News about Middlebury and its extended family from sources around the world
WASHINGTON — It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.
But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese [Class of 2000 at Middlebury], a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.
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Writing From Sydney – All around the world, national governments are trying to hammer out their global warming policies, preparing for the United Nations’ climate-change conclave in Copenhagen at the end of the year. And in too many places, the effort seems to be going nowhere.
Here in Australia, for instance, the government last week decided to postpone any real action for another year, citing the recession. It weakened major elements of its so-called emissions trading scheme, bowing to pressure from the coal industry, which is the country’s biggest exporter, and other major polluters.
In Washington, meanwhile …
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Each quarter, labor statistics report sobering news of the number of jobs the economy has lost. For college seniors, finding job amid competition with jobless professionals is especially daunting. It leaves some graduates debating whether to take jobs outside their field of study, pursue unpaid internships or consider offers they’d prefer not to take.
VPR’s Jane Lindholm talks with Jaye Roseborough, Executive Director of Career Services at Middlebury College and Pamela Gardner, Director of Career Services at the University of Vermont about the career decisions facing college seniors, and how to search for jobs in a down economy.
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John Kassel is perhaps an obvious choice to be the new head of the Conservation Law Foundation.
After all, the Middlebury College alumnus (Class of 1979) knows about conservation as a former secretary for the Agency of Natural Resources, and has a background in law as a former litigator.
Middlebury College is featured in the April 27 issue of Fortune magazine in an article titled, “Hard times on campus: Even elite colleges can’t escape the impact of the economic slump. Here’s how one New England school is working to stay on top in the face of a smaller endowment, needier students, and the bursting of the higher-ed bubble.” The article was added to Fortune’s Web site on April 10.
The article includes several photographs and quotes from President Liebowitz, Vice President for Administration and Treasurer Patrick Norton, Senior Director of Student Financial Services Kim Downs and Dean of Admissions Bob Clagett.
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John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College, appeared on March 19 on the Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, during which he discussed his initiative to lower the drinking age, Choose Responsibility, with host Stephen Colbert.
ADDISON COUNTY — This time a week ago, Cornwall residents Jon Isham and Tracy Himmel Isham were facing arrest — or, at least, potential arrest.
And the Ishams weren’t alone. They were joined by a few thousand other environmental activists who marched on the coal plant that powers Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Their goal? To shut down the plant for a day — and to convince legislators to shut down the coal-powered plant for good.
“We all lined up and marched 2,500 strong to the coal-fired plant,” Isham said. Hundreds of police looked on as the protestors circled the plant, and eventually around 400 individuals stood up to block entrance to the plant — a form of civil disobedience that warranted arrest.
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The Middlebury College men’s basketball team was defeated in round two of the NCAA tournament this weekend. VPR’s Jane Lindholm has the details:
(Lindholm) It was a heartbreaking defeat for the Panthers, who were ranked ninth in the nation in Division III. The sold-out crowd at Middlebury’s Pepin Gymnasium was ecstatic throughout most of the game as Middlebury led against Massachusetts’ Bridgewater State.
With just 40 seconds left to play the Panthers were up by five: 74-69. Then Bridgewater hit a three and took a time out.
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – With the sun shining on a rare, warm winter day, Thomas Corbin stands in a snow-covered field of willow shrubs. The stalks, some more than 10 feet high, jab like slender fingers into the blue sky.
If all goes well, in two years, a modified corn harvester will chop through these fast-growing shrubs. The crop will then be hauled a mile or so to feed the new biomass gasification plant at Middlebury College, where Mr. Corbin is assistant treasurer. The college hopes that the willow will provide 12,000 tons of fuel each year, about half of the fuel the facility is expected to burn.
The Middlebury plant, which opened earlier this year, provides both heat and electricity to the campus. It runs on wood chips that come from within a 75-mile radius of this campus of 2,400 students in northwestern Vermont.
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Like many liberal-arts institutions, Middlebury College, where I teach, has a problem: Too many students want to be economics majors. Economics enrollments keep growing, and adding more faculty members to the department seems to only increase the demand. The rumor on the campus is that if the college actually provided enough professors to meet the demand for economics courses, it would have to change its name to the Middlebury School of Economics.
Professors at other liberal-arts colleges confirm that the phenomenon is widespread and has been for some time. But what makes the economics major so appealing?
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