Middlebury Chapel

A singing, songwriting, Nashville-based clawhammer banjo player, Abigail Washburn pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody’s ever heard before. An alumna of the Middlebury Chinese School, Washburn speaks Chinese and is able to make profound connections to culture and people on the other side of the Pacific. Washburn is one of the few foreign artists currently touring China independently and regularly.

The 2015 Summer Carillon Concert series celebrates its 30th season with a fine group of musicians from around the world, performing from the soaring tower of Mead Chapel. The melodic sounds of the carillon bells are a staple of summer life on the Middlebury campus. Admission: Free. Learn more at http://go.middlebury.edu/carillon

The 2015 Summer Carillon Concert series celebrates its 30th season with a fine group of musicians from around the world, performing from the soaring tower of Mead Chapel. The melodic sounds of the carillon bells are a staple of summer life on the Middlebury campus. Admission: Free. Learn more at http://go.middlebury.edu/carillon

The 2015 Summer Carillon Concert series celebrates its 30th season with a fine group of musicians from around the world, performing from the soaring tower of Mead Chapel. The melodic sounds of the carillon bells are a staple of summer life on the Middlebury campus. Admission: Free. Learn more at http://go.middlebury.edu/carillon

The 2015 Summer Carillon Concert series celebrates its 30th season with a fine group of musicians from around the world, performing from the soaring tower of Mead Chapel. The melodic sounds of the carillon bells are a staple of summer life on the Middlebury campus. Admission: Free. Learn more at http://go.middlebury.edu/carillon

Former United States Poet Laureate Billy Collins is the author of 13 volumes of poetry, including his new collection, “The Rain in Portugal,” due out in October. Included among the many honors he has received are fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Collins is admired for poems that are by turns humorous, poignant, provocative, and uplifting, and his reading to a packed Mead Chapel in 2006 remains immensely memorable for those who were present that day. After his reading, Mr.

Poetry reading by Richard Blanco. Co-sponsored with Vermont Humanities Council

Chaplain Laurie Jordan will lead an ecumenical Christian service, holy communion, and imposition of ashes.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School, is a leading authority in the area of Civil Rights, Black feminist legal theory, racism and the law. Her groundbreaking work on “Intersectionality” has traveled globally and was influential in the drafting of the equality clause in the South African Constitution.

A Cappella jamboree featuring the diverse groups on campus. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. We hope to see many new freshman and would love to see you at auditions during the first week of school!