, medical school, summer research, and graduate programs. What makes recommendations most effective? How can you tailor letters for different purposes? We will discuss the style, content, and purpose of different letters, point out potential pitfalls and possible remedies, and analyze examples.

    Open to all faculty. Register here.

    McCardell Bicentennial Hall 169

  • Winter Term Workshop: Peer Support Skills Training (psst...)

    Ever felt stumped about how to help a friend going through a hard time? Interested in working in a helping field in the future? Register for this training all about common mental health challenges and how to best support friends who are going through a hard time. Participants will leave with more confidence to express care and concern for friends, bring up worries and help friends to get help! Participants will meet for 1 hour for 4 weeks and receive a certificate to celebrate your learning. 

    Health and Wellness Education Conference Room

  • Self-Care in Winter with PEAR

    Join Peer Educators for Affirming Relationships (PEAR) for a discussion about self-care when it’s cold and dark on campus. Free pizza and build your own self-care kit station!

    Adirondack Coltrane Lounge

  • Weekday Morning Sitting Meditation

    Join us for 15 minutes of silent meditation every weekday morning, led by various staff, faculty, and students.  No registration required.  Drop in any day that works for you!

    McCullough Crest Room

    Closed to the Public

  • Green Dot Bystander Training

    This interactive training builds student skills to be well-equipped to proactively and reactively prevent interpersonal violence and to inspire continued engagement with the Green Dot strategy clubs, student groups, and across campus. This knowledge is vitally important to sustaining a culture that impedes interpersonal violence on campus. Sign up at go/greendotBT and receive exclusive Green Dot swag for attending.

    Redfield Proctor Room

  • Gather: Radically Inclusive Christian Community

    For the Christian, Christian-curious, and Christian-conflicted. We’ll share appetizers and mocktails over lightly-guided scripture readings, discussion and prayers.  Hosted by Prof. Mary Jane Simpson, msimpson@midd. 

    Charles P. Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life (Hathaway House)

    Closed to the Public