Presidential Search Update, September 2024

Dear Middlebury Community,

I’m pleased to be back in touch with you about the search for Middlebury’s next president. Speaking on behalf of our search committee chair Kirtley Cameron ’95, the Board of Trustees, and our search firm Isaacson, Miller, we continue to make excellent progress, which I’ll get to in a moment.

I’d first like to say how nice it was seeing many of you in person this morning in Vermont, both at the faculty meeting at Bread Loaf and at the staff conversation we held in Wilson Hall. To our Monterey colleagues and others who joined remotely, it was just as meaningful to be with you on Zoom. I can’t think of a better way (for this alumnus) to begin the new academic year. So, thank you.

The two topics I’d like to share with you, which I communicated in today’s on-campus meetings, are the board’s selection of an interim president and our plans for ongoing outreach. This is where you and the wider Middlebury community—alumni, faculty, staff, students—are providing your perspectives through facilitated listening sessions and a web survey to guide us in the search.

Interim President

Steve Snyder, who is on sabbatical from his roles as Middlebury’s vice president for Academic Affairs and as dean of the Language Schools, is the trustees’ unanimous choice to serve as interim president. Steve has accepted the position and will take office on January 1. Steve just completed an eight-month assignment as interim dean of the Institute in Monterey, and we couldn’t be more grateful to him for again stepping up for Middlebury to provide superior leadership during a time of transition.

The interim presidential appointment will extend until June 30, 2025, or until the employment date of Middlebury’s next president, whichever occurs first. We’ll have more details as the work of the search committee progresses.

For those new to Middlebury, or those whose paths haven’t connected with Steve’s, he has deep institutional knowledge. He’s played a key role for more than a decade in managing, with President Patton and the Senior Leadership Group, the complex organization that is Middlebury. And he exemplifies the tenets of Middlebury’s mission: to prepare our students for creative, consequential engagement in communities throughout the world through our immersive approach to teaching and learning.

Steve is the Kawashima Professor of Japanese Studies, having joined the Japanese Studies Department in 2005. He was named dean of Language Schools in 2014 and has served in his current roles since 2017. His research is in modern and contemporary Japanese fiction, translation theory, and literary translation. He has authored, edited, or translated numerous important works, from books and volumes to articles and encyclopedia entries. His translations have been published in the New Yorker, Harper’s, Granta, and other scholarly and general-interest periodicals. He’s also widely recognized: he received the American Book Award in 2020 for his translation of The Memory Police and has been a finalist for the International Booker Prize and the National Book Award, among many other honors.

Steve holds a PhD from Yale in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, an MA from Columbia in the Department of English and Comparative Litera­tures, and a BA from Michigan State in the Department of English.

The Board of Trustees and I feel privileged that in Steve we’ve been able to name such a prolific scholar, admired teacher, accomplished administrator, and above all, generous colleague to serve as interim president. We look forward to working with Steve and the Senior Leadership Group—and with all of you—to ensure a smooth transition this winter and a thriving spring term.

Ongoing Outreach

This week Isaacson, Miller held a number of new listening sessions with staff and faculty to add to those we conducted over the summer. Later today, our search firm partners will meet with the undergraduate Student Government Association; on September 12 they will meet with Middlebury Institute faculty; and on October 8 they will host a session for all students, faculty, and staff in Wilson Hall (with Zoom for those who can’t attend in person). 

Invitations for all these opportunities will provide details so you can plan accordingly. We can’t stress enough that your perspectives are invited, appreciated, and essential to our collective effort.

All in all, it’s been a full slate of engagement. We continue to learn new things about what Middlebury people expect in a new president, and in the institution’s next chapter. We recently launched online surveys that are enabling us to extend our reach as widely as possible, and I encourage you to participate. You’ll find the survey for faculty, staff, and students here. Home base for all materials related to the search is here on the Middlebury website.

Your thoughtfulness and passion about the future of this extraordinary institution have been evident at every turn. Of course they have. From all of us on the board, thank you.

With kindest regards,

William F. (Ted) Truscott ’83
Board Chair