Privilege & Poverty Academic Cluster

P&P is a learning community that brings students, faculty, staff, and community partners together to critically examine the material, social, and environmental contexts of economic inequality and cultivate lifelong ethical participation in society. P&P connects learning in the classroom to learning in the community, informed and enriched through our sustained, collaborative relationships with community organizations and coalitions, along with our collaborations with other institutions of higher education.

How It Works

The Cluster is not a formal major or minor, but it is a program with coherence, relevance, and intellectual depth that complements any other major course of study. The Cluster introduces issue-based experiential learning in an interdisciplinary format. Participating faculty include a range of professors from across academic disciplines so that students study specific interests with depth, breadth, and connection. Read more about the P&P curriculum and coursework.

As a participating student you will combine theory and practice as you work with partner organizations. Together you’ll address community-identified needs and work to create a positive impact. 

Taking advantage of an abundance of resources and expertise at Middlebury and in our community, you will cultivate the skills, knowledge, capacities, and moral sensitivities that are essential to addressing social and economic inequalities.

Curriculum and Courses

The P&P Cluster encourages students to explore issues surrounding economic inequality from a variety of intellectual perspectives and disciplines. The Cluster is intentionally designed to be flexible to meet students’ particular interests and academic goals. 

Each semester, there are 40+ courses offered that complete a P&P Cluster curriculum requirement. Read more about the P&P Cluster curriculum and academic requirements.

Want to register for a class?

Internships

Privilege & Poverty pairs academic courses with a summer internship, locally in Addison County or nationally through our partnership with the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP).

Learn more about the P&P internship program, including local and national SHECP internship opportunities.

Local Internships

Each summer, P&P partners with local community organizations in Addison County to offer 10-week, paid internships addressing issues of poverty. These experiences offer real-world experiential learning within a student cohort-based learning model that supports and reinforces student learning goals.

National Internships: Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty

Middlebury College is one of over twenty member institutions of the Shepherd Higher Education Consortium on Poverty (SHECP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the proliferation of poverty studies programs at colleges and universities in the U.S. Middlebury regularly sends 5-7 students to participate in the SHECP summer internship program.