Middway Report

Message from the President and Energy2028 Leaders

As the Middlebury community celebrates the midpoint of Energy2028, we are proud to share with you this report on the College’s progress toward our goals and our ongoing plan to meet the challenge of climate change as we prepare for a sustainable, just future at Middlebury and beyond.

Energy2028 envisions a Middlebury campus fueled entirely by locally produced renewable energy—less energy, used more efficiently—and an institutional endowment that thrives without fossil-fuel investments. 

It embraces an educational model in which the science, history, sociology, and economics of the climate crisis—one of the most pressing challenges the world has ever faced—are integrated into the curricular and cocurricular experience of each and every Middlebury student. 

And it seeks to foster an energy transition that is just and equitable and provides a voice for the marginalized communities that feel the impact of our decisions. 

Energy2028 is already transforming Middlebury at a fundamental level. Since the initiative launched in 2019, we have been gratified to witness the intense effort of so many people in this community who are working to make its goals a reality, and who fought to continue this effort even through the disruptions of a global pandemic.

Energy2028 grew out of the impassioned commitment of members of this community—students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees—to see Middlebury as a leader in building a sustainable-energy future. Our community came together across sometimes profound differences and perspectives. And with open hearts and curious minds, we found a way forward together. 

This work will not end in 2028. The job of building a sustainable future is ongoing. Members of this community are already beginning the task of envisioning how the foundation of Energy2028 will build the sustainable Middlebury of the future. We hope you will get involved.

Interim President Stephen Snyder
Jack Byrne, Dean of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs

Download the report as a PDF

I.  Energy2028: An Overview

In January 2019, recognizing the increasingly dire threat of global climate change, Middlebury launched Energy2028, the most ambitious climate initiative in its history. Built on the success of Middlebury’s Carbon Neutrality 2016 initiative, Energy2028 is transforming how the College sources, uses, and invests in energy. As important, the initiative is also creating opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to integrate climate and energy issues into the Middlebury educational experience, in and out of the classroom. 

Energy2028 is organized around four key commitments:

Transition to 100 Percent Renewable Energy

Middlebury will fully transition its main campus from fossil fuels to local renewable electricity and thermal power by the end of 2028. This transition is being achieved through a mix of biomass, renewable natural gas (RNG), and solar energy, primarily sourced in collaboration with local and regional partners.

Progress to date: As of the end of fiscal year 2024, 72 percent of Middlebury’s energy portfolio was coming from renewable sources, an increase of 13 percent from 2019. The College expects to achieve the remaining 28 percent in these ways: by further replacement of fossil-based natural gas with renewable gas produced at the Vanguard Renewables anaerobic digester at the nearby Goodrich Farm; through the production of about 40 percent of its electricity needs from the South Street solar project that was electrified in fall 2024; and with an expected increase in the amount of renewably generated electricity allocated to Middlebury from utility provider Green Mountain Power.

Reducing Energy Consumption by 25 percent 

Middlebury is reducing energy usage on its main campus through a combination of small- and large-scale renovations that are improving the efficiency of campus infrastructure, community education, and energy-usage monitoring, as well as the adoption of rigorous sustainable building standards.  

Progress to date: Through a combination of efficiency-minded renovations, community education efforts, and diligent management of facility usage, the main campus has reduced its energy consumption by 12 percent which has been the result, so far, of efficiency improvements. The College seeks to achieve the remainder of the goal with further efficiency improvements such as renovating old buildings (Munroe, Warner, and Johnson are examples from the previous decade) and replacing old buildings with new higher-performing buildings (the new residence hall that is replacing the Battell residence hall, for example). Challenges remain with any new buildings constructed in the future, as they will increase overall energy demand. Developing a culture of conservation and energy-saving awareness and action among students, faculty, and staff also is challenging, and this continues to be the main focus of the educational efforts of Energy2028.

Divestment: Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Investments in the Endowment 

Beginning in mid-2018, Middlebury directed its investment manager, Investure, to stop directly investing new dollars on Middlebury’s behalf in specialized private investment funds focused on fossil fuels, and to begin phasing out direct endowment investments in fossil fuel while also limiting the impact of this divestment on endowment performance (see note below). The phase-out targets are a 25 percent reduction by 2024, 50 percent by 2027, and 100 percent by 2034. Beginning in 2013, Middlebury’s trustees committed to significantly increasing endowment investments focused on clean energy, green building projects, and other efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Progress to date: As of December 31, 2023, the endowment’s fossil fuel exposure was 3.4 percent (including 0.1 percent in coal), down from 5.2 percent at the end of FY19—a decrease of 34 percent. Divestment from fossil fuels is on a set schedule of eliminating all such investments by 2032. While the total value of any fossil fuel investments will fluctuate from year to year, the number of individual investments will steadily decrease to zero. And at the end of 2023, a total of $300 million, or 20.1 percent of the endowment, was invested in sustainability-related investments.

Note: For the purposes of Energy2028, Middlebury has defined direct investments as 1) those investments held by specialist managers who maintain an investment focus on fossil fuel companies, and 2) specialist fossil fuel index funds. The commitment does not apply to endowment positions in general equity funds that may, from time to time, contain small holdings of fossil fuel investments in their portfolios. Similarly, it does not apply to broad-based market index funds, which typically do include some fossil fuel investments. Middlebury has defined fossil fuel investment broadly to include those in enterprises whose core business is oil and gas exploration and/or production, coal mining, oil and gas equipment, services, and/or pipelines. 

Integration of Climate and Energy Issues with Middlebury’s Educational Mission

Middlebury is engaging faculty, students, and staff across all of its schools and programs in educational and research opportunities that help influence execution and continued evolution of Energy2028. This work has helped create new, immersive experiential learning opportunities for students in the classroom, lab, and field, and with community partners. 

Progress to date: In 2023, with a grant of $3 million from the Erol Foundation and an endowed gift of $4 million from NextWorld Philanthropies, Middlebury launched the Climate Action Program, which as of 2024 has funded 52 undergraduate fellowships.  

Energy Justice and Equity 

In response to local and national events that underscore how issues of justice and equity are inextricably connected with energy and climate policy, Middlebury is developing a tool for analyzing the justice implications of future Energy2028 projects. A draft framework for equity and justice is being developed by the Energy2028 Steering Committee with assistance from the Environmental Council and the Climate Action Project. 

II.  History and Context of Energy2028 

Energy2028—Middlebury’s Response to the Climate Crisis is one of the most comprehensive and ambitious initiatives among higher education institutions to address the climate crisis. How it came to be and its influence on how Middlebury sees itself going forward are important elements of the journey.

Energy2028 is Middlebury’s latest response to the climate crisis. It follows a long tradition of groundbreaking environmental initiatives, sustainability-focused solutions to campus operations, and leadership in recognizing and acting on the threat of climate change. 

Even before starting the country’s first environmental studies program in 1965, Middlebury had a history of conservation and stewardship going back to 1915 when the College accepted 25,000 acres of forestland from Joseph Battell and subsequently conserved and sold it to the U.S. Forest Service to establish the Bread Loaf Wilderness Area, the largest federal wilderness area in Vermont. In 2015 the College permanently conserved its 2,100-acre Bread Loaf campus, further assuring that these and surrounding lands would do the following: remain as critical habitat for wildlife and other organisms; have water quality protection; be available for recreational and cultural use; provide carbon sequestration and storage; and offer a multitude of other benefits.

Momentum for addressing climate change picked up in the late 1990s at Middlebury in the following ways: faculty offered campuswide talks, created a new physics course on global climate change and made it a topic of other courses, and created study committees to recommend actions for addressing it. Many students researched related topics. The 2001 Environmental Peaks Report, which focused on environmental education and campus sustainability, recommended that the Environmental Council study the feasibility of carbon neutrality. From this came the Carbon Reduction Initiative (CRI) led by students, faculty, and staff who developed recommendations for reducing campus carbon emissions and set a goal to reduce emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.  

The CRI report recommended switching the primary fuel source for heating and powering the campus from No. 6 fuel oil to wood chips, sourced locally, to be used in a biomass gasification system. After several years of study of technical, environmental, social, and economic feasibility, the trustees approved the construction of the new system in 2007. Students cheered that decision and promptly proposed a goal of carbon neutrality by 2016. Over the following year the Sunday Night Group, a student organization focused on environmental issues, organized a broad group including faculty and staff in response to the trustees’ interest in hearing how carbon neutrality could be achieved by 2016. This team produced a report detailing various projects that could be undertaken, cost-benefit analyses, case studies, and priorities for the trustees who asked for an estimate of the financial risk to pursuing a carbon neutrality path at the College. After being satisfied that it was feasible and had a tolerable risk, they approved pursuing carbon neutrality by 2016. 

As efforts to implement new carbon reduction efforts expanded, so did the effort to get investors to reduce and eliminate investing in fossil-fuel-related ventures and companies.

Consideration of the value and consequences of divesting Middlebury’s endowment from fossil fuels began in earnest in 2013 when students, faculty, and staff again raised the question in relation to Middlebury’s commitment to addressing climate change through carbon neutrality and other efforts. The divest movement on campus engaged in a yearlong study of the question “Should the College divest as a way to address the climate crisis?” It was a comprehensive examination that involved consultation and public fora with numerous experts and activists from a wide spectrum of perspectives and a deep dive by the trustees and divestment proponents to decide whether divestment would be a good action to take. After these deliberations, the trustees chose not to divest but rather to increase investment in sustainability-related funds and to develop more robust ESG (environmental, social, governance) principles to guide future investments. 

After this decision, Middlebury focused attention back on the carbon neutrality initiative and how to address meeting the remaining 40 percent of the goal (after biomass, efficiency, and solar actions). In 2014 the trustees voted to conserve 2,100 acres of forestland at the Bread Loaf campus in Ripton. The easement for these conserved lands included a provision allowing the College to quantify the carbon being stored and sequestered on these lands and to put it on the voluntary carbon market where the College could buy back credits it needed to achieve neutrality, and sell any that remained. These measures were put in place in early 2016 and the College celebrated achieving its goal. It was during this time that Laurie L. Patton became Middlebury’s 17th president. As one of her first acts, Patton challenged Middlebury to take the next big action to address climate change. 

The divest movement continued to work on the case for divestment as a means to address climate change with a sense of urgency and social concern about its impacts, as they grew wider and deeper. The divest efforts on campus ramped up in 2018 and 2019 with the formation of a working group of students and senior leadership. The vice president for finance and others explored various options for phasing out fossil fuel investments with a clear understanding of potential consequences on endowment performance and tradeoffs. Students also carried out several “what-if” analyses that looked back at the endowment performance if it had divested in 2013 and where that would have put it in 2019, showing no significant difference in performance. 

Concurrent with the divest effort, other students working at the Sustainability Solutions Lab in 2018 did a deep dive into President Patton’s “What’s next for Middlebury?” question, focusing on how to achieve 100 percent renewable sources of energy, making significant reductions to usage, and harnessing the educational resources of Middlebury to achieve these goals equitably. This work resulted in “Energy2026,” a blueprint for achieving these goals. As the divest and Energy2026 initiatives moved forward, President Patton facilitated dialogue among senior leaders, trustees, students, faculty, and staff, and a collective will to come to consensus about these proposals emerged. These gatherings engendered a willingness among all involved to be open and flexible about what they considered the best way—and best way for Middlebury—to address climate change and its impacts. It was through this process that the divest and Energy2026 efforts were packaged and approved by the trustees in 2019 as a comprehensive set of goals to achieve by 2028. A Harvard Business School case study of the process of how this remarkable consensus was accomplished can be found here.   

Many lessons have been learned throughout this history of initiatives to demonstrate leadership in addressing climate change as a central element of Middlebury’s sustainability commitment. Among them is the importance of setting ambitious goals with timelines that are long enough to allow for the years of institutional change while short enough keep them front and center on a day-to-day basis. We have learned that often the best solutions come from seeking and welcoming critique and alternative proposals to the status quo, for which we are especially thankful to our students. They have shown great maturity by doing the hard work and research to find new and better answers to their critique. Energy2028 remains an example of collaborative problem solving for our community in addressing other complex issues. 

III. The Four Commitments: Progress as of September 2024

1. Transition to 100 Percent Renewable Energy

Middlebury is taking a phased approach in transitioning to renewable energy through a combination of investments in biomass, renewable natural gas, and solar electricity. Equally important, Middlebury is transitioning to locally and regionally produced energy. This is building partnerships with state and local energy providers, farmers, and businesses, making a significant positive impact on the regional economy. The chart below shows overall progress in achieving 100 percent renewable energy and sources, as well as in achieving a 25 percent reduction in energy use. In FY24 main campus operations, 80 percent of energy consumption is thermal demand and 20 percent is electric demand.

Existing Biomass System

The mandate to fully transition Middlebury’s main campus electricity, heating, and cooling needs from fossil fuels to renewable energy expands on the success of the Carbon Neutrality 2016 initiative, through which the College successfully transitioned from reliance on burning No. 6 fuel oil toward a mix of renewable energies from biomass, natural gas, renewable natural gas, and solar. 

Key to this earlier effort was the construction of a $12 million wood chip–based biomass gasification plant on campus that has replaced over one million gallons of No. 6 heating oil annually, reducing the campus’s annual CO₂ emissions by 40 percent, or 12,500 metric tons, since the plant became fully operational in 2009. 

The biomass gasification plant works by superheating locally sourced wood chips—approximately 20,000 tons annually—in a low-oxygen chamber, producing wood gas that is then ignited to make steam. The steam is then distributed throughout campus for heating and cooling.

The system is designed to minimize waste and pollution. It includes a highly efficient filtration system required to remove 99.998 percent of particulate matter (at 0.5 microns) from the plant’s exhaust. Heat from the exhaust is reclaimed to preheat water entering the boiler. Steam from the boiler in turn cogenerates two to four million kilowatt-hours per year of electricity for campus distribution. Middlebury Sand and Gravel utilizes the wood ash from the gasification process as fertilizer for farms and mixes it into other hard-surface products.

As of 2024, the plant has consumed approximately 297,244 tons of wood chips—the equivalent of burning about 21 million gallons of fuel oil—and continues to supply almost two-thirds of the energy that Middlebury’s main campus uses for heating and cooling and 10–15 percent of its electricity, producing more than 242,000 MMBtus a year.

The biomass plant is anticipated to have a functional lifespan of 25 years. In 2028, the plant will be 19 years old. 

Renewable Natural Gas: The Biomethane Digester

In July 2021, Middlebury added another component to its energy portfolio: an anaerobic biomethane digester that converts cow manure and food waste into renewable natural gas (RNG). This first-of-its-kind facility, located about seven miles from campus at Vermont-based Goodrich Family Farm in Salisbury, is a 20-year partnership among the Goodrich family, Vanguard Renewables, and Vermont Gas Systems (VGS). Vanguard Renewables owns and operates the facility, which uses manure from the farm’s 900 milking cows to produce RNG, which VGS pipes to the College’s power plant (see note below). 

Middlebury has committed to purchasing a significant portion of the facility’s RNG output for the duration of the partnership and is phasing in RNG to entirely eliminate its use of fossil fuel-based natural gas by 2028. The remainder of the RNG production is being sold to VGS customers throughout Vermont, improving the state’s local renewable energy infrastructure. The digester currently supplies approximately one-third of core campus heating and cooling needs, or about 121,000 MMBtus annually.

This biodigester is a new model for Vanguard Renewables projects. It is the first to upgrade biogas for institutional/residential heating use (instead of solely for electricity production) and serves as a model and learning center for their strategy to process organic waste in many sectors. Vanguard currently has manure-only and co digestion anaerobic digestion facilities in development in multiple states with enhanced engineering and digester design learned through this groundbreaking project.

Beyond the production of renewable energy, the digester has several ancillary benefits: 

• It supports family farms, providing the Goodrich family lease payments and bedding for their cows (produced by separating solid fibers from manure before it enters the digester). It also provides four full-time onsite positions and six other related environmental services jobs.
• It has eliminated the emissions of methane from the farm from manure lagoons, a significant source of climate-warming emissions.
• The digester process includes extraction of phosphorus from the digestate that results after the organic feedstock has been digested. The phosphorus is transported to a farm in New York for use. The Goodrich Family Farm uses the lower-phosphorus fertilizer, reducing impacts on the Otter Creek Watershed and Lake Champlain. It has replaced synthetic, carbon-based fertilizers used previously and improves crop yields.
• It provides opportunities for Middlebury students to engage in research and other experiential-learning activities.

Note: RNG from the project is fed to the Vermont Gas Systems distribution pipeline. Middlebury College takes gas from this grid equal to the amount of RNG it has contracted for each year.  

Solar Electricity

In 2024, Middlebury sourced about 82 percent of its core electrical energy demand from renewable sources consisting of local solar and on-site biomass and renewable natural gas cogeneration, and from regional sources from its electric utility provider, Green Mountain Power (GMP).

In 2024, Middlebury completed its ninth and largest solar energy project to date: 15,348 photovoltaic panels on single-axis trackers on 30 acres of College-owned agricultural land on South Street Extension, about two miles from campus. The project, a partnership with Green Mountain Power and Encore Renewables, is one of the largest solar arrays in Vermont.

The panels are mounted on single-axis trackers that follow the sun east to west to maximize energy production. The new array will produce about 10 million kilowatt-hours annually, or approximately 40 percent of the College’s electricity needs. Additionally, nine smaller solar projects, located both on and off campus, supply Middlebury with just over one megawatt annually. 

The College originally broke ground in October 2021 with the goal of seeing the array online in 2022, but the project was delayed by issues, including COVID-19-era supply-chain challenges (since resolved) and intervention by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (VTANR) on the project’s potential impact on grassland bird habitat. To resolve this latter issue, Middlebury dedicated 95 acres near the planned site to be managed as grassland bird habitat. 

In addition, Encore and Green Mountain Power have applied for permits to install a two-megawatt battery storage system at the South Street Extension site. 

Remaining Challenges

Achieving 100 percent renewable sources of energy by 2028 is within the College’s reach and expected to happen by 2028. This will be done through the various renewable energy sources described in this report (biomass for heating and on-site electricity generation, solar) along with increasing use of electric heat pumps that use renewable electricity and the planned use of fossil fuel–based gas with renewable natural gas produced at the biodigester. Green Mountain Power’s goal to be 100 percent renewable by 2030 (currently at 80 percent) will also support these efforts.

2. Reducing Energy Consumption by 25 Percent 

The push to reduce energy consumption on Middlebury’s main campus by at least 25 percent—from a baseline of 404,754 MMBtus in fiscal year 2018 to approximately 303,565 MMBtus by the end of 2028—goes hand in hand with the College’s transition to renewable energy. Middlebury is achieving this goal by encouraging conservation, better managing how and when systems are in use, and investing in efficiency. This includes installing new lighting systems and heating and ventilating motors and hardware that use less energy. Figure 1 in the previous section shows overall progress toward the 25 percent reduction goal.

As of the end of FY24, Middlebury had reduced its annual usage to 365,248 MMBtus, a reduction of 10 percent. These reductions are being achieved by reframing Middlebury’s approach to building design, renovation, and operation. To put a human face to it, these reductions are often the result of the dedication and ingenuity of our staff, like Dean Ouellette, who recently received Efficiency Vermont’s annual leadership award for his in-depth understanding and insights about Middlebury’s complex energy system and modifications he has made to significantly reduce usage and costs—$279,000 a year in electricity savings, to be specific. 

Deep Renovation: Munroe, Warner, and Johnson Halls

Middlebury’s main campus consists of 126 individual buildings of various ages and energy infrastructure systems, totaling 2.5 million square feet. To meet the goal of reducing energy consumption by 25 percent, Middlebury is building energy-efficiency requirements into every major planned renovation and construction project. 

To date, three buildings—Munroe Hall, Warner Hall, and the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Building—have been completely renovated with energy efficiency as a top priority. These upgrades are having a substantial impact on campus energy usage. 

For example, the renovation of Warner Hall—a 123-year-old academic building that houses the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and parts of the Economics and Luso-Hispanic Studies Departments—replaced inefficient windows, improved insulation, and added a modern variable refrigerant flow (VRF) HVAC system as the primary heating source (backed up by the existing connection to the steam system). Classrooms and offices are now equipped with motion sensors that automatically adjust room temperature according to usage needs (lowered during periods of non-use). These and other efficiency improvements have reduced the building’s electrical usage by 20 percent (FY23 compared to FY18). Munroe and Johnson, which are both more than 50 years old, have received similar upgrades.

Further renovations are underway for Stewart Hall, and Battell Hall will be replaced with a new residence hall (currently under construction) that will be significantly more energy efficient than Battell.

Sustainable Building Design: Beyond LEED

The new first-year residence hall will replace the aging Battell Hall and house half of Middlebury’s first-year students. When the building is complete in 2025, it will meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification for green construction. LEED Silver certification has been the minimum standard for Middlebury buildings since its adoption in 2008.

While LEED certification offers a respected standard for sustainable building, the College—spurred by students in the Sustainability Solutions Lab and art and architecture classes—is embracing other standards, including the International Living Future Institute’s Living Building Challenge (LBC), which takes a more rigorous and holistic approach to design and construction. 

Middlebury is working to apply LBC standards to various campus projects. Among other things, LBC standards call for little to no materials with toxic ingredients—a significant challenge for projects that use thousands of different kinds of materials. 

To address this challenge, SSL interns worked with Facilities Services, faculty of the Art and Architecture program, and the dean of sustainability and environmental affairs to subscribe to a database that provides extensive information about thousands of products, including their toxicity and the transparency of manufacturer disclosures. 

The SSL team researched the most common materials we use for new and renovation projects. One product was flooring. The interns used the database to research flooring materials and manufacturers to assess the pros and cons of luxury vinyl flooring versus linoleum flooring, comparing their toxicity ratings, costs, installation, maintenance, and global warming impacts associated with their “cradle to grave” life cycle. 

Based on this research, the students concluded that linoleum flooring best meets these multiple criteria and that it should be used for the new 80,000-square-foot residence hall. The SSL interns are also looking at materials in partnership with SAS Architects, which is working on a renovation to Stewart Hall, to explore bathroom floor and wall treatments with an eye toward meeting LBC requirements. They are also exploring LBC applicability for the Knoll and the Homer Harris House.

The process of researching alternative standards has had additional benefits, including providing Middlebury with a robust database tool to help the College source sustainable building materials for ongoing construction and renovation projects.

LED Light Bulbs  

As of January 1, 2024, Vermont law prohibits the sale of any fluorescent light bulbs, which contain mercury and are less energy-efficient than LED bulbs. Middlebury took advantage of Efficiency Vermont’s 2023 $200,000 rebate incentive to replace fluorescent light bulbs on campus with more than 7,000 LED light fixtures, including 3,000 in McCardell Bicentennial Hall alone. This transition reduced McCardell Bicentennial Hall’s electricity consumption by 12 percent, and is having a similar impact in buildings throughout campus.  

Point-of-Use Heating and Cooling Control

Middlebury’s main campus facilities are typically in use 50 weeks out of the year and feature a variety of decentralized heating and cooling systems and controls. Historically, most campus HVAC systems were left in “on” mode during much of the day unless users adjusted them to reduce consumption. But a 2018 pilot study in the Axinn Center for the Humanities showed that placing HVAC and lighting systems on motion sensors could save more than 120,000 kilowatt-hours annually for that building, equivalent to about $14,000 of electricity use.  

Beginning in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down and/or substantially reduced use of the majority of campus buildings—including residence halls, classroom buildings, sports facilities, offices, and other facilities for the remainder of the spring semester. Though disruptive, this period offered facilities managers further opportunities to experiment with controlling campus heating and cooling systems in a way that would not have been possible had the campus been in full use. This led to the discovery that many campus HVAC systems could sustainably remain in idle mode for much longer than previously thought.

As a result, Middlebury is now rolling out a point-of-use approach to HVAC systems in buildings throughout the main campus that is shifting the default mode for most HVAC systems to “off” instead of “on.” In point-of-use facilities, building occupants have the ability to adjust their thermostats up and down within a set range using system instructions posted on a website accessible via QR codes, which are posted in each building. Some systems are connected to motion sensors, while others are timed to turn off automatically according to usage, so that buildings are comfortable when needed and save energy when not in use. These changes are having a substantial impact. For example, the installation of keyed switches in Bicentennial Hall’s vivarium, which the facility’s managers can control according to when rooms are in use, is saving up to 70,000 kilowatt-hours annually.

Optimizing the HVAC control systems for 126 campus facilities is labor intensive and requires both a fine-grained analysis of how people use each building on a day-to-day basis and a push to educate community members on how to use their facilities efficiently.

To date, the point-of-use approach has been deployed to 27 percent of the square footage of campus buildings used for classrooms, offices, labs, and residences.

Flex Load Management with Smart Grid Technology

Middlebury is partnering with Green Mountain Power (GMP) and Efficiency Vermont to apply smart grid technology to collectively manage shifts in energy demand across multiple building systems at the same time. Some of these shifts are predictable. For instance, when the sun goes down on Middlebury’s nine solar arrays, campus energy demands must immediately be met by other energy sources from the grid. At other times, weather events like winter storms or heat waves can have a dramatic effect on energy demand. In addition, Middlebury’s collaboration is helping GMP to better understand its statewide utility grid and how user consumption can be adjusted to alleviate stress on the electric system at high demand and/or the need to purchase more expensive or potentially “dirty” power from outside sources. 

Remaining Challenges

Achieving Energy2028’s goal of a 25 percent energy use reduction is perhaps the most challenging of its four commitments. While a 12 percent reduction at the midway point is great progress, Middlebury will have to continue to make significant progress over the next four years. And if the College adds additional building space, as is likely, it would have to realize bigger gains in avoided energy usage to stay on track. One of the more positive outcomes of this initiative will be a deeper community of understanding and commitment to taking actions, individually and collectively, to address the climate crisis through energy efficiency and conservation, and policy change. Energy2028 has also demonstrated innovative practices and technologies to inspire and inform students and increase their potential to creatively address the climate challenge.

3. Divestment: Reducing Fossil Fuel Investments in the Endowment

 Energy2028 calls for Middlebury to completely phase out direct fossil fuel investments from its endowment by 2034 without a significant impact to the performance of the endowment. See footnote 1 for a description of how Middlebury defines divestment.

About the Endowment 

Middlebury’s endowment provides a permanent source of financial support and sustainability for the College’s mission, including financial aid, professorships, athletics, research fellowships, internships, and more. Consisting of 1,600 individual funds valued at $1.469 billion as of the end of FY23, revenue from the endowment provides 21 percent of Middlebury’s operational and capital budgets.

The endowment is overseen by the investment subcommittee of the Board of Trustees’ Resources Committee, which establishes, approves, and reviews investment policies, objectives, and strategies for all endowment portfolio assets. Middlebury’s financial and accounting staff oversees the endowment’s day-to-day management. Middlebury has also contracted with Investure, a private investment-management company, to manage the College’s investment portfolio. 

Divestment Goals and Progress

As of 2019, Middlebury no longer directly invests any new dollars in specialized private investment funds that focus on fossil fuels, and has begun phasing out existing direct fossil fuel investments, with the aim of reducing the value of those investments by 25 percent by 2024, 50 percent by 2027, and 100 percent by 2034. 

It is worth noting that the number of fossil fuel–related investments in the endowment is declining overall. While that is the planned trend, the total value of those investments as a percent of the total will fluctuate with the market’s ups and downs during the phaseout of those investments. Middlebury eliminated all public holdings of fossil fuel investments as of 2020. 

As of December 31, 2023, the endowment’s fossil fuel exposure was 3.4 percent (including 0.1 percent in coal), down from 5.2 percent at the end of FY 2019—a decrease of 34 percent—but up from a low of 2.7 percent in December 2020. The increase in bottom-up exposure to fossil fuels since 2021 has been driven by 1) a general public market decline in 2022 coupled with the outperformance of private assets, which comprise much of the fossil fuel exposure, and 2) the 2021–2022 rebound in the energy markets. See Figure 2 below.

Investing in Sustainability 

While phasing out of fossil fuel investments, Middlebury has been steadily increasing its exposure to sustainability investments, which include renewable energy, LEED-certified real estate, signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and B  Corporations.

As of December 31, 2023, total sustainable exposure in the portfolio was 20.1 percent of the endowment, up from 13.8 percent at the end of 2019. See Figure 3 below.

Remaining Challenges

One challenge for sustainability investing is the general lack of widely accepted environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria for what constitutes a sustainable investment. To that end, the Energy2028 Steering Committee is working with the vice president for finance and administration and the College’s investment managers to develop standardized ESG criteria as the field of ESG investing evolves toward more uniform definitions. It is also exploring other benchmarks of sustainability and climate-positive investing, such as the World Benchmarking Alliance’s SDG2000, which identifies the 2,000 most influential companies critical to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. 

Beyond Bretton Woods Initiative

With regard to investing and finance, Middlebury took on a big Energy2028 related question: “How does the international financial architecture play a more effective role in addressing climate change and other crises confronting the global community?” and tackled it at a highly successful three-day conference on the Bread Loaf campus in May 2024. It brought 170 people from around the globe together to work on this urgent question. Participants included students from Global South countries studying at Middlebury and its Institute of International Studies in Monterey and other institutions (Yale, George Washington University, Dartmouth, University of Vermont, Tufts, Oxford) and experts from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and sectors like finance, banking, nongovernmental organizations, science and technology, development, and others. 

Over the course of three days, the group quickly became a tight-knit community and worked in labs on three major topics. These three learning laboratories developed recommendations for how the Bretton Woods accord could better serve humanity and efforts to deal with the many crises facing communities across the globe. A video describing the overall event is here. The reports from the three lab sessions are here:

• A Path to Ecocentric Financial Reform
• Global Food and Water Security
• Central Banks  

4. Integration of Climate and Energy Issues with Middlebury’s Educational Mission

Energy2028 calls on Middlebury to develop immersive and experiential educational and research opportunities engaging students, faculty, and staff in contributing to the world’s understanding of how humans can live in a more sustainable manner. In some ways the broadest set of goals, the commitment to educational opportunities, hits at the core of the intention behind Energy2028—that we not only make practical institutional changes to lower our carbon impact but that we also engage the entire academic institution (through courses, experiential learning, research, career and internship connections, study abroad, funding, and connections to our alumni and local communities) to drive positive change on the climate crisis. 

These priorities build on a position of strength—Middlebury has prioritized climate- and sustainability-centered education in many ways. From the establishment of the first environmental studies program in the country to the founding of 350.org, Middlebury has been at the forefront, often driven by student leadership. Energy2028’s educational commitment thus leans heavily on things we’re already doing while experimenting and institutionalizing along the way. Several years in, that has taken shape in many ways, including the launch of and ongoing commitment to the Climate Action Program. While we work to make climate change engagement exciting, fulfilling, unavoidable, and cross-cutting, we encourage faculty, staff, students, and community members to tap into existing opportunities, and suggest and highlight ways we can do more.

In the Classroom

There is no one-size-fits-all climate solution. Thus, our approach to climate preparedness and curricular integration focuses on ensuring that students have opportunities to engage with climate change no matter what they are studying. They can dig deeper into their varied interests, and they can advocate for themselves and the evolving needs of the future. Each year, Middlebury faculty offer hundreds of climate-related courses that both allow students to dig into the nitty-gritty of the other Energy2028 priorities and offer a wide array of climate connections depending on their topics. From history classes tracing the development of fossil fuels to winter term courses on crypto and climate change, faculty are widening our students’ conceptions and foundations of climate-related knowledge.

Some examples of this include the following:

• Every year, the Environmental Studies Community-Engaged Practicum (VS0401) facilitates more than 15 community partnerships with local community organizations—many focused on issues of energy equity, climate change impacts (e.g., flooding, health impacts of heat), greenhouse gas emissions reductions (across thermal, building, and transportation sectors), and local, regional, and state energy policy.
• A course titled Climate Change Economics (ECON 365) surveyed the entire school about climate and Energy2028.
• Students make annual recommendations about climate disclosure and transparency around investing, Energy2028 impacts, and Beyond Bretton Woods.
• A first-year seminar on energy systems brought students into the Energy2028 orbit, providing a context for understanding and critiquing approaches to meeting goals.
• The number of declared majors in the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences has skyrocketed.
• Scholars in residence bring a wealth of hands-on knowledge, experience, and networks involved in solving climate and justice challenges.
• Computer science climate data visualization projects provide direct access to Middlebury College energy and carbon datasets.

This work is bolstered by our annual participation in April’s worldwide annual Climate Change Teach-In that encourages all faculty to integrate climate change into their teaching during one week. In 2024, we worked with more than 60 (up from 40 in 2023) faculty participants, reaching over 800 students with climate change content. Courses covered linguistics, math, economics, anthropology, and Luso-Hispanic studies. Some faculty simply relied on their existing syllabi, while others were pushed to think differently about their courses and their responsibility to cover climate topics. Coordinating with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research, we held a session for faculty and staff on how to approach these questions.  

Middlebury has a tradition of supporting students to develop a deeper connection to sustainability through the School of the Environment. This continues to foster academic and cocurricular engagement, and in 2022 we increased opportunities by tapping into the resources of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey by launching the Middlebury Coast and Climate Semester.

The classroom and departments often serve as jumping-off points for larger policy discussions. For example, the Geology Department reimagined and renamed itself as Earth and Climate Sciences, resulting in a significant increase in declared majors. Coordination across students, faculty, and staff has also yielded recommendations for the curriculum, including proposals around an internal carbon charge and a climate distribution requirement. 

Beyond the Classroom

Climate Action Program: Supporting Deep and Broad Exposure and Engagement Beyond the Classroom

A central element of Energy2028’s education pillar is the Climate Action Program (CAP), whose mission is “to provide all Middlebury students with the knowledge, motivation, and capacity needed to be effective and transformative leaders on climate change across backgrounds, disciplines, and career paths.” Developed through the leadership of students, faculty, and staff, the CAP works to extend the impact of Energy2028 beyond its operational commitments and existing strengths to match student needs, largely outside of the classroom.

CAP was launched in 2020 as a two-year pilot program. In 2023, the Erol Foundation and NextWorld Philanthropies collectively pledged $7 million to endow the program in perpetuity. 

CAP works across the institution to support students and the community in finding their place in climate action through the following initiatives and programs:

• Climate Action Fellowships: This paid, yearlong fellowship for Middlebury undergraduates is designed to develop climate action leaders from all academic disciplines and backgrounds. Open to 20 students a year, the fellowship uses a cohort model to build a strong peer network dedicated to engaging in collaborative thinking and developing skills to meaningfully confront the climate crisis. As of 2024,  52 students have participated in the fellows program.
• During the summer, the fellows are paid up to $4,750 to pursue internships and/or independent projects around the country and the world. They continue to meet virtually with their cohort each week and participate in other engagement opportunities.
  • Examples include internships with NOAA and NASA, gender and climate research, local resilience and decarbonization organizing, and urban disaster modeling.
• During the academic year, each cohort works together and with campus partners and mentors to develop independent projects related to climate action and/or contribute to ongoing projects with a variety of campus and community organizations. They continue developing and reflecting on their work, building skills in data analysis, community building, and communications.
• Student Funding: In addition to the many opportunities for funding across campus, students can apply for up to $1,000 to support their own climate projects.
• Events: CAP funds and hosts guest speakers—scholars, activists, writers, policy makers—to engage the campus community on a range of topics related to energy, climate, and sustainability from varied perspectives. In 202–24, more than 45 climate-related events reached approximately 5,500 people.
  • Events have included author Emily St. John Mandel, Beyond Bretton Woods, AI Create-a-thon, Islam and Climate, Frank Sesno residency, Coal Community Transitions, All We Can Save climate wayfinding workshops, and Indigenous Perspectives on Just Transitions.
• Alumni and Career Coordination: With partners from across campus, CAP works to showcase the many ways to match climate concerns with career paths, especially with Middlebury’s alumni base. This takes the form of events, mentoring, and the launch of new LinkedIn and Midd2Midd networking groups.

Climate Action Credential: CAP is developing a framework for a nonacademic certificate that would recognize students’ knowledge, skills, and commitment to addressing the climate crisis.

Sustainability Solutions Lab

The Sustainability Solutions Lab (SSL) provides paid student internship opportunities with more than 40 environmental initiatives and projects around the Middlebury campus. Students collaborate with faculty and staff throughout the school year and summer to plan and implement innovative solutions to challenges affecting Middlebury’s commitment to sustainability. SSL interns have been instrumental in evaluating and advocating for the College to adopt sustainable building standards, including the Living Building Challenge, as well as researching and helping to draft a proposed framework for including equity and justice criteria into the Energy2028 initiative. 

Environmental Council

Each year, the Environmental Council gathers faculty, staff, and students to develop policy recommendations and projects connected to our climate and sustainability work. Because of Energy2028, many of the projects over the last few years have included expanded climate and energy priorities, including work on the justice framework for Energy2028 and imagining what happens beyond Energy2028. It also serves as a site of exploration for many of the climate-related issues not directly prioritized through the Energy2028 commitments.

Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS)

Every three years, Middlebury participates in an exhaustive assessment of our sustainability practices through the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s AASHE’s STARS program. This allows us both to track our progress and to highlight the many areas of sustainability and climate priorities.

EcoReps and EcoDorms

In 2024, we brought back peer-led sustainability educational programs, specifically through the EcoReps program. This was built on the EcoDorms initiative. These programs have helped to make climate and sustainability fun and accessible, supported student connection, and allowed students to have early exposure to sustainability and climate work on the Middlebury College campus.

The Center for Careers and Internships (CCI)

CCI offers an array of ways for students to connect their skills and interests to their climate-related career goals, including the following:

• Internship sharing and funding, including funding for local sustainability-related projects.
• Career panels with alumni on topics such as Climate Careers in Renewable Energy and Efficiency; Environmental Advocacy and International Development; Policy, Transportation and Adaptation; and Natural Climate Solutions and Sustainable Agriculture.
• Networking platforms on Midd2Midd and LinkedIn.
• The Global Alumni Sustainability Speaker Series.
• MiddVantage Alumni Interview Series: Careers in the Green Economy is a series of video interviews led by CCI and Middlebury in Washington, D.C., between students and alumni exploring the many ways to approach green careers.
• Sustainability Trek: The 2020 Environment and Sustainability Trek connected students with alumni during 18 organizational site visits and job-shadowing experiences. The trek took place over February break and allowed for a cohort of 10 students to explore a range of environmental non governmental organizations (NGOs), including those focusing on renewable energy, battery storage, sustainable agriculture, nonprofit conservation, state government and environmental protection, and sustainable finance.
• Live from D.C.: Transitions to a Green Economy, a February 2021 discussion among professionals with a variety of vantage points on the transitions to a green economy.

The Elizabeth Hackett Robinson ’84 Innovation Hub

• In 2024, three Middlebury College undergraduate students and one Middlebury Institute of International Studies graduate student participated in the Middlebury Social Impact Corps in Monterey, California.
• The MiddChallenge pitch competition welcomes student applications for creative, student-designed project work in four categories, including proposals for social Impact and sustainability. Winning projects are selected by an expert panel of judges made up of alumni, local entrepreneurs, community members, and faculty. Two social impact and sustainability projects are selected during each competition.
• The AI and Climate Create-a-thon championed collaboration, learning, and fun while maintaining a competitive edge with prizes for standout projects. It was a dynamic platform that explored the potential of AI as a partner in making a positive environmental impact, fostering a space for creators to innovate for a greener future.
• Vermont Venture Trips hosted a trip to visit Beta Technologies, where students got to use a flight simulator and learn about work in electric aviation. Beta has hired Middlebury student interns.
• Projects for Peace is a global program that partners with educational institutions to identify and support young peacebuilders. Their partners include Jakarta Youth Climate Leadership Camp (JCLC) and Arts Integration for Social-Environmental Transformation of Wetland Communities.

Center for Community Engagement (CCE) 

CCE supports many different programs for students across a variety of social issues and communities. Many of these programs address climate-related issues. including student support for Vermont flood recovery efforts.

Environmental Studies Colloquium, Margolin Lecture, 2021 Clifford Symposium

• Each year, the Environmental Studies (ES) program hosts an array of speakers through the colloquium and the Margolin lecture.
• In 2021, ES, CAP, and many others organized the “Radical Implications” Clifford Symposium, including speakers and workshops.

The Knoll 

The Knoll is Middlebury’s 3-acre garden that uses food as a medium to cultivate well-being in people, place, and the planet. Main program areas include the Educational Garden, the Outdoor Kitchen, and the Serenity Garden. We host faculty, staff, students, and our local community for classes, research, gardening hours, internships, and events. The Knoll provides numerous hands-on and direct experiences for understanding the implications of climate change and energy systems on the cultivation of food and health of the earth and people.

The Global Partnerships for Sustainability

This program fosters partnerships between Middlebury Schools Abroad and in-country organizations with a sustainability mission. Partners provide students with hands-on opportunities to help them achieve their missions. Past programs have been developed in Chile, China, France, Japan, Russia, and Uruguay. Recently, students at the School in France worked with CREA Mont Blanc in Chamonix to field test citizen science tools and methods for use in detecting and assessing the impacts of climate change on the alpine environment. 

The Green Panther Program

This program is a collaboration between Sustainability and Environmental Affairs, the Athletics Department, and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) that seeks to engage student-athletes and their fans by challenging them to up their practice of sustainability in sports. Projects have included reducing the waste generated by teams by increasing composting and recycling efforts related to team travel.

Planet Forward

This is a project created by Middlebury alumnus Frank Sesno ’77 and hosted at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs, teaches, celebrates, and rewards environmental storytelling by college students. Middlebury is a founding member of Planet Forward and participates in the Planet Forward Storyfest Awards that highlight the voices of students, seeking to understand and illuminate their own innovations for how to best care for the earth. The storyfest looks for stories that inspire, motivate, and drive change and stories that are compelling, thought-provoking, and vibrantly stimulating. 

Lands Planning Process

The Lands Advisory Committee is working on a comprehensive assessment of the roughly 3,000 acres the College owns in the Champlain Valley floor around Middlebury. The assessment will build on a previous ecological assessment of the 6,000 acres the College owns, including the lands around the Bread Loaf campus in Ripton. The purpose of the assessment is to provide a holistic picture of each parcel of land in terms of not just its economic attributes, but a host of other values like recreation, habitat, water quality/stormwater management, culture, flood resiliency, housing suitability, renewable energy potential, etc. This assessment will help guide future decisions by the trustees regarding the use and/or sale of any of these lands as they come up for consideration. The assessment will also provide a view of the best “zones” of usage for clusters of individual parcels situated in various proximities around the College. This will also help guide consideration and planning for any future renewable energy projects that may further Energy2028’s goals.

Student Leadership

Middlebury is a place where students can and do have tremendous impact, and they were the strongest drivers of pushing for what became Energy2028. Students continue to do incredible work on a variety of fronts. As noted earlier, students are involved in paid and volunteer work, as well as course-based projects that propose new ideas and priorities for the campus. They also do work through an enormous array of student organizations, including the following:

• Sunday Night Environmental Group (SNEG)
  • SNEG is a nonhierarchical student org committed to climate and social justice activism. In the past SNEG has pushed the College to divest from fossil fuels, passed anti–fossil fuel infrastructure resolutions in town, trained students on methods of nonviolent direct action, occupied the Statehouse, organized climate strikes, and so much more.
• Student Government Association Sustainability Committee
  • SGA Sustainability Committee aligns environmental efforts on and off campus to engage the entire community in the creation of a sustainable Middlebury, including renewable energy, ecological conservation, recycling and waste management, environmental justice, and educational opportunities.
• Socially Responsible Equities Group (RISE)
  • RISE manages and invests $300,000 of the College’s endowment in companies that lead in their environmental, social, and governance practices.
• Fostering Inclusive Recreation Experiences (FIRE)
  • FIRE’s goals are to engage people who have been historically and presently excluded from dominant outdoor and environmental culture, increase BIPOC recreation on Middlebury’s campus, and foster connections between people and the natural world.
• Juntos
  • Juntos seeks to uproot discrimination, exploitation, violence, and human rights abuses on Vermont farms. Through education advocacy, and action for policy, Juntos works to support and be in solidarity with the migrant community.
• Middlebury Mountain Club (MMC)
  • The Mountain Club leads hiking, boating, climbing, and winter trips free of cost for Middlebury students. Additionally, MMC reimburses or hosts classes and workshops, screenings, and presentations; does trail maintenance; funds student trips; hosts social events at the outdoor house; and runs the first-year outdoor orientation programs.
• Weybridge House
  • As the local foods house, Weybridge aims to gather community around shared meals and root in local food ways. This cultivates beautiful, essential connection with people, place, land, history, systems, cycles, and justice. Each week, the house provides open community meals made with ingredients sourced from within 50 miles of campus!

Faculty Research

Faculty have received funding through the Fund for Strategic Initiatives and others that includes Energy2028-related projects. Faculty and students conduct campus-based social and natural science research. The Vermont Center for Behavioral Science Research on Climate was established in 2021 with funding from the Middlebury Provost’s Office. The Vermont Center connects and supports students, faculty, researchers, and community-based organizations across Vermont through collaborative climate and environmental projects. It is an opportunity for interdisciplinary research on communication practices for climate and environmental policies, and reliable methods for changing environmental behaviors. The center creates immersive learning and critical engagement opportunities for students while providing community organizations access to high-level research. The goal is to train the next generation of leaders and policymakers. 

Examples: 

• A class uses the campus community as an information source, with a campus wide survey on Energy2028 priorities conducted in 2022–2023.
• A professor and former students published a paper on the pedagogical challenges and needs around climate change.
• Students, faculty, and staff have partnered on the Living Building Challenge to see how we can more holistically approach our built environment.

Remaining Challenges

Given the wide array of offerings we provide, as well as an increasing need, some of the central challenges of Energy2028 are around communication, integration, and time. How might we match people with their interests? How can we make sure that there is adequate exposure throughout the curriculum, and how do we ensure that staff, faculty, and students have the time needed to dedicate to this work? In a changing world where impacts are felt locally and in nearly every community, how can we be nimble and attuned to evolving needs? We continue to assess how clearer metrics and incentives could support this work, while developing programs to reach more students who may not yet feel like they are a part of climate action. The annual Teach-In also offers potential to increase course integration.

IV. Beyond Energy2028

Middlebury’s commitment to a sustainable-energy and climate-friendly future is a durable one and will continue after we assess the status of our Energy2028 goals at its conclusion. As research and technology makes renewable energy more efficient and viable, Middlebury will continually review its energy portfolio and seek new solutions and actions to support our goals.

We will continue our longstanding commitment to address the climate challenge in other forms after Energy2028 is “done.” 

As we work toward our current commitments, a committee of the Environmental Council is working to imagine what the College’s energy and climate policies could and should look like after Energy2028 achieves its goals to inform a next big climate-related initiative. The committee has conducted interviews with experts and leaders inside and outside of Middlebury to learn what their hopes and dreams and fears and concerns are about the future. It is using those conversations to imagine and construct scenarios of the future of the region. This is to stimulate conversation around what the College could do in partnership with the broader community to adapt to climate change and create an equitable and sustainable future.

As we move across the midway point into the final years of the Energy2028 initiative, some issues that we might address, or that may be the subject of the next initiative, are as follows: 

• A sustainable replacement for the biomass plant, which by 2028 will be nearing the end of its anticipated 25-year functional life.
• Continued investment in non combustion energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric.
• A study of the pros and cons of decentralized vs. centralized campus heating systems.
• A more comprehensive adoption of the Living Building Challenge or other standards for sustainable construction.
• A review of climate- and sustainability-focused curricula.
• An impact study of Middlebury’s energy policies and practices at the local, regional, state, national, and global levels. 
• A College clean-energy/electrified vehicle fleet.

Middlebury will continue its focus on moving forward to achieve our commitments while reaching out to the Middlebury community and encouraging personal and collective actions to address climate change together. 

Current Energy2028 Steering Committee 

• Julia Berazneva, Associate Professor of Economics

• Minna Brown, Director, Climate Action Program

• Jack Byrne, Dean of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability and Director of Franklin Environmental Center

• Amy Carlin, Special Assistant to the President, Director of Community Relations, and Presidential Events Specialist

• Jorgelina Collavati, Student, EcoReps Liaison

• Neil Durda, Associate Director, Mechanical and Utilities, Facilities Services

• Tara Federoff, Sustainability Specialist

• Julia Ferrante, Associate Vice President for Public Affairs, Office of Communications and Marketing

• Michael Moser, Associate Vice President of Operations 

• Tracy Himmel Isham, Senior Associate Director, Career Education and Experiential Learning, Center for Careers and Internships|

• Diane Munroe, Assistant Director for Community-Based Learning, Environmental Studies Program, and Center for Community Engagement

• Dean Ouellette, Energy and Technology Manager, Facilities Services

• Maggie Paine, Director of Advancement Communications, College Advancement

• Ella Powers, Student, SGA Liaison

• Mike Roy, Dean of the Library 

• Elizabeth Spencer, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, College Advancement

• Frank Van Gansbeke, Executive Scholar in Residence, Sustainable Finance and Investing, Sustainability and Environmental Affairs

Past Steering Committee Members

John Barstow, John Barstow Associates
Dan Brayton, Faculty
Jessica Buxbaum, Student
Molly Connover, Student
Gabe Desmond, Student
Kate Goodman, Student
Lindsey Fuentes-George, Town of Middlebury Selectboard
Elizabeth Hackett Robinson ’84, Innovation Hub
Christopher Klyza, Political Science/Environmental Studies
Michelle McCauley, Executive Vice President and Provost
Kathy Morse, Faculty
Sarah Ray, Communications
Meghan Williamson, College Advancement