The Center for Community Engagement

Does a Friday, home-cooked brunch sound good to you? Come relax at the Center for Community Engagement, learn about our programs, and hear from Midd students leading community-connected programs focused on language access, local food and farms, democracy initiatives, elementary school mentoring and so much more! This is an optional orientation event and all years are welcome.

Anoush Baghdassarian, co-founder of Rerooted Archive and winner of the $50,000 2026 Projects for Peace Alumni Award, will deliver this year’s keynote address about her life’s work in justice, human rights, and conflict transformation. A graduate of Harvard Law School with a master’s degree in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University, Baghdassarian co-founded Rerooted following her initial Project for Peace.

This will be an opportunity 1) to share your experiences and learning and insights; 2) to hear from your peers about their experiences and learning and insights; and 3) to enjoy a tasty meal together.

By invitation

The Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs Global Fellows Program presents “Interactive Peacemaking and Coordination in Complex Peace Processes” with Susan Allen.

This public event will welcome a delegation of Maori and Pasifika colleagues visiting Middlebury College from Aotearoa/New Zealand. Panel members will discuss the role of purakau (storytelling), waiata (song), and whakatauki (proverbs) in Indigenous Maori and Polynesian practices of wellbeing and planetary stewardship. Through the teachings of the kuaka, a shorebird known for its remarkable migration from Aotearoa to North America, this event invites attendees to explore the idea that journeys are collective and community futures can soar in spaces of mutual learning, responsibility, and relationship.

Dr. April Edwell (she/they) is the 2025 Projects for Peace Alumni Award recipient. Projects for Peace is a global program of the Center for Community Engagement at Middlebury, and the award, now in its third year, offers $50,000 to support the ongoing peacebuilding efforts of a past Projects for Peace grant recipient who demonstrates innovation and persistence in working for peace and transforming conflict. An Associate Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, Dr. Edwell works as a Pediatric Intensivist helping critically ill children and their families. In this keynote, Dr. Edwell will address how they approach and transform conflicts in the healthcare setting in an approach that includes the integration of trauma-informed care with anti-racist frameworks.

Please stop by to hear world music and purchase delicious food and fun merch in support of a Vermont-based nonprofit organization, the Vermont Language Justice Project. 

Come purchase yummy snacks and cool merch— all benefiting the Vermont Language Justice Project, a local nonprofit organization.

Middlebury College Access Mentors will be tabling at Davis Library from 5-6:30 on Monday, 12/1 and Tuesday, 12/2. Stop by to learn about mentoring a high schooler through the college application process!

Middlebury College Access Mentors will be tabling at Davis Library from 5-6:30 on Monday, 12/1 and Tuesday, 12/2. Stop by to learn about mentoring a high schooler through the college application process!