Prepare for Our Future
To say we live in a period of rapid and complex change is an understatement. Our age is one of dramatic technological innovation, intensifying climate change, remarkable advances in medicine, and a rapidly altered world of work.
To prepare ourselves, our students, and our world for that future, we must embrace a spirit of agility and innovation while staking out a distinctive position in areas where Middlebury has the demonstrated capacity to lead.
Initiative Six: The Middlebury Labs
Embracing a spirit of creativity and problem-solving, Middlebury is committed to deploying the full power of the liberal arts to address the most urgent challenges of our time and to helping students shape purpose-driven lives and careers. We envision the formation of three interdisciplinary labs organized around public policy solutions, the role of AI in higher education, and preparing students for meaningful futures.
Initiative Seven: The Planet’s College
Climate change is a planetary crisis. Middlebury is home to the oldest undergraduate environmental studies program in the country, and our Energy2028 initiative is shaping an ambitious transition to renewable energy. We now have an opportunity to reenvision our campus as a living laboratory where teaching, research, operations, and partnerships advance climate solutions for our town, state, nation, world, and planet.
Selected Stories
Students Maggie Harper ’26, left, and Shea Brams ’26 presented policy recommendations on how to mitigate climate-related damages in Vermont communities to State Treasurer Mike Pieciak in Montpelier on February 27.
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Nearly 150 students seized the challenge of turning big data into something meaningful. Working in teams, the Middlebury undergraduates joined the annual DataFest April 18-19, sponsored by the American Statistical Association.
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