To create and maintain a community that affirms and fosters diversity, equity and inclusion, Middlebury works to strengthen connections between academic, cocurricular, extracurricular, and personal opportunities.

Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies

Gender Sexuality and Feminist Studies is an interdisciplinary academic program that examines the intersections of sexuality and gender in a variety of contexts in order to highlight possibilities for transformation and change. 

Queer Studies House

The Queer Studies House (QSH) is an academic interest house dedicated to the study of sexuality and gender and their relationships to race, class, ability, and geography. QSH provides a vibrant living space for students of all gender and sexual identities and fosters leadership and activist skills among its residents. 

Black Studies

Black Studies is an interdisciplinary academic program that examines the histories and cultures of the African diaspora through comparative approaches to black experiences. 

The Twilight Project

The Twilight Project, launched in 2020, engages the Middlebury College community – students, faculty, staff, and alumni – with the history of the struggles and triumphs across difference at the College. The Twilight Project will commission artistic performances and support academic research that confronts Middlebury’s historic treatment of underrepresented and excluded groups.

Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity

The Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) provides support for pedagogy and research that employs interdisciplinary approaches towards the understanding of formations of race and ethnicity. CCSRE encourages scholarship that considers race and ethnicity as intersecting with class, gender, sexuality, religion, age, dis/ability, language, communication, migration, and the environment in human relations. The Center and its affiliates are committed to broad discussions of race and ethnicity in local, regional, national, transnational and global contexts. 

DLINQ Digital Detox

Digital Detox is an annual J-term newsletter series published by the Office of Digital Learning and Inquiry (DLINQ). Digital Detox is aimed to reduce the toxicity of our personal digital environments and how we engage with them. 

Middlebury C.V. Schools Abroad

The Middlebury C.V. Starr Schools Abroad provide students with the opportunity to experience total immersion in the language and culture of another country. Schools Abroad students participate in an authentic learning experience at a local academic institution while exploring and engaging with the local community. Schools Abroad also help students consider and navigate the lived experience of diversity and identity within different cultural contexts, providing resources for students to consider with respect to gender, ability, socioeconomic status, religion and spirituality, race and ethnicity, and sexual orientation and gender identity.

Martin H. Freeman Lecture Series

The Martin Henry Freeman Lecture Series features prominent STEM scholars from underrepresented backgrounds. Invited speakers present their research and also attend an informal lunch discussion with faculty and students to discuss the challenges faced by those of underrepresented identities in the STEM fields. 

Creating Connections Consortium (C3)

The C3 programs address the challenges of diversity in higher education by investing in cohorts of talented graduate students and faculty from underrepresented groups and by creating and nurturing connections between partners interested in institutional change. With the Liberal Arts Diversity Officers Consortium, C3 develops, disseminates, and promotes strategies for building academic settings that foster the full participation of diverse students and faculty. In doing so, C3 serves as an incubator of innovation for institutional diversity.

The Posse Foundation

Founded in 1989, the Posse Foundation identifies and trains public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Posse extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural groups of 10 students. Posse partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships. The first Middlebury Posse arrived on campus from New York City in 1999 and graduated in 2003. In 2012 we added a second Posse from Chicago and in 2015 a third from Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Posse scholars are all STEM students. Current and incoming Posse Scholars can contact Elaine Orozco Hammond, Director of Equity Initiatives, with questions and for support.

BOLD Women’s Leadership Network

Funded by The Pussycat Foundation, the BOLD Women’s Leadership Initiative cultivates courageous leadership in young women during their college years and beyond. BOLD facilitates opportunities for career development and networking through scholarship funding, programming, and post-graduation fellowships. Current and new BOLD leaders can contact Elaine Orozco Hammond, Director of Equity Initiatives, with questions and for support.

The Wily Network

Wily Scholars are students who strive to navigate college on their own—managing finances, securing summer and break housing, and working to provide themselves with food, books, clothing, and dorm essentials. The Wily Network improves college outcomes for promising young people who have persevered through such life challenges as aging out of foster care, experiencing homelessness, or lacking family support. Middlebury College partnered with the Wily Network in 2017. Current and incoming Wily Scholars can contact Elaine Orozco Hammond, Director of Equity Initiatives, with questions and for support.

Student Access and Support (SAS) Grants

“How can I get funded?” We often hear this from students. Many know that there is money out there to help fund internships, fellowships, conferences, emergencies, and more, but don’t know where to start looking. These Student Access and Support grants are a good place to start. Students with questions about available funding options and how to apply can contact Elaine Orozco Hammond, Director of Equity Initiatives.