Active Projects

New in 2024-2025

Go Global, Stay Local

The Go Global, Stay Local Fund will be available to any student studying at one of our Schools Abroad or in Monterey during the Spring 2025 semester. The opportunity to request funding for local weekend activities will encourage students to not only embrace a more climate-conscious approach to enriching their free time while away from campus, but also enable them to connect more thoughtfully with the people, culture, and resources in their host community. In line with Energy2028, this grant will empower students to “think consequentially” and “act creatively,” leading to a reduction in their individual environmental footprints while reducing Middlebury’s environmental impact on a global scale.

Project Beatrice

The goal of Project Beatrice is to create a Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) using the existing ChatGPT framework. Such a model (Beatrice) will function as a guide for students taking an introduction to psychology class. The goal for Beatrice would be that she would be able to (a) answer questions about the structure and timing of the course, (b) provide structured and unstructured dynamic self-test tools, and (c) help clarify course content, using a patient Socratic approach.

Student Transportation to the RSA Conference

As MIIS continues carving out its niche in the cybersecurity career field, it is imperative that efforts are made to expand student access to professional networks and opportunities for sustaining career progression. Our project seeks to apply resources that establish MIIS professional reputation in the field of cybersecurity while cultivating institutional knowledge. Now is the time to establish our reputation in this field by directly enabling deep student interaction with key cybersecurity industry events.

Through Her Lens: Kiana Hayeri on Resilience and Reality in Afghanistan

The proposed project, seeks to bring renowned photojournalist Kiana Hayeri to Middlebury College for a presentation and interactive workshops. Kiana will share her compelling visual stories that document the lives of Afghan women under Taliban rule, fostering an essential dialogue about the complexities of conflict and the power of visual storytelling. This initiative aims to enrich the Middlebury community’s understanding of resilience in the face of adversity.

Continuing Projects

BIPOC Faculty Community Initiative

Housed in the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE), this project will support a peer mentorship program for faculty from under-represented backgrounds

BIPOC Voices at MIIS

BIPOC Voices at MIIS brings BIPOC scholars, professionals, and experts to the Monterey campus to deliver virtual or hybrid guest lectures on topics of interest to the MIIS community, with the goal of exposing students to non-western schools of thought that are often underrepresented in higher education. We also intend to record and archive these lectures with the help of the Institute library, with the intent of developing a collection of resources to support teaching and research on these topics that can be freely used by the wider Middlebury network of schools.

California Coast and Climate Semester

The Middlebury California Coast and Climate Semester offers an immersive place-based experience in Monterey California, with both classroom and hands-on work, to undergraduate students interested in the study of the environment.  Students begin with a course in J-term followed by additional courses, as well as a research experience or internship throughout the spring. This initiative is a collaboration of the Environmental Studies program at the College and the International Environmental Policy program at the Institute building on Middlebury’s global network and faculty expertise.  The program launched in January 2022. 

(Critical Issues Forum + Bread Loaf Teacher Network) for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Phases 1 + 2

The Critical Issues Forum (CIF), a lead nonproliferation and disarmament education project for high schools, working under the auspices of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), remains committed to increasing diversity among its participants. In order to enhance and deepen its existing and future networks and empower students to positively contribute to international peace and security, disarmament and nonproliferation, and other social justice issues, CIF entered a collaborative partnership with the Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN)/Next Generation Leadership Network. Our successful engagements in phase 1 of this collaborative venture taught us that adopting a multi-year phased approach will give us the bandwidth to both enhance and deepen our partnership with the Network. Therefore, phases 2 and 3 of the project will aim at adding two new BLTN schools to our network while retaining two old ones. Their engagements in the full range of our educational activities will increase mutual, overall learning of nuclear issues, critical thinking skills, and cross-cultural perspectives. Further, by leveraging intra- Middlebury expertise, the project will create a community of young experts on nuclear issues. Finally, all this will allow us to advance Middlebury’s goals of enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and opening learning avenues for underprivileged communities. 

Development of Learning Pathways

A continuing trend in higher education is the opportunity to provide “on ramps” and “off ramps” to content that enable lifelong engagement with an institution and its subject matter expertise. The goal of this project is to run a pilot implementation of learning pathways that enable non-degree seekers to engage with the Institute’s professionally-focused content without committing to a master’s degree.

Día de los Muertos Celebration

The Día de Muertos Celebration ‘24 is an inclusive Middlebury College community-wide project that reflects and engages with Latine cultural traditions in honor of the deceased. This project seeks to offer a series of vibrant workshops and other events throughout October, many led by student organizations, culminates in an evening Procession on November 2nd, that welcomes the wider external community. This year, support from the Provost’s Office will allow planners to host a retreat to craft a plan toward locating a “home” for the sustainability of the project.

Digital Teaching and Learning Fellowship Program

As we look to a post-pandemic future, intentionally designed digital learning, including hybrid and online modalities, can support key institutional goals: curricular flexibility, inclusive and equitable teaching and learning, and offering access to new audiences of students, each identified as key institutional goals. To build institutional capacity toward these goals, the Digital Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellowship program provides the Institute faculty an opportunity to build on new skills and knowledge they developed over the last two years, with the support of digital learning experts at Digital Learning & Inquiry (DLINQ).

Discovering Economics

Discovering Economics will establish a long-term Fellowship Program to provide mentoring and meaningful research assistant (RA) work opportunities for underrepresented minorities (URM), as well as first- generation and LGBTQIA+ students. Each student will be paired up with a faculty mentor. This program aims to focus on research, teaching, and other professional experiences and provide mentorship with regard to (economics) coursework, internships, etc.

Diverting Hate: Addressing Online Misogyny and Radicalization through Empathy

The “Diverting Hate” project, in partnership with the Center on Terrorism Extremism and Counterterrorism (CTEC) at Middlebury, aims to dismantle violent misogyny and radicalization online through empathy-driven intervention. Founded by Middlebury Institute graduates, it has grown from a class project to a recognized non-profit, backed by substantial funding, including a notable $700,000 DHS grant. The initiative’s successes spans partnerships with high-profile organizations to contributions to significant policy dialogues at the White House. Its activities encompass data analytics, policy design, and expanding research into the global “manosphere” to create impactful, empathetic counter-narratives. Seeking further support from the Middlebury Provost Advisory Council Strategic Initiatives 2024, Diverting Hate plans to partner with CTEC to offer Middlebury students unique opportunities to engage in cutting-edge policy work and contribute to a pioneering approach in countering extremism.

Energy 2028 Behavioral Science Research Lab

The goal of the Energy 2028 Behavioral Science Research Lab is to sustain and expand Energy 2028 research projects, supported in partnership with non-academic offices, to create an innovative research hub to support other like-minded faculty across the institution in connecting, sharing, and collaborating with each other and students on climate and environmental projects.

Environmental Storytelling Speaker Series

This project seeks to improve and formalize the offerings for environmental storytelling at Middlebury, with a focus on real-world skill-building and employability/utility. The series will invite three speakers who each bring a high-profile presence and skill to share with the writing and environmental communities. Speakers would offer a talk and then also visit classes.

Gender Affirming Community Closet Project Launch

The Gender Affirming Community Closet is a resource for trans and gender diverse students on campus to gain access to affirming clothing items regardless of body size, place on their queer journey, or ability to pay. It fills a hole in our current resources to materially support queer students on campus.

Generative AI and Learning Outcomes of Middlebury College Students

The project aims to understand the impact of generative AI technologies (such as ChatGPT or Bard) on student learning and academic inequality at Middlebury College. The project consists of conducting a survey to assess AI usage patterns among students to assess the characteristics of students who mostly use generative AI tools and how they use them, and a lab experiment to provide evidence on how AI impacts learning and academic inequality.

History of Science, Medicine, and Technology

Several faculty in the History Department are working to establish a new track within the history department’s curriculum to allow students, be they science-minded or humanities based, to focus on the history of science, medicine and technology (HSMT). Across the country, HSMT is currently among the most popular and appealing fields of academic study among both humanities and STEM students. Our project will research best practices within this discipline; invite leading scholars to Middlebury; and develop a collection of new courses to launch this track.

Midd.data

Midd.data seeks to provide equitable and inclusive access to powerful tools for data analysis from the moment students arrive on campus. They work to see that students are prepared to critically evaluate data-based arguments from a variety of perspectives, discover insights from data both independently and in collaboration with others, and effectively communicate their findings.  Following a successful pilot course, Data Science Across Disciplines taught in January 2021, leaders of midd.data plan to work with colleagues to develop connector courses for students to take that will further develop skills in this area.

Middlebury in Spain - Stay Local Weekends

This proposal seeks funding to organize a set of “Stay Local Weekends” for students studying abroad at the Middlebury School in Spain during the Fall ‘24 and Spring ‘25 semesters with the primary goal of reducing environmental impact and encouraging sustainable behavior during study abroad. During these weekends, participating students pledge to remain local and not travel outside of their host city, as well as refrain from hosting outside visitors. Programming will include a series of local cultural and sustainability-focused events and activities organized by the School in Spain over the course of the weekend.

Passport Grant Program

Students who receive financial aid study abroad at lower rates than their peers. In order to increase access to and participation in study abroad, this program, administered by the International Programs Office, removes one of the barriers to this experience by funding a passport and providing guidance on the process to a cohort of high-need students.

Seeding the Medical Humanities at Middlebury

In support of Middlebury’s Strategic Framework, we seek to advance innovation in medical humanities research and experiential learning, through the creation of immersive, 2-3 month, clinic and community collaborative study opportunities in Canada, Denmark, India, New Zealand, and the US. As a medical humanities lab, The Body Online (TBO) has been collaborating with, and supported by, a number of Middlebury programs since 2019 including DLINQ, MiddData, the Axinn Center for the Humanities, the Global Health Minor, the Center for Health and Wellness, the Center for Community Engagement, and the Department of Anthropology. This PAC initiative will weave these existing relationships and collaborations together more tightly, while supporting the ongoing work of our 24+ TBO members including Middlebury staff, faculty, and students (see team, above) including the growth of faculty, staff, and student competencies in digital storying, data visualization, and remote data sourcing and publishing with international partners. To advance these project steps and to measure our progress along the way, we plan to draw on our existing medical humanities structures and tools in TBO lab to create a baseline student survey as well as followups at post-research experience and post-graduation.

Uncovering East Asian Soft Power: Developing an Interdisciplinary ICC Course with the Monterey Model

The project is to design an interdisciplinary ICC course called “Uncovering East Asian Soft Power” to explore the dynamics of soft power in East Asia, focusing on China, Japan, and South Korea. Leveraging expert instructors from these countries, the course aims to develop students’ intercultural competence and sensitivity, enhancing their understanding of East Asian influence through a blend of disciplines like international policy, nonproliferation, and applied linguistics. This course will prepare students for professional careers in East Asia or related international fields, fostering critical analysis, cultural humility, and effective communication across diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Women in Nuclear Security - Podcast

In the last two decades, there has been a paradigm shift in attitude towards women’s participation in the nuclear field. However, despite these improvements, women are still underrepresented and often unseen in the nuclear security policy-making domain. Therefore, initiating a Podcast on Women in Nuclear Security is critical to acknowledge the contributions women have made in this field throughout history. It is also vital for female early career professionals and scholars from around the world to have female role models in this field. In the past few years, several initiatives have been started at different international and regional forums for women’s inclusion in the nuclear security field and this project to start a Podcast is a step towards achieving this global goal.This Podcast will serve as a pilot project in the year 2024 to gather experiences, challenges, and achievements of women in nuclear security from around the world.

Completed Projects

Beyond the Page

For decades, a diverse cohort of professional actors (the Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble) have served as part of the Bread Loaf School of English (BLSE) teaching force, collaborating with faculty to bring theater arts practices into Bread Loaf classes and catalyze critical thinking. Our theater arts pedagogy cultivates an exceptionally high level of student engagement as well as of intellectual risk-taking, acuity, and trust. It gives students an opportunity to experience what they’re reading, writing, or researching in an embodied, affective, and affecting form – to see, hear, and feel the force of text and thought and to be fully immersed in the moment of inquiry. It enables students to develop ideas and entertain diverse perspectives as part of a learning community. Beyond the Page expands the reach and impact of this work – from the graduate to the undergraduate classroom and from the discipline of English to diverse fields across the arts and sciences. BLSE partners with Middlebury faculty and students to develop a sustainable model of theater arts practices that has the potential to grow across the institution and revolutionize what teaching across the liberal arts can be and do.

Bread Loaf School of English 100+

The goal of this project was to develop a 3.5-week immersive residential session at Bread Loaf School of English (BLSE) to run concurrently with the traditional 6-week summer program offering to increase BLSE’s flexibility, accessibility, and inclusiveness.  Themes around timely issues were developed and the programs were held at alternate sites.

CoLab:  Where Critical Service Learning Meets Action Research

The Institute and California State University Monterey Bay formed a partnership with the goal of making a tangible difference in structural problems that confront the communities of our region. This grant helped to formalize CoLab which was created in 2016.  This new work connects a variety of resources from the two institutions to provide community-engaged research training, supported by faculty fellows, community fellows, and a graduate assistant.

DC Career Exploration and Mentoring Pilot: A Middlebury Cross-Institutional Collaboration

A collaboration between CCI, CACS; Rohatyn Global Scholars and Fellows Program, and Middlebury in DC, this pilot program featured a joint career exploration trek to Washington DC during Spring Break 2023. Daily site visits to multiple employers of thematic interest to both groups and evening reflection dinners with select alumni were enhanced with the pairing of 10 MIIS students in a mentoring role with 10 Rohatyn Global Scholars and Fellows.

Diversifying National Security Expertise

This project proposes an initiative aimed at diversifying the national security sector by including traditionally excluded voices, with a particular focus on women and students from the Global South. The project involves funding two research assistant positions to study the normalization of domestic extremism, bridging academic research and policy relevance, and fostering collaboration across campuses in California and Vermont. Beyond building research skills, it aims to empower these students with public engagement and media training, enhancing both their own personal abilities to showcase their expertise and ultimately enriching the national security field with diverse perspectives and contributing to a more inclusive environment.

Diverting Hate, A Student-Led Counter-Terrorism Initiative

Diverting Hate uses strategic targeting fueled by network analysis and a database of known misogynistic terms and profiles, to divert susceptible men away from dangerous paths and towards resilience-building tactics. These tactics live on a website that the organizers have carefully curated to incorporate community groups and mental health organizations that are focused on men’s well-being.

The Dogteam

In its inaugural Building Summer program, the Dogteam Theatre Project provided opportunities for emerging artists of multiple disciplines to work and train with seasoned professionals, provided instruction in the disciplines of acting, directing, playwriting, stage management, in scenic, lighting and projection design, and produced evocative contemporary and classical works, including adaptations and translations, that illuminate present issues onstage. The Dogteam engaged fifteen Middlebury College students who self-identified as follows: six actors, two actor/directors, one director, two playwrights, one stage manager, one lighting designer, one scenic/projections designer, and one scenic designer, and four professional actors. Although they identified their primary areas of focus, all students participated in foundational courses before branching out to study and practice their selected discipline in greater depth with professional mentors. Foundational masterclasses and workshops were offered in playwriting, stage management, acting, projection design, scenic design, and lighting design. In 2024, the Dogteam hosted its first Producing Summer.

Embracing Tradition, Memories, and Reconciliation for Intercultural and Cross-Generational Empowerment and Transformation

This iterative project included the translation, analysis, and archiving of the historical records of Tenryumura, a mountain village in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.  It relied on the expertise of Translation and Interpretation (TI) and Translation Localization Management (TLM) students at the Institute.  Goals included establishing clear guidelines that support consistency in the translation work and developing a systematic framework through which the ongoing and future contributions of collaborators from varied disciplines can be integrated into a coherent whole.  It was a partnership between the School in Japan, the TI and TLM program and the Institute, the Japanese Studies Department at the College, and the Center for Community Engagement.  More information about this effort was shared in the spring of 2022 at a Faculty at Home webinar.

English Communications for Cyber Security, Counter Terrorism and Financial Crimes

This project designed and developed a three-module curriculum intended for non-native speakers of English working in law enforcement at the municipal, national, and international levels where cross-border communication in English is necessary. The project was a cross-Middlebury collaboration headed by Custom Language Services with support from the Cyber Collaborative, DLINQ, Institute and College faculty and their networks in the field.

Exhibit Sharing:  Middlebury College Museum of Art and MIIS

This project arranged for the exhibit, “Being There: The Photographs of James P. Blair,” to be placed on permanent view at the Institute.  The collection, on exhibit at the College in 2019, contained a wide range of images from around the world taken by Blair during his 35-year career working for the National Geographic Society. 

Feminism, Fascism & the Future

This project produced a multi-country, multi-collaborator podcast called Feminism, Fascism & the Future. This podcast educated listeners on the global antigender ideology movement and how it threatens women’s and LGBTQ rights. It gave people examples of how people around the world are fighting against it and why we cannot give up hope. Additionally, the podcast included students in the project in order to empower them in how to tell important stories through podcasting.

Immigration Advocacy Cohort Internship Program

This student-led project was supported by the Center for Community Engagement and Center for Careers and Internships to create a cohort of Middlebury students to work with different immigrant advocacy organizations.  Goals of the project were to introduce Middlebury students to legal work, specifically immigration related legal work, as well as maintain connections between the college and the partner organizations. This experiential learning was paired with academic coursework in partnership with the International and Global studies department.

Inclusive Hiring Fellowship Program

The Inclusive Hiring Fellowship Program was a pilot model to build an onramp for women transitioning back to the community after incarceration and will provide the critical pillars of support - stable employment, reliable housing, and robust wraparound support services. Program participants were employed at Middlebury in entry level operations positions and have an opportunity to gain skills and build personal agency. Women also had VT Works for Women staff support, intentional programming as a cohort and housing in Middlebury.

International Education Management:  Changing TIDES (Technology, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Sustainability)

Funding allowed leaders of the International Education Management (IEM) program to do a diversity, equity, and inclusion audit and explore technology-mediated learning.  They also worked with DLINQ to plan, design, and launch a low-residency master’s degree.

Italian Language, Culture, and Wine in Tuscany

For Tuscany, wine is culture, family, and land, a fundamental part of the history of the entire region. In this 12-day program participants explored Italian language, wine, and culture and gain insider perspectives from local wine experts and network with industry professionals and wine enthusiasts.  The program included Italian language and culture classes in Florence, cultural excursions in Florence and Val d’Orcia, wine tastings, and Italian cooking classes, and accommodations at a villa near Siena. 

Language Studies and Intercultural Competence for multiple Middlebury MA programs (Online course development)

This effort identified the most likely first moves for collaboration and/or consolidation of language studies and intercultural competence (ICC) coursework across multiple Middlebury MA programs.

Mapping the Global

Mapping the Global is an atlas with a printed text and website, a hybrid project capturing the technological accordances constitutive of the contemporary idiom of the global. It was designed to build on the College’s commitment to the global by tapping into the resources and opportunities Middlebury’s varied institutions across the world and to create long-term opportunities for student research experiences. The primary audience for this print-digital project is international and global studies students.

Mental Health and Well-being for BIPOC students

This initiative, a partnership between Counseling and Health & Wellness Education, focused on the mental health of students of color by addressing the impacts of racism on students of color through supportive, affinity-based psychoeducational spaces, primarily through workshops provided by practitioners of color for students of color. 

Middlebury Escape Room

The Middlebury Escape Room offered an environment that combines community building, fun, and the opportunity to learn about Middlebury’s unique culture. Designed with Middlebury community members as the target audience, the Middlebury Escape Room was grounded in Middlebury’s value of inclusivity and focus on conveying information about the Energy 2028 Initiative and the Twilight Project as well as aspects of the natural environment of Middlebury.

Middlebury Formula Hybrid Team

The Middlebury Formula Hybrid team received funds to build a hybrid race car to compete in the Formula Hybrid & Electric Student Racing Competition in May 2022.

Middlebury Science Café: A Collaboration between Midd.Data, The Center for Community Engagement, and Royal Oak

This program aimed to bring back to Vermont a model for informal STEM education for lifelong learning, namely the Middlebury Science Café. The intended audience for this program is adults and teens who are interested in STEM topics to learn and share their enthusiasm for STEM with a community.

Middlebury and Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato/Waikato University Exchange

The exchange supports a small delegation of School of Abenaki faculty and staff and undergraduate HT23 participants in making an exchange visit to the University of Waikato. The delegation would have opportunity to meet and learn from Māori community leaders - including those involved with language revitalization - at the university and beyond. This project will also further develop Indigenous-to-Indigenous relationship and solidarity.

MIIS Class on “Technology & AI for Literary Translators” at BLTC

The project leaders presented a workshop (aka “craft course”) on “Technology and AI for Literary Translators” at the BLTC (Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference) in Vermont. This was an updated version of a successful workshop on “Technology for Literary Translators” given in 2016. This course was part of a continued effort to connect MIIS to BLTC with shared knowledge and shared recruitment benefits.

MIISION CRITICAL

This project sought to provide Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) students the opportunity to deepen their strategic thinking, international crisis response, and intercultural cooperation by competing at the world’s premier cyber policy simulation – the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge (“Cyber 9/12” henceforth). This annual competition, hosted by the Atlantic Council, a leading policy think tank in Washington, DC, offers a unique platform for students to delve into pressing global issues related to cyber and AI developments, global security, and digital transformation. The primary objective of our project is to facilitate an immersive experience for MIIS students by bringing a MIIS team (under the name of “MIISSION CRITICAL”) to participate in Cyber 9/12. This initiative aligns with Middlebury’s strategic priority of fostering global connections, given the competition’s exposure to global partnerships, discourses, and connections. Participants have the opportunity to make connections with other teams and with competition judges, who are accomplished experts from cybersecurity policy and practitioner communities, including US government officials.

New Directions in Post-Pandemic Performance

“New Directions in Post-Pandemic Performance” was a Multidisciplinary Arts Festival created by junior faculty from all campus arts departments to present performances of new work, introduce cutting edge methods in art-making using new technologies, and supporting an all-campus collaborative creation with students from all majors.

Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies Partnership 

This pilot program featured a robust “study away” cohort of Middlebury undergraduates at the Middlebury Institute each semester beginning in Fall 2019 to study in the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program.  Middlebury undergrads joined students from other colleges for summer program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies - in person in 2019 and remotely in 2020.

Online Excel Learning Modules

The director of the META Lab supervised graduate students to develop an online learning tool to help students throughout Middlebury gain skills in Excel or access instruction in Excel as-needed and on-demand.  These modules were designed to correspond with the venue and format of the Online Social Science Research Modules Project (see below).

Online Social Science Research 

Online Social Science Research sought to create a flexible, open source, online, modular system of research training in social science methods. These modules are available to students and faculty across Middlebury, to provide an introduction to formulating a research question, identifying appropriate methods to explore that question, and tutorials focused on specific research methods, such as surveys, interviews, ethnographic studies and fieldwork, archival work, media analysis, and experiments.

Online TESOL

The goal of this project was to broaden access to an Institute education by designing a fully online Master’s program, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).  Project leads worked with DLINQ to develop this online program which is part-time and therefore appealing to practicing teachers. 

Online Translation and Localization Management (TLM) 

The Middlebury Institute’s TLM program collaborated with DLINQ to develop Middlebury’s first fully online program, advanced-entry, MA in Translation and Localization Management to appeal to working professionals. The program will launched in fall 2020.

Parallel Practice Logging:  An Innovative & Interactive Pedagogical Activity in Interpretation Training

Parallel Practice Logging (PPL) is designed to address one of the most important yet the least studied areas in interpreting education, i.e. how to make sure that students’ after-class practice are conducive to their learning outcomes. Students are expected to keep logs for both interpretation practice as well as another skill-based activity through a link provided by the Professor. The hypothesis is that regular logging, self-reflections, and tailored feedback will not only motivate but also inspire students, thus contributing to their learning outcomes.

Project Based Learning - Time to Scale Up

Organizers aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Project Based Learning (PBL) model, particularly in the First Year Seminars.  They built on earlier work to increase the capacity for promoting, supporting, and growing PBL pedagogy as an adopted pedagogy and an anti-racist pedagogy.  

Public Humanities Lab Initiative

The Axinn Center’s Public Humanities Lab Initiative was designed to help students and faculty integrate Humanistic learning in creative ways into public facing and/or community curated projects that address social and cultural issues of urgent importance.  The “Laboratory” element of these classes was envisaged to reshape possibilities for Humanities classes on campus by promoting hands-on engagement with varied experts and organizations, both within our Vermont context and beyond.

Rooted and Reindigenized: Scripting Stories of Place and Belonging

How do we come to understand stories of place, and what makes them come alive? This project sought to create physical signage at the Knoll and craft a temporary home for the School of Abenaki’s summer programming while exploring the process and form.

Scoping Trip for Sustainability and Food Justice Track at the Middlebury School Abroad in Puerto Rico

This project established a solid Sustainability and Food Justice Track in the new School Abroad in Puerto Rico. Based on past experience, this requires on-the-ground scoping to clarify how a Sustainability and Food Justice Track will add value to students’ experience in Puerto Rico and to set up potential student internships.

Social Impact Learning Corps

The Middlebury Social Impact Corps (MSIC) program provided opportunity to leverage our academic strengths across Middlebury programs by connecting MIIS graduate students to Middlebury undergraduate students for an unparalleled peer learning opportunity. MSIC is a collaboration between Middlebury College, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), and community partners, providing an 8-week world-class, cohort-based experience focused on effecting social change throughout the world. MSIC participants build the experience, knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to be purposeful global citizens and to seek innovative solutions to the world’s complex social and environmental problems.

Sustainability Education for Study Abroad

This project sought to conduct a sustainability assessment of Middlebury’s study abroad operations and to create a sustainability plan for the future. This project includes all study abroad students, including those studying at the Middlebury Schools Abroad and those studying abroad at externally sponsored programs.

Sustainability Impact Lab

The Sustainability Impact Lab (SIL) aimed to elevate graduates from the Institute to impact sustainability challenges at the nexus of academic excellence, policy analysis and practical implementation.  Students were awarded fellowships to undertake projects in support of the Institute’s sustainability goals in relation to Energy 2028, DEI and anti-racist programming, community engagement, and cross-program collaboration.

Vermont Innovation Summer Cohort Internship Program

As part of the “Vermont Innovation Summer,” the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI) began a summer internship program that focuses on the Vermont start-up ecosystem, with a living-learning-working immersion experience.  In addition to the experiential component, this program fosters internship and career opportunities for the Middlebury College student and new graduate, thereby encouraging and facilitating Middlebury talent to remain in Vermont during summers, after graduation, and beyond.