California Academic Resources

The BLSE program brings critical, creative, and pedagogical approaches to bear on literary study – with the aim of cultivating the imagination and the interpretive and expressive powers that come with it. The curricular and co-curricular offerings outlined below give you a wide range of resources to draw on as you chart your own path through the summer. See the BLSE Student Handbook for information on academic policies.   

Curricular Program 

  • The Institute’s curricular program includes classes, faculty-led roundtables, workshops, salons, community engagement activities, and individualized sessions designed to help you with advanced research. 
  • Attendance in all parts of the curricular program is mandatory, except in cases of illness or emergency. Please notify on-site director Amy Rodgers and your faculty if you need to miss for these reasons.
  • Because of the session length, there is no drop/add option. 

Advising

  • Summer Institute on-site director Amy Rodgers can help you with any academic or residential issues that arise during the summer. Please contact Amy Rodgers to make an appointment.
  • BLSE director Lyndon Dominique and dean Emily Bartels serve year-round as your advisors and can help you with long-term and short-term planning. Lyndon will be visiting the Institute campus this summer and will be available to meet with you to discuss any aspect of your summer or BLSE experiences.   
  • Professor Valerie Traub will be meeting regularly with all students to assist with their research plans for their courses.

Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN)

The Bread Loaf Teacher Network, headed by director Beverly Moss, supports teachers year-round as they engage with peers on designing and implementing innovative culturally- and community-based pedagogies – working across differences to foster advanced literacy skills, social justice, and social change. For more information, see our BLTN website.

Students at the California campus can join the Vermont/California BLTN meetings on Thursdays at 4 pm PDT/7 pm EDT. We encourage you to gather in one space for these meetings, if possible, to take advantage of group activities during the meetings. Please email Tom McKenna for a zoom link to attend. 

Ken Macrorie Writing Center 

The Ken Macrorie Writing Center, directed by David Wandera, is staffed by trained BLSE students, who can help you develop discipline-specific writing skills in the context of your summer work. We encourage you to sign-up for individualized sessions.

Library Resources

  • Institute students have access to the MIIS William Tell Coleman Library (425 Van Buren Street). Library hours: Monday-Friday: 8:30 am-6pm; Saturday: closed; Sunday: 12 pm-5 pm. Librarians are also available online via email, chat, and phone during the same hours. 
  • You also have access to materials online from the Middlebury College library. See Middlebury’s off-campus resources.