Law, Organization, and Society In this course students will learn about the structure and function of the U.S.’s legal institutions and reflect on their impact on individuals, commerce, and society. Inherently interdisciplinary in nature, students will read books by sociologists and journalists, examine important case law, and gain perspective about the role that the legal system plays in our society. Students will consider the law’s role as an essential social institution that shapes and is shaped by society and social actors.

Posse Scholars Leadership Development This course is designed to promote the intellectual, social, and civic development of first-year Posse scholars, both individually and as a group. Students will attend weekly workshops drawing from the Posse Foundation’s leadership curriculum. Workshops will also draw on the instructor’s areas of expertise and will focus on topics most pertinent to students’ goals and needs. Some workshops will include guest lectures, experiential learning, and student-facilitated discussion.  Students will reflect on their learning in bi-weekly meetings with the instructor, as well as in writing.  They will also identify initiatives or projects they wish to promote on campus or in the local community, applying what they have learned. (This course is only open to first-year students.)

Oratory in Action  How do humans use speech to make change? How can we connect more meaningfully with others through speaking and writing? In this entry-level course      we will practice oratory first as speakers, then as peer coaches, and finally as partners collaborating with Vermont organizations that make an impact in our community. We will use practices developed at Middlebury in Oratory Now’s coach training program, the physical education course, OratoryX, and the new Remote Oratory Coaching service for live and recorded presentations. Short readings and viewings support this immersive, engaged learning project. Students with 19+ credits may register with instructor approval.

Accounting, Budgeting, and the Liberal Arts Accounting is the lingua franca of commercial and financial activity, and applies equally to corporations, non-profits, and governments. In this course we will learn the basic concepts and standards underlying the accounting language including: revenue recognition, inventory, long-lived assets, present value, long-term liabilities, and financial statements. We then turn to the application and use of accounting information in forecasting, operating, and measuring an enterprise. These managerial accounting concepts are used to develop budgets and evaluate results. Our understanding of accounting and financial statements is needed to understand how business interrelates with society. The major course project will be developing an Excel financial model; no prior Excel experience required.

Introduction to Business and Enterprise This course provides students who have little to no background in business with a broad overview of business and enterprise in the economy. Students will learn about types of enterprises and a functional framework for understanding a business, including strategy, finance, production, and marketing.  This framework will be used to analyze various businesses and non-profits, exploring the advantages and disadvantages of various structures. The course will give overviews of accounting and entrepreneurship, and explore policy and philosophical debates about the morality of for-profit business and the need for corporate responsibility.

Community Connected Learning Community-connected learning supports civic knowledge cultivation, skill building, and identity development. In this course students will apply their relevant coursework to place-based contexts by collaborating with community partners independently or in groups to complete a community-connected learning project that will contribute to the public good. Center for Community Engagement (CCE) instructors will meet with students weekly in cohorts to explore the social and other issues raised in their experiences. Final projects may take a variety of forms, such as a portfolio, media production, or paper. Students should contact the course instructor to discuss, confirm and/or receive assistance in identifying a community partner and to begin to define their projects.

The Game of Go within Traditional Japanese Culture The ancient East Asian game of go will be introduced, studied, and developed within the context of  Japanese history and cultural traditions – especially that of the Edo Period. Game play, careful  analysis, and problem solving will be a key component of the course. Additionally, the art and  aesthetics of Japanese gardens and woodblock prints will be studied by the class as preparation for  individual research and presentation of an East Asian art form or tradition.

Business Ethics Capitalism and competitive markets are often considered the most efficient system of simultaneously maximizing private wealth and public good. In the real world, however, truly competitive markets do not exist.   Imperfect markets have been made to work efficiently while protecting public good through systems of public intervention, i.e., laws and regulations, and voluntary self-restraint by business organizations in response to societal expectations. In this class we will consider the role of ethics in business, with students analyzing the process by which ethical norms and strongly held moral beliefs guide the conduct of economically driven business organizations.  Students will reflect on business managers’ responsibility to their owners, i.e., shareholders, other stakeholders, and society-at-large.

Nuclear nonproliferation governance and decision-making This course will explore the role of national and international organizations and decision-making processes in response to threats to peace and security, with specific emphasis on threats related to nuclear weapons. The course is aimed at students with limited or no experience in nuclear nonproliferation, arms control and disarmament, but interested in gaining basic understandings of how national governments and international agencies collaborate on issues related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and associated delivery systems. The course will focus on national and international responses to nuclear proliferation, including the various a treaties, arrangements and mechanisms at the disposal of national governments. Students will explore the practical diplomatic tools and skills used in the context of nuclear nonproliferation governance and decision-making including arms control negotiations techniques, and decision-making processes by national and international agencies.

Compass: Foundations for the Road Ahead The transition to college coincides with a range of increased developmental expectations and challenges. Some essential developmental tasks are exploring interests, building relationships, solidifying identities, and creating pathways to a life of meaning. In addition, mastering the college experience includes gaining and applying new skills to increasingly complex contexts. Utilizing literature from Psychology and Education, we will explore critical developmental tasks and associated skills that drive healthy outcomes for college-age students. We will then work collaboratively to begin honing essential skills and practice applying them over the semester.  Through written assignments, projects, and presentations, students will leave the course prepared to experience their liberal arts education with greater intention and be better prepared to live engaged, consequential, and creative lives.

The Diverse Workplace: Gender, Race and the Modern Corporation Knowing why and how to harness the power of human difference to facilitate human flourishing is a critical competency for leaders.  In this course we will learn about the challenges and opportunities of diversity.  This course has three components.  First, students will explore ways humans can advance in the modern workplace and how the roles of people of all genders must evolve in order to do so.  The second component centers on the issue of race in and at the organization/corporation (for-profit and not-for-profit).  And the third component relates to how workplace diversity is a valuable and strategic asset to the modern corporation.  Students will learn that organizations, too, are social actors.  As such, issues of gender and race shape organizations and their ability to obtain cultural, political, and material resources they need to survive—the organizing process.

Purpose, Profit, and Planet In this course students will explore a question with deep implications for our society: do businesses have an ethical or social responsibility to move beyond the profit-maximization principle? If so, to what extent should businesses act as social institutions that shape the basic rules of society rather than simply reacting to them? By drawing on materials from social sciences, humanities, and the legal field, students will consider to what extent business should become part of the sustainable and planetary solution and what their ethical responsibility is to minimize their own harmful actions.

Community Connected Experiential Learning Capstone In this course students who have completed Middlebury-sponsored experiential learning opportunities will reflect on their experiences, identify key learning outcomes, and integrate that learning into their ongoing academic inquiry. They will identify the civic competencies developed through their experience, as well as the ways in which they have strengthened civic identity, cultivated their civic knowledge, and built their civic skills. In a project-based cohort, students will complete a summative public product that illustrates their evidence of learning.

Marketing: Formulation, Methods, and Research Marketing is both a qualitative and a quantitative discipline.  It is one of the rare business fields that actively draws upon and integrates the creative and analytical components of the liberal arts tradition.  In this course students will be exposed to a broad overview of marketing principles, focusing on the application of marketing theory to for-profit, not-for-profit, and the public sectors. Cause marketing and social marketing techniques will also be discussed to determine their utility in combating social ills and promoting favorable public health behaviors and outcomes.  As the implementation of marketing programs is undergoing a massive transformation from conventional to digital media, students will be exposed to digital designing and marketing, which are driven by a sound understanding of consumer segmentation, brand positioning, distinct product benefits, and relevant in-market executions. (INTD 0120) Introductory statistics course recommended.

Finance, Regulation, and Policy With recent financial scandals and crises, an important question is whether the finance industry should be regulated and should undergo further policy reforms. Many scholars and policy experts contend that the current system is simply not designed to make policy choices on behalf of the public. In this course we will explore current financial innovations (e.g., mutual funds, hedge funds, securitizations, cryptocurrencies, just to name a few) and potential policy options in order to protect “Main Street” from “Wall Street”. Additionally, we will explore the manner in which modern finance has grown out of powerful theories, both mathematical and psychological.

Big Business, Big Data, & Big Obligations In this course we will examine the cultural, economic, ethical, and legal implications of, analytics, big data, and computation. Drawing on various disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences, students will read works relating to the science of data collection, aggregation, and analysis.  Students will learn that with opportunities for both financial gain and social good (which big data brings) comes various perils, including privacy violations, disability/gender/racial discrimination, economic disruption, negative environmental spillovers, and political destabilization.

Sophomore Seminar in the Liberal Arts The current pandemic, and all the questions it brings to the fore about what we value in a college experience, make this an ideal moment to consider the meaning and purpose of your liberal arts education. At the heart of this exploration will be a question posed by physicist Arthur Zajonc: “How do we find our own authentic way to an undivided life where meaning and purpose are tightly interwoven with intellect and action, where compassion and care are infused with insight and knowledge?” We will examine how, at this pivotal moment of decision making, you can understand your college career as an act of “cultivating humanity” and how you can meaningfully challenge yourself to take ownership of your intellectual and personal development. Through interdisciplinary and multicultural exploration, drawing from education studies and philosophical, religious, and literary texts, we will engage our course questions by way of student-led discussion, written reflection, and personal, experiential learning practices. In this way we will examine how a liberal arts education might foster the cultivation of an ‘undivided’ life, “the good life”, a life well-lived.

Public Health of Disasters Both natural and man-made disasters, including the release of weapons of mass destruction, reveal a community’s preexisting vulnerabilities.  The emergency response, and the nature of the disaster itself, combine to affect the short- and long-term health of the disaster-struck community.  We will examine public health components of disasters, including emergency preparedness and response, relief efforts, health surveillance, and the ethical considerations of these activities.  With case studies and readings, we will employ a public health perspective to understand the community impact of natural and man-made disasters in both developed and developing countries.

From Social Innovation to Social Change In this course we will study what spurs social innovation and produces change. Our inquiry into the world of changemaking will entail theoretical and conceptual exploration, studying cases of social innovation around the world, and personal introspection. Theories from a variety of disciplines such as economics, political science, psychology, and sociology will frame our understanding of social change. Concepts examined include social problems, social innovation, social enterprise, and social impact. By the end of this course, students will understand what social innovation and social impact require.  This course is primarily intended for students participating in the Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship program.  Open to others by approval

Public Science Science is not done until findings are published and ideas are shared. But who gets to report science and who is listening? In this course, we will explore the practice and theory of public science. We will develop the science literacy skills necessary to research and apply those skills through project-based learning. Project themes vary by term, but all projects focus on local and regional issues in science that have broader applications. Students will read scientific papers and discuss, conduct independent research, collaborate, and engage in fieldwork. By engaging in citizen science and storytelling we will explore how science is viewed by public audiences while improving our ability to tell the story of science.

3D Computer Animation 3D computer animation has revolutionized animation, graphics, and special effects.  In this course students will explore basic 3D modeling techniques, virtual material and texture creation, digital lighting, rendering, and animation.  Every workshop will be hands on and fully immersed in this rapidly evolving technology.  Students will leave with a strong conceptual understanding of the 3D graphics pipeline, a fundamental 3D skill set, options for further study, and an independent final animation project. 3 hrs. workshop

Intro to 3D Industrial Design 3D Printing and CNC machining have transformed how objects are designed, prototyped, and manufactured. In this course we will learn fundamental 3D solid modeling techniques, iterative design strategies, and a working knowledge of additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques. Every class will be hands- on and fully immersed in the high-tech tools of the industrial design process. Students will leave with a strong conceptual understanding of 3D solid modeling, printing and machining, and an independent final project.

Introduction to Finance In this introductory survey course we will cover the role of finance in society, the basic workings of the financial system, how funds are allocated within the economy, and how institutions raise money. We will cover a range of topics, including: interest rates and the time value of money; uncertainty and the trade-off between risk and return; security market efficiency; stocks, bonds and optimal capital structure; financing decisions and capital budgeting; sovereign risk; foreign currencies; derivatives markets; and concerns about the role of finance in society.  The course will include discussions of current news events in global markets.

Women in U.S. Electoral Politics In this course we will explore the current and historical status of women in U.S. electoral politics, using case studies, guest speakers, hands-on campaign training, and academic and political research. Recent years have been pivotal for women in U.S. politics, with Hillary Clinton's loss in 2016, the historic 2017 Women's March, and the 2018 Year of Women. How have these events affected women in politics specifically and electoral politics generally? Can women achieve political parity with men and why does it matter? How do factors such as race, gender identity, region, and party intersect with electoral success and experience?

Corporate Governance In this reading intensive seminar students will explore how institutions and leaders create value for their internal and external constituents by examining corporate governance and its respective nomenclatures. Corporate governance involves the set of policies, processes, and customs by which an institution is directed.  This course engages with questions such as: a) What do investors want? What do they worry about in relation to corporate (board) decisions? b) What is the chief aim of the firm in the eyes of the law, boards and investors? c) What governance modules are helpful in creating value and making sure value accrues to the investors? d) What countries provide superior governance arrangements that allow entrepreneurs to fund-raise money to realize profitable projects? e) How should managers be incentivized and compensated?

Management, Enterprise, and Business What does it mean to lead or manage a business, non-profit or any other enterprise, and how does one go about doing it?  Drawing on different management theories, this course will explore games and "tactics" deployed by organizations.  We will leverage basic industrial organization frameworks from economics (eg. hold-outs, switch costs, network effects, economies of scope, etc) to decipher organizational behavior.  In addition, we will review case studies of organizations facing serious management challenges and explore how those challenges could be addressed (INTD0120 or by waiver).

Creating New Enterprises To Solve Significant Problems: For-Profit and Social Entrepreneurship In this class students will explore how entrepreneurial innovators solve significant problems by creating new enterprises, and how these new organizations impact our society. In today’s society, entrepreneurship seems ubiquitous. At times, it appears that entrepreneurs can do no wrong. At other times, they are depicted as over-optimistic fools.  Such polar characterizations may sell magazines, but they do not capture what entrepreneurship is, which involves a more complex and interesting story— in both for-profit and social entrepreneurship environments.  Students will explore entrepreneurship in depth with the goal of penetrating the popular veneer and uncovering the essence of starting and growing new enterprises designed to solve significant societal problems.

Sustainable Finance In this course we will posit the rationale for Sustainable Finance, which aims to facilitate business propositions and accelerate capital allocation to initiatives that benefit society, the environment, employees, customers, and investors alike.  The starting point will be the traditional building blocks of finance. From these foundations, we will assess the impact of Sustainable Finance decisions on different societal crisis points (climate change, health pandemic, social inequality and injustice, financial crisis, etc.) The course will question what the individual can do, in the face of the sustainability crisis, through innovative (finance-driven) initiative.  The course offering will be deeply anchored around project based learning principles, exploring innovative finance and sustainable framework solutions away from the singular focus of short-term financial profit maximization.

Town & Gown: A History of Middlebury and Middlebury College This course offers an overview of the history of Middlebury College by focusing on its relationship with its surrounding town. We will follow the history of these relations from Middlebury's 1800 establishment as the "town's College" and through subsequent transformations during the 19th and 20th centuries. Based on academic literature and various primary sources (archival documents, oral histories, visual images and more), we will revisit significant encounters between students, faculty, administrators and townspeople, examining how they impacted the college's and town's development. In the second part of the class, we will work together in the archives on the students' research projects, which we will make accessible to the public. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities./

Introduction to Text as Data Computational tools that identify patterns in language and text increasingly help us understand the world. In this course we will explore several of the most common types of text-as-data analyses, such as collocations, keywords in context, topic modeling, and sentiment analysis. Students will work in teams throughout the semester to apply these tools to understand media coverage of a group or topic of their choice. This course is designed to be accessible to students in the social sciences, humanities, and arts as well as being of interest to computer science, math, and science students.

Gateway to Community Connected Experiential Learning In this course students who have been selected for Middlebury-sponsored experiential learning opportunities will prepare for their placements. Using reflective tools to connect past coursework to capacities for community engagement, students will identify, understand and consider how to apply civic competencies to their anticipated experiences. Students will explore their identities, identify areas for growth and develop critical areas of inquiry to explore during their experiential learning opportunity. Finally, they will identify plans for integrating their experiential learning into their wider academic journey. This is a half credit course.

Conflict Transformation: Approaches and Skills (Half Credit) This course introduces students to a variety of approaches to conflict transformation (CT), including intercultural competence, mediation, restorative practices, and structured dialogue. CT skills enrich classroom learning and prepare students to be effective citizens in a polarized public square. To transform conflict, we must first understand the nature of conflict and then develop tools to build healthy relationships and communities – locally, nationally, and globally. Students will learn about the drivers of conflict and then practice CT skills in the course. This course is part of a Middlebury-wide CT initiative, and this course is foundational for students who wish to pursue practicum or research opportunities in other CT programs.  Students will meet once a week over the semester.

Global Health This course provides an introductory survey of the basic issues and initiatives in contemporary global public health, demonstrating the inextricability of public health problems from the social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental issues that exist in an era of globalization.  Examining these connections will enable us to critically evaluate the goals and strategies of public health interventions, and discuss factors impacting their success or failure.  To do this, we must also examine the lens through which the West views public health problems as they relate to our cultural beliefs, biomedical views of health, sense of justice, and strategic interests.

Healthcare in the U.S. At a time when achieving consensus on anything is close to impossible, nearly everyone agrees that our current health care system is broken. In this course we will explore the impediments to reforming health care in the United States, which by a variety of measures wastes approximately 25% of the country’s 3.8 trillion dollars spent annually.  The goal in this course is not to argue a certain perspective.  Rather, through readings and discussion of original sources, we will explore the complexities of our health care system, evaluate its attributes and failings, compare it with other systems around the world, and wrestle with questions posed by our current trajectory. We will explore how powerful interests—Big Pharma, insurance companies, hospital lobbyists, and physician guilds-- array to maintain the status quo despite clear evidence of alternative paths that would serve the greater good.

Media Portrayals of Minorities Project Lab In this course we use techniques developed by Middlebury’s Media Portrayals of Minorities Project lab to examine how the media represent different groups. These techniques enable quantitative and qualitative analysis of digital news to better understand how groups--such as, for example, immigrants, refugees, Muslims, Jews, Latinos, Chinese, Africans, or others--have been portrayed in the U.S. and international media. Students in this class will contribute to ongoing publication projects of the lab and will have the opportunity to pursue their own research topics. Student projects may form the basis for further independent work or for senior theses. This is a Half Credit course.

Prepared for a Life of Meaning In this course we will explore psychology, education and sociological literature detailing the promise of higher education and opportunities to create a life of meaning. Students will contemplate the relation between the social and economic promises of higher education and corresponding ideals of a life of meaning. Students will formulate their own definitions and goals for a meaningful life. Using multidisciplinary frameworks, students will develop skills that enhance the likelihood of leading meaningful lives for themselves and their communities.

Capitalism & Its Criticisms In this course we will explore the concept of capitalism and how it carries variegated meanings, which spans a wide range of societies and differing relationships between economic, political, and civic institutions within them. Students will have the opportunity to examine various forms and perspectives of capitalism which include contraband capitalism, racial capitalism, gendered capitalism, and scientific capitalism. We will also track how conceptions of capitalism have changed over time and globally. Primary and secondary works from the field of history, law, economics, philosophy, religion, and sociology will be incorporated to carry out the goal of the course which is to provide tools and perspectives that help students engage thoughtfully in these debates and to extend them into application in their own roles as engaged citizen, corporate, nonprofit, public, and entrepreneurial leaders.

Global Challenges and Opportunities In this course we will learn to identify, describe, classify, analyze, solve, and make predictions about the world’s most pressing problems. Using the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework, we will select specific issues and learn to compare and connect across them to establish their interconnectedness and complexity. Students will then conduct independent research, collaborate with classmates across disciplines, and use a variety of approaches to come up with innovative solutions to issues most pressing to them. Lectures, class discussions, in-class group work, and oral presentations will guide students’ learning while self-study reports, group oral presentations and issue papers, individual written reflections, and class participation will be used to gauge student learning. By the end of the course, students will be proficient in collaborative problem assessment and problem solving across a variety of global issues.

Global Financial Crime & Prevention In this course we will examine the many techniques that criminals use to launder money, including traditional money laundering schemes, trade-based laundering techniques, cryptocurrencies, and shell companies. In the second half we look at how to screen for and investigate crimes, including corruption, sanctions evasion, terrorism financing, proliferation financing, etc., and what multilateral organizations are doing to promote best practices.  We will examine a lot of case studies in this course.  Students will map out a financial crime scheme, learn how to evaluate geographic and customer risk, and write up a report for law enforcement with actionable intelligence.

Investment Management In this course we will build on knowledge of accounting and finance and apply that knowledge to investment analysis, asset allocation, portfolio management, and capital markets and risk analysis. Designed to provide the basic concepts and principles of investing, the course examines investment theory and practice for investing a portfolio and evaluating its performance. We will discuss both traditional and alternative investments. Topics include securities markets, risk and return, capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and diversification, portfolio theory, private equity, valuation of equity, valuation of fixed-income securities, options and futures markets. Recommended prior courses would be: Math 0116, INTD 0116 or INTD 0217. Students who have not taken INTD 0116 or INTD 0217 are invited to contact the professor to discuss and review their basic proficiency in Accounting and Finance.

Capital Markets This course surveys and analyzes the instruments traded in modern asset markets, the mechanisms that facilitate their trading and issuance, as well as, the motivations of issuers and investors across different asset classes. The course will balance functional and institutional perspectives by highlighting the problems market participants are seeking to solve, as well as the existing asset markets that have arisen to accomplish these goals. We will consider the nature of structure of asset markets, and the design, issuance, and pricing of financial instruments, focusing on how arbitrage strategies keep their prices in-line with one another.

Grassroots Perspectives on Sustainable Development Whose sustainability is threatened now, and why does it matter? How do the Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 perpetuate existing power asymmetries that hurt marginalized people and block systemic transformation? We will critique the rise of “sustainable development" and explore the emphases of sustainability science to assess whether it is addressing the needs of marginalized people. Then we will turn to the articulation of alternatives to neoliberalism from social movements and post-development advocates. Are alternatives arising that offer radically different and more sustainable patterns of production and consumption to meet life needs? The course involves critique of original scientific literature and reports and interactive discussion.

Advanced Topics in Business & Enterprise Seminar In this seminar, we will explore advance topics in finance, organizations, management science, law and business, marketing, and decision theory.  Typically, the theme of the seminar will rotate yearly with odd years being finance oriented and even years being management science or leadership-oriented topics.  For AY23, we will explore the quantitative topic of venture capital and private equity.  The course will focus on the following four areas:  business valuation, financing, private and venture capital industry, and exit.  Class discussion, short lectures, individual research projects, and oral presentations will inform student learning experience.

Leadership What is leadership, and what does good leadership require? In this course we will investigate these important questions, focusing on today’s world context. Examples from politics, business, and community organization around the world will guide our inquiry, help us evaluate the quality of leadership affecting us and others, and enable us to assess our own leadership potential. To achieve these course goals, we will analyze real-world examples of good and poor leadership from around the world, compare across leadership cases, and assess leadership examples against theories of leadership in business, political science, history, and psychology. Class discussions, in-class simulations, short lectures, individual research projects, and oral presentations will inform our learning experience while reflection papers, individual research projects, individual oral presentations, and class participation will help gauge student learning.

Health, Food, and Poverty: Critical Frameworks for Social Change Concerns around food, health, and poverty often intersect around the world, and pose shared challenges for countries in how to address them. What frameworks might maximize social impact in addressing such complicated global concerns?  In this capstone course for students interested in privilege and poverty, global health, and food studies, we will critically examine a variety of frameworks for social impact, including solidarity, responsibility, development, aid, and entrepreneurship. Our examination of these frameworks will necessarily involve critical comparisons among the countries in which they have been employed. We will identify goals, strategies, and assumptions within each framework, as well as our role in social transformation in conjunction with other actors. Students will engage in interdisciplinary theoretical analysis and employ one or more frameworks to develop a proposal for a project on social change.  (By approval only.) 3 hrs. Sem (Comparative Politics)/

Theorizing Archives and Decolonial Archival Work In this course especially appropriate for students with Twilight Project and other archival experience, we will conceptualize archival research and what stories can be told through such work. This theorization of archival methodologies will, more importantly, critique the western colonial function of archive-keeping while reimagining the archives as sites of resistance toward the decolonization of historiography, knowledge, and beyond. As archives are not only something we study, but also something we make, we will examine the ethics of archiving and retrieving experiences of people marginalized by ongoing colonial systems. Through hands-on exercises, readings, and periodic meetings with Middlebury College’s archivists, students will learn to identify, organize, and interpret archives—paper-based, photographs, sound recordings, social media, oral histories, and digital archives—moving between theory and practice. Instructor approval required. 3hrs. sem.

A Liberal Arts Introduction to Marketing and Brand Strategy Brands surround us: Middlebury; Google, Coke. Even you are a brand. But what is a brand? How do consumers make brand choices? And what defines the market of competing brands? In this course we will explore the fundamentals of marketing strategy and branded communications through the lens of a liberal arts education spanning psychology, biology, geography, economics, neuroscience and art history. We will discuss a range of brand cases along with a selective reading list including the gruesome story of Vermont railway worker Phineas Gage, Daniel Kahneman’s classic Thinking Fast & Slow”/, and cartoonist Scott McCloud’s guide to making comics. /Tom Palmer is a Middlebury graduate (’85) who has held senior management positions in some of the world’s most admired companies in packaged goods and consumer research. He thanks his Middlebury advisor Bob Churchill and would like to pay it forward to today’s students./

Climate and Crypto In this course we will explore the intersection of two seemingly contrasting ideas: Climate and Crypto. Climate Change is a mass coordination problem and Crypto (or web3) is a mass coordination tool. Together we will first begin to understand the mechanics and economics of web3. We will then look at the broader climate problem and begin to see where the alignment and incentives of this new economic and technological paradigm can help with climate – in carbon markets, biodiversity, land conservation, and beyond. Craig Wilson is the CEO of the Climate Collective, an organization dedicated to supporting the growing nexus of web3 and climate. He is also the Managing Director of the NYU Tandon Future Labs, and a Venture Partner at Allegory, a web3 and climate venture fund. He co-founded and now serves as Advisor to The Crop Project – a regenerative agricultural processing company focused on kelp. Craig has an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BA from Middlebury College./

Introduction to Performance Studies In this course we will be exposed to performance as a critical term with broad applications to how humans, events, and environments coexist and engage. How, what, and where we enact has implications; we will expand our notion of performance, acknowledging its centrality in constructing identity, culture, and politics. We will build an understanding of how our actions (individually or collectively) contribute to a unique and dynamic social ecology. While this is primarily a theory course, we will also apply the discourse to some experiential practices. We will read texts within the field of performance studies, analyze critical events, engage in discussions and writing practices, and develop a final project that explores the ideas and actions proposed throughout the course. Nathalie Jonas is a doctoral student in dance studies at Texas Woman's University. Her current research centers on modes of collective performance encompassing carnival, protest, and mourning rituals. Nathalie has been on faculty at Barnard College and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. She is currently an adjunct professor at Sterling College in Craftsbury, Vermont./

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment In this course we will study Dostoevsky’s best-known novel, Crime and Punishment (1866) intensively. We begin by reading Balzac’s Eugenie Grandet (1833), which Dostoevsky translated into Russian (1843). Then we turn to the author’s Notes from Underground (1864). Both of these works will serve as an introduction to Crime and Punishment; we will also consult the author’s notebooks for the novel, and compare them with the final version.

Worldbuilding In this course we will critically examine fictional worlds in literature, cinema, and games. Worldbuilding synthesizes and transforms our understanding of reality into fantastic settings in literature, movies, and video games. We will critically examine the multidisciplinary use of origin stories, symbols and myths, invented histories, and imagined geographies in constructing new universes. Among the questions we will consider are: How do we conceive of coherent places and times? What real world consequences do fictional worlds have on popular beliefs and practices? Students will design their own well-researched and richly detailed worlds during the semester.

Understanding Modern China: History, Culture, and Politics What are the most significant historical events, cultural changes and political forces that underlie China’s impressive re-emergence as a global power?  This seminar will seek to identify and examine crucial turning points, domestic and external, in the most recent two centuries of China’s long history, political transformations and cultural richness.  Following an opening half hour lecture by the instructor, the remainder of most class sessions will be devoted to discussing the assigned readings for each session.  Likewise we will be discussing short analytic papers and short oral presentations contributed each week by each seminar participant. No prior knowledge of China expected or necessary.

Live Your Best (Future) Life: From College to Career In this course students will identify and reflect deeply on their strengths, values, and motivations and learn how to apply self-knowledge to their search for personally meaningful work.  Students will be introduced to leading career development theories including Pryor and Bright’s Chaos Theory of Careers, Krumboltz’s Planned Happenstance, Jung’s Theory of Personality, and Appreciative Inquiry; hear from professional experts; and practice skills proven to increase their access to purposeful opportunities in the world of work. Classes will involve instructor led lectures followed by discussions, case studies, videos/podcasts, career inventories, speakers and panels, and individual/group reflections. Students will learn how to use  tools and strategies to navigate their immediate and future job searches that will be useful throughout their lifetimes.

American Sign Language I In this course students will be introduced to American Sign Language (ASL). This course is intended for students who have little or no previous knowledge of ASL. Students will have an opportunity to learn social functions with respect to introducing themselves, exchanging personal information, describing simple narratives, and they will develop beginning conversational skills based on ASL vocabulary and grammatical rules. The fundamentals of the Deaf Culture will be examined through classroom demonstration and readings.

The Biosphere Under Attack: Volcanoes, Impacts and Mass Extinctions The geological record shows that our biosphere was shaken half a dozen times in the past by major crises, known as great mass extinctions – the most recent installment being the End-Cretaceous demise of the dinosaurs and the vast majority of other species, 66 million years ago. Our course will review the purported causes of mass extinctions – asteroid impacts, volcanic upheavals, and other culprits still to be identified – and offers an original perspective to judge the severity and pace of the ongoing crisis that threatens our biosphere today, in the face of deforestation and climate change.

Creativity, Self, Change This course uses the art of devising to create material as a change initiator, both for self and for society.  Work in this course will question hierarchies, binaries, narratives, linearities and the like through readings, exercises, and movement. Beginning with readings on devised theatre (Allison Oddey, Simon McBurney), physical work and collaboration (Dymphna Callery; Twyla Tharp) and theatre for social change (Michael Kustow, Robin Belfield), the course will pivot into guided exercises and culminate with the creation of scenes, dialogues, essays and more. No prior experience with performance is needed.

Oratory Lab - Speechwriting What changes when, instead of writing to an imagined reader, we stand and speak to a live audience? Can learning to present with more clarity and conviction make us better writers? And what about coaching? Does learning to help others communicate more effectively make us more effective as well? These are among the questions we’ll explore in the O-Lab – Oratory Now’s new research and development wing. Students will progress through a series of short writing and speaking assignments designed to increase both comfort and connection to the audience. The course will culminate in a speechwriting showcase open to the public.

American Autobiography: The Promise of America The promise of America, to paraphrase Tocqueville, may be said to involve securing equality in freedom and overcoming slavery and its legacy.  Jay Parini has called autobiography “the essential American genre,” because “the individual is not only valued but also preeminent and representative.”  Writers of this genre illuminate different aspects of the promise of America, depending on, among other things, when they lived, their background, their race and their gender.  To learn what we can about America from this genre, we will read: Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography; Frederick Douglass’ multiple autobiographies; The Education of Henry Adams; The Autobiography of Malcolm X; Pauli Murray’s, Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage; and Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father. Students will write short papers on four of these writers.

MiddCORE MiddCORE’s mentor-driven leadership and innovation immersion program builds skills and confidence through collaborative, experiential, and impact-focused learning.  Through daily, weekly, and month-long challenges, students gain experience in leadership, strategic thinking, idea creation, collaboration, persuasive communication, ethical decision-making, cross-cultural understanding, conflict resolution, empathy, and crisis management.  Acceptance into MiddCORE is by approval only. To learn more about this January's MiddCORE curriculum and to apply to the program, please visit go/MiddCOREwinter.

Rural Decline and the Future of Vermont Public Schools How do the stresses created by Vermont’s shrinking rural population affect the future planning as well as governance and politics regarding local public schools?   What happens when districts move to consolidate and close small rural schools which towns view as critical to their identity and culture? In this project-based learning course students will conduct critical inquiry to better understand the increasing pressures on local school districts regarding such issues as enrollment declines, inequitable access to and distribution of resources, and increasing student needs (particularly since COVID), and weigh those challenges amidst stakeholder concerns around community engagement and local control, state and local property taxes, and school governance and finance.  By the end of the course, we will have conducted projects that weighed competing stakeholder interests, collated and compared a wide range of relevant data, and considered some solutions.  This interdisciplinary course provides students the opportunity to experience how the broader sociological, political, economic, and philosophical conflicts in our educational system are played out at the local level at a critical time in its history.

Middlebury Entrepreneurs Middlebury Entrepreneurs is a course for students who want to start their own business or non-profit organization. Students spend the month developing their ideas, building their organizations, and preparing for the culminating event -- pitching their ideas to a panel of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. Entrepreneurship is a process through which individuals identify opportunities or unmet needs, allocate resources, and create value-adding products or programs. Students will follow the process from ideation to launch quickly and effectively through deliverables, class discussions, and hands-on mentoring both from professors and visiting entrepreneurs and investors. Class will be focused on building a prototype, testing the intended market or target group, and engaging with potential clients or customers. Students should be prepared for hands-on work outside of class time. At the conclusion of the course, students will compete with their classmates in a pitch competition for bragging rights. (Approval Required; Honors Pass/Fail) David Bradbury is President of the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies (VCET) which offers expert business mentoring, venture capital, coworking and accelerator facilities, and substantive networking to the region’s entrepreneurs and next generation employers.  Samantha “Sam” Roach-Gerber is a 2013 graduate of Northeastern University where she studied Organizational Communication and Environmental Studies. As Director of Innovation at VCET, Sam oversees programming and partnerships, membership, events, communications and marketing; she also co-hosts VCET’s podcast, Start Here./

Introduction to Meditation Basic sitting and walking meditation will be taught and intensively practiced. We will use the breath to foster relaxed attention and to gain perspective on our restless minds. Emphasis will be on using these techniques in daily life and academic endeavors. We will read texts from the contemporary American, Tibetan and Zen Buddhist traditions, but the meditation will be employed in nonsectarian fashion applicable to any belief system. Truth should be verified by one’s experience. Students will write papers and give presentations. No meditation experience necessary. (Not open to students who have taken FYSE 1393 or EDST/INTD 0125) John Huddleston retired from the Studio Art Program in 2017. For the last eight years he also taught mindfulness courses at the college./

Trees and the Urban Forest Trees play a very important, if often forgotten role, not only globally, but also locally in our towns and cities.  Wildlife habitat, pollution and storm water abatement, carbon sequestration, and energy savings, all arise from a healthy and active urban forest. In this class we will study the uses and values of the urban forest, basic tree biology and identification, arboricultural practices, planning and design, resource management, and community involvement. By using computer models to calculate factors in an urban forest setting, including carbon sequestration and pollution abatement, the class will make proposals related to Energy 2028, as well as develop a tree tour for the campus. (Not open to students who have taken BIOL 1003). This course counts as a cognate for ENVS majors with a focus in the social sciences or humanities. Tim Parsons is Middlebury College’s Landscape Horticulturist. He is a Certified Arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture, a Vermont Certified Horticulturist, and holds a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Vermont./

Introduction to Swahili and East African Culture This course introduces students to Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa.  Students will acquire a foundation for speaking, reading, and writing Swahili, and will learn how to use it appropriately in East African culture.  The use of English in the classroom will be kept to a minimum.  The course also provides an introduction to the geography and history of East Africa.  This course is particularly useful for students who intend to visit Kenya, Tanzania, or Uganda, because its linguistic and cross-cultural training will give them the resources to maximize such an experience. This course counts as elective credit towards the African Studies minor. Dr. Waithera is an intellectual entrepreneur and an educator. She was the recipient of the 2010 Carolina Chiron Award for excellent teaching & dedication to students, an award inspired by the late Randy Pausch’s famous last lecture. Gave her own version of a last lecture entitled, “Humanizing the continent of Africa: Demystifying Myths & Stereotypes that Encroach it”. Her writings span diverse fields-The intersection of pathogens and women’s vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, Gender, and African languages./

Constitutional Law, Adjudication and Advocacy In this course we will explore how cases are developed in the state and federal trial courts and presented on appeal in the Vermont Supreme Court.  Taught by a retired Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court and a senior status United States District Judge, the course will include both a substantive component focused primarily on United States and Vermont constitutional law and trial and appellate procedure, and an experiential component in which students will participate in a moot appellate court presentation, including submitting a written argument in a “brief” and making an oral argument to a “bench” of one or more judges.  Students will examine in depth the briefs, oral arguments and resulting decisions in two recently-decided Vermont Supreme Court cases and will attend the arguments for actual cases being heard by the Vermont Supreme Court.   Having read and discussed the briefs and issues in those cases, students will meet with one or more Justices of the Court and the lawyers who presented arguments.  Finally, students will read about and discuss “hot topics” in the United States’ legal and justice system, including methods of judicial selection, police officer liability for constitutional violations and the need to modernize state and federal constitutions. Justices John Dooley and Marilyn Skoglund are retired Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court. /Judge William Sessions is a senior status Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Vermont./

Love in Action In this course we will study the power of love to effect social change. We will review historic and current episodes–including the Civil Rights Movement, post-Apartheid reconciliation in South Africa, and Black Lives Matter–to address longstanding injustice. We will learn from historic (e.g. John Lewis, James Baldwin) and contemporary (e.g., bell hooks) leaders who promote love as a ‘force more powerful’ and also study the limits of love in the pursuit of justice. During the course, members of the college community and external speakers will share their perspectives on the power and limits of love.

The International Commodity Business Civilization has been moving natural resources for commercial purposes for thousands of years. In this course we will study the development of the international commodity trade. The course will look at why humans would move a natural resource from one place to another, addressed through four main areas of inquiry: (1) the innovations which have contributed to global resource trade (commodity extraction, waterborne transport, creation of financial exchanges); (2)  the effects that these commercial imperatives have on developing economies- both positive and negative, with a particular focus on the ‘commodity curse’;  (3)  how the introduction of an imported commodity can fundamentally alter societal behavior; and  (4)  the global economics of commodity markets, commodity indexes around the world, and how commercial developments are continually disrupting societies’ demand habits.

Hindi for Beginners This course  will cover the concepts needed to start reading, writing, and speaking in Hindi at an elementary level.  Students will be able to introduce themselves, talk about their families, ask simple questions, give and respond to commands and requests, talk about the weather, and more. In addition to learning the structures necessary for basic conversation, students will also learn how to read and write Devanagari, the script used for Hindi. No prior knowledge of Hindi required. Neha teaches Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit, and Persian to undergraduate and graduate students from different universities online. She is currently pursuing a Masters in South Asian languages and literature from Ghent University, Belgium./

Applying New Tools and Technologies to Today's Security challenges on the Korean Peninsula In 2017, North Korea tested a missile capable of delivering a powerful thermonuclear weapon against cities throughout the United States. How do scholars study international security challenges like the spread of nuclear weapons? In this course, students will develop an open source intelligence toolkit applicable to a broad universe of international security challenges, with special focus on nuclear weapons and North Korea. No prior knowledge is assumed, and students outside political science are encouraged to participate. The tools covered, such as satellite imagery, have broad applicability beyond nonproliferation, to areas such as human trafficking, climate change, oceans policy, and counterterrorism.

The Russian Religious Experience We will examine selected aspects of Russian Orthodoxy: its doctrine, the history of the Russian church, its art (icons), its music (chant), and its literature (including saints’ lives and sermons). We will also read selected stories by major 19th century writers that employ religious themes (including those by Dostoevsky and Tolstoy). Students will select one aspect of the Russian religious experience and write a research paper. Readings and films will be chosen to support our inquiry. This course will include an optional field trip (an overnight stay) to the Holy Trinity Russian Monastery in Jordanville, New York.

Karst and Cave Geology This course will provide an overview of the diverse aspects of a peculiar landscape known as “karst”, from  surface geomorphology to caves as past environmental archives. Through in-class discussions and  exercises, students will learn about karst hydrology and the challenges of using karst aquifers for drinking  water supply. Students will understand the main processes of cave development, and how cave formations  like stalagmites are created and can be used to generate paleoclimate records. A week-long fieldtrip to  Mammoth Cave National Park will allow students to study the characteristic morphological features of  both surface and subsurface karst. Students will discuss related topics such as landscape evolution,  environmental pollution and cave archaeology with local experts. They will also gain experience in  fieldwork such as karst spring monitoring or microclimate and sediment studies of caves and upon return to Middlebury College they will conduct labwork to analyse the different types of samples collected during  fieldwork. Finally, they will interpret the results in small groups. (Any lab-based 100-level Geology course or permission from the Chair) (Approval Only) .

Leadership: Building a Decision-Making Framework for Life College was the goal. Time is passing quickly. How will you prepare for the future? Students will develop a decision-making framework for life by exploring their core values and aspirations, crafting a personal narrative, and identifying longer-term life goals. We will discuss and test key components of effective leadership and build a leadership toolkit that includes goal setting, risk assessment, active listening, and strategic planning. Reading assignments – from Aristotle to Drucker – and writing assignments will complement class discussions, interactive exercises, and oral presentations. Guest speakers will participate and share their leadership stories, insights and lessons learned.

Telling Science Stories: Science Communication for the Public In this course we will engage with theories and practices for communicating science to public audiences. Through learning about audience, visual design, and storytelling, we will improve our ability to communicate science to non-specialists. Museum studies will be used as the focal paradigm for communicating STEM themes. Drawing on examples from Radio Lab and popular science writers, we will create a final project modeled after the “Flame Challenge”—an international competition in which scientists make their work accessible to non-specialists. Students will work in teams to create a multimodal story about scientific discoveries.

Inclusive Design and Design Justice in Practice Inclusive design is intentional, participatory, and iterative design work that supports a range of human diversity, with the goal of counteracting exclusionary, racist, or exploitative designs that pervade our society. In this course we will learn about inclusive design and design justice through a project-based approach in which students put inclusive design principles into practice in their own project. These inclusive design principles and processes can be broadly applied across industries and design contexts, including but not limited to architectural, technology/UX design, and curriculum design. Our work will be informed by texts including Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need; Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code; and What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World. (Honors Pass/Fail) Dr. Amy Collier is the Associate Provost for Digital Learning at Middlebury, leading the Office of Digital Learning (DLINQ) and working as part of the Office of the Provost team. /Dr. Sarah Lohnes Watulak is the Director of Digital Pedagogy and Media for DLINQ at Middlebury./

Nonprofits & Civil Society Nonprofit and civil society organizations of all types play a crucial and growing role in the economy.  According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics, there are more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations in the United States today. According to the Global Journal, there are more than 10 million nongovernmental organizations worldwide. As the nonprofit sector has grown in scope and size, both domestically and internationally, the boundaries between for-profit, governmental, and charitable organizations have become intertwined.  In this course we will learn about the economics, history, governance, law, and structure relating to the nonprofit sector (also known as the Third Sector).

How (Not) to Get Away with Murder: The Investigation and Trial of a Homicide Det. Danny Reagan is called to investigate the disappearance of a college student last seen at a local, off campus bar.  Suspecting foul play, the Crime Scene Team is called in to assist. Utilizing scientifically accepted techniques and pertinent case law, students will help direct and solve the mystery by viewing and analyzing evidence and determining which steps the investigation should follow. Once a suspect is identified and arrested, students will then prepare their case for trial and the scrutiny of the prosecution and defense teams, ultimately learning if they arrested the right suspect. Peter Bevere, '96, is a Deputy State’s Attorney with the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office and have experience handling cases ranging from domestic and sexual assaults to homicides. I have been an attorney for 19 years, with over 13 years of experience as a prosecutor in both Vermont and Massachusetts./

Shaping Climate Narratives: Impactful Advocacy In this course we will examine how advocates employ narrative arts to achieve their ends, and how those strategies and tactics can be brought to bear to drive progress on climate issues. The class will engage with distinguished professionals from such disciplines as law, diplomacy and government relations who will share their experiences and perspectives. Each student will prepare a project examining how a particular narrative achieved prominence in its time. The class will collectively consider how Middlebury College might enhance the impact of its Energy2028 initiative. Kim Gagné has amassed deep experience as an advocate in a career spanning the worlds of law, diplomacy, and government relations. Kim’s advocacy experiences include partnership at a Washington white collar criminal defense firm; service as a Foreign Service Officer in Haiti and Saudi Arabia and at the U.S. Mission to the European Union; and senior-level service in Microsoft’s legal and corporate affairs group in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Kim is a Senior Counselor with the strategic communications firm APCO Worldwide and is Board Chair of ID2020.  This course counts as a social science cognate for environmental studies majors.

Buildings of the City In this urban studies course, we will explore Burlington, Vermont using the sensibilities of geography and architecture. Each participant will choose a building in the city, represent it graphically, then characterize its surroundings. How has the building “learned” over time? What social and economic histories are inscribed in its landscape? Along with field visits and novel research, we will produce multimedia studies of local context (e.g., site plans, circulation, topography) and structure (e.g., plans, sections, elevations) in a portfolio presentation. We will then compile our building “portraits” in a digital atlas. Experience with architecture or GIS is optional.

Climate Change, Climate Justice: An Essential Conversation * Pakistan under water, farmworkers picking berries in 115-degree heat, Puerto Rico without power. Climate change is here. And the iron law of climate change is: the less you did to cause it, the quicker and harder it hits you.  That’s one reason why, over recent years, the U.S. and global climate movements have increasingly morphed into climate justice movements. And it’s why those communities that are hardest hit are in the forefront of the fight for change. By hearing directly from stakeholders and movement leaders, this course will focus on how we understand and measure climate impacts, what just response to the climate crisis might look like, and how activists and scientists are working to achieve those goals. Look at the ways we can show up and cultivate community. This course will provide participants with greater capacity to evaluate and advance climate justice efforts. Pass/Fail.

Introduction to Applied History In this course we will explore the methods and application of skills to study and interpret history for a public audience. Applied history professionals utilize their skills in a variety of settings including museums, historical institutions, archives, community engagement, historic preservation, and cultural resource management. Students will learn  the theories of public history and have an opportunity to learn about current projects and historical engagement methods in heritage fields today.

Art and Culture of the Swahili Coast in Historical Perspective Perched between the Indian Ocean and the East African interior, the Swahili Coast has a diverse artistic culture. In this course we will explore the histories that created this vibrant material culture through hands-on encounters with the materials of Swahili artistic culture, listening to Swahili music, watching Swahili films, tasting Swahili foods, and trying their hands at Swahili artforms. Assignments will include primary source analyses (including, Memoirs of an Arabian Princess, “Mamba” and other poems, BongoFlava and Taarab songs, films: Pumzi, Zanzibar Soccer Queens), a mapping assignment, and final presentations on the history of a cultural artifact.

Big Data and Finance In this course we will explore the analysis and use of financial and economic datasets using a statistical framework such as R or SPSS.  Large volumes of data – either time series or from surveys – are increasingly found in many aspects of a business enterprise.  Effectively acquiring, cleaning, analyzing and interpreting such data is essential for the success of an enterprise and the stakeholders involved in its management.

Stress & Resilience in the Brain Stress is pervasive in our lives, and while it’s typically considered negative, some degree of stress is beneficial. In this course we will broadly explore the neurobiology of stress, spanning anatomy and physiology, behavioral and cognitive neuroscience, and human disease and interventions. We will investigate how neural systems perceive and regulate stress, the effect stress has on brains and behavior, and how stress produces resilience or vulnerability to subsequent disease. Students will become skilled at critically reading peer-reviewed articles and evaluating current research methods. Further, this course will incorporate applied exercises in stress reduction, with the goal of building resilience.

Politics of Mindfulness In recent decades, “mindfulness” has become a catch-all term for Buddhist-derived practices done in corporate, educational, and therapeutic contexts. Mindfulness practices are touted by some as a necessary panacea for modern ills. Critics argue, however, that they have been unduly stripped of an ethical dimension and thus simply reinforce the status quo. In this course we will examine the history of mindfulness practices in Buddhist traditions, beginning with the canonical Satipa??hana Sutta. We will then draw from popular media and scholarly articles in order to assess the principal debates that surround the mindfulness discourse in contemporary American culture. John Pickens is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. His research centers on the rise of the guru in medieval Indian and Tibetan Buddhism./

Introduction to Real Estate Development and Finance Urban planning and policy can shape cities, but in most cases our environment is actually built, project by project, by individual developers, whose choices of land use, building types, construction methods and operations are shaped by economic factors. Private equity funds, non-profit housing trusts, retailers, hotel operators and entrepreneurs all must grapple with the costs and risks, and potential returns and social impacts of a development project. Students in this course will learn the fundamentals of development, including the valuation of land and structures, financing with debt and equity, non-profit mission-driven development, modeling investment flows and managing risk. Originally trained as an architect, David Hamilton has managed and consulted on innovative development and construction projects in tech office, healthcare, housing and farmland conservation. He teaches at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and is the co-author of Professional Real Estate Development, ULI Press./

INTD 1251 Embodying Choices for the Actor In this course we will approach a piece of text from a dramatic work of the students’ choice and prepare it for performance using principles of self-coordination based on the Alexander Technique. This integrative method of understanding the bio-psycho-physical self-empowers practitioners to listen deeply to the whole self while in activity. Class time will be spent on basic anatomical principles, body mapping, one on one coaching in a group context, ensemble work, acting exercises, and performance. This class is open to students of all abilities and skill-level.

9?11: Significance & Legacies The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States killed nearly 3,000 people. Those attacks, in turn, generated two regional wars—in Afghanistan and Iraq—and a “global war on terror.” This course examines the 9/11 attacks from a number of angles. What factors helped produce them? What was their goal, how were they carried out, and why were they not prevented? How did 9/11 — and the US response to it — help shape (for better or worse) today’s world? Through readings, films, discussion and group activities we will examine the significance and legacies of 9/11. The course will culminate in a two-part conference in which all students will have a participatory role.

Liberal Learning in a Time of Challenge In this course, we will explore how an education in the liberal arts and sciences may help one face -our complicated times with added resilience, compassion and curiosity.  Our guiding question:  how can your education help you live fully in this moment and cultivate a life of the mind—and spirit—that helps you address the challenges in the world around us?  We’ll explore this question by way of discussion, written reflection and mindfulness practices and consider texts such as: Frankl, The Search for Meaning; Coates, Between the World and Me, Mandel, Station Eleven, Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air, and Martel, The Life of Pi.

Environmental Risk Communication For environmental and health professionals, effective risk communication enables them to convey and receive information from different stakeholders (e.g., the public, industry, government leaders, etc.) and facilitates the participation of these stakeholders in risk management decisions. In this course, we will review the theory and practice of effective risk communication and examine the application of these practices to a number of case studies.

Human Rights in Practice How do human rights get translated into positive change in people’s lives? In this course we will review human rights instruments, consider who is responsible for protecting rights, and explore how international HR law is developed and used by Governments, the UN, and NGOs. We will use case studies from the instructor’s and guest speakers’ experience around child rights, economic inequity, migration, disability and restorative justice. Students may focus their writing and presentation assignments on these or other HR topics. Papers and class exercises will simulate real-life efforts to advance human rights through media, advocacy and UN work.

Antifascist Yiddish for Beginners While the Nazis massacred the majority of the world’s Yiddish speakers during the Holocaust, in this course we will focus on learning the decimated yet defiant language through the remarkable stories of Jewish women who rose up to fight back against the fascists. By engaging with primary source materials, including underground call to arms, ghetto songs, and partisan poetry, we will build vocabulary and develop an understanding of grammar. We will also look at the history of progressive Yiddish activism in the United States, foster conversational proficiency to discuss its lingering legacy, and explore literary translation as a feminist intervention. Jay Saper ‘13 is a Yiddish Book Center Translation Fellow translating the poetry of Vilna partisan Rikle Glezer. Jay has served as artist in residence at the Jewish Museum Frankfurt, creating papercuts of Jewish women in the resistance to the Nazis, which appear in There is Nothing So Whole as a Broken Heart: ending the World as Jewish Anarchists (AK Press 2021)./

Lost (and Found) in Translation: Opening Our Minds, Eyes, and Ears This course explores the art of translation and what it reveals to us as readers, writers, and members of society. What does it mean to think like a translator, to interpret and transmit meaning from one language to another? What happens as stories travel across cultural contexts, historical periods, and artistic media? Are there limitations to cross-cultural communication? We will train our ears to detect the translator’s craft and discuss what the recent upsurge in the publishing industry’s interest in literature in translation may say about our current literary epoch. Readings include theoretical texts, craft essays by translators, Friel’s play Translations, and literature in translation by authors such as Homer, Rilke, Wang Wei, Dostoyevsky, and Lorca. Finally, we will draw upon the wealth of experts in translation on the Middlebury campus to join us for class discussions. This is an analytical and experientially based course which will culminate in a final paper: a critical analysis, an original translation accompanied by a translator’s note, or a creative project applying “translation thinking” across various artistic media. No prior knowledge of foreign language required.

Health Care in the U.S. At a time when achieving consensus on anything is close to impossible, nearly everyone believes our current healthcare system is broken. In this course we will examine trends in health and in healthcare in the United States over the last 30 years. Through reading and discussion of original sources, as well as vignettes selected from the instructor’s career as an anesthesiologist, students in this seminar will explore the complexities of our current healthcare system, evaluate its attributes and failings, compare it with other systems around the world, and wrestle with questions posed by our current trajectory. Richard Finkelstein had a 30+ year career as an anesthesiologist, taking care of patients in the operating room, ICU, ER, and obstetric ward.  He also was on the Board of the local physician-owned insurance company that administered the Medicaid plan for their county./

Conflict Transformation: Approaches and Skills This course will introduce to students to a variety of approaches to conflict transformation (CT), including intercultural competence, mediation, restorative practices, and structured dialogue. CT skills enrich classroom learning and prepare students to be effective citizens in a polarized public square. To transform conflict, we must first understand the nature of conflict and then develop tools to build healthy relationships and communities – locally, nationally, and globally. Students will learn about the drivers of conflict and then practice CT skills in the course. This course is part of a Middlebury-wide CT initiative, and this course foundational for students who wish to pursue practicum or research opportunities in other CT programs.

The Medieval City and Communal Thought, 1200-1919 In this course we will examine the legacy of the medieval European city in communal political thought between the thirteenth and early twentieth centuries. We begin with texts produced by medieval legists, philosophers, and chroniclers such as Philippe de Beaumanoir, Thomas More, and Jean Froissart. Using contemporary scholarship on medieval urban phenomena like guilds, charity, and the commune as a foundation, we then study a series of nineteenth-century radicals who placed aspects of the medieval city at the center of their communal thought: Marx, Engels, Kropotkin, Rosa Luxemburg, Proudhon, Matilda Gage, and Kautsky. These voices represent unexpected mobilizations of the medieval past as inspiration, lesson, and analytical category for understanding the radical outpourings that shook Europe c. 1848-1919. Ron Makleff is a historian of late medieval and early modern Europe focusing on cities, the emergence of the nation-state, and the material and intellectual legacies of archives as institutions of power, memory and forgetting./

Thinking Historically about Africa: Introduction to African Historiography How do historians think about Africa? This course is intended to introduce students to the key debates, themes, and frameworks that have shaped the study of African history over the course of the past century. Following an introduction to historiographical analysis—a key skill for any student planning on continuing to graduate level studies, the course will be conducted as a reading and discussion seminar. In this class, we will cover major shifts in historical thinking about Africa, reading selections from a variety of scholarship that have been influential in the field of African history. Students will then read a recent monograph on African history of their choice and analyze it in the context of the historiography of the field. Jodie Marshall (PhD, Michigan State University) is a historian of transnationalism on the East African coast. Her research examines the history of migration between the Arabian Peninsula and the Zanzibari Archipelago from the 19th century to the 21st./

Adi Livny

Alexandra Yuster

Alix Pauchet

Amitava Biswas

Amy Collier

Amy McGlashan

Andrew Schwarz

Anne-Marie Magri

Ben Powers

Catherine Lee

Charles Frankel

Cheryl Faraone

Craig Wilson

Dana Yeaton

Daniel Houghton

Daniel Silva

David Bradbury

David Hamilton

David Torres

Deb Evans

Elianna Kan

Erik Bleich

Ernie Parizeau

Frank Van Gansbeke

Gabriella Koltai

James Calvin Davis

J. Ashley Laux

Jason Duquette-Hoffman

Jay Saper

Jean du Preez

Jeff Munroe

Jeffrey Lewis

Jocelyn Breton

Jodie Marshall

John Berninghausen

John Dooley

John Huddleston

John Pickens

John Pirone

Jon Isham

Joseph Andriano

Julian Portilla

Kailee Brickner-McDonald

Katherine O'Brien

Kim Gagne

Kristen Mullins

Kyra Miller Wegman

Laurie Patton

Lindsay Houpt-Varner

Marilyn Skoglund Skoglund

Mark Williams

Matthew Considine

Melissa Hammerle

Michael Katz

Molly Anderson

Moyara Ruehsen

Murray Dry

Nadia Horning

Nathalie Jonas

Neha Tiwari

Pam Berenbaum

Peter Bevere

Pete Schumer

Richard Finkelstein

Robert Moeller

Roberto Lint Sagarena

Ron Makleff

Ruth Hardy

Sam Roach-Gerber

Sarah Lohnes Watulak

Sarah Stroup

Shannon Lyford

Shawna Shapiro

Stacie Cassarino

Steven Viner

Susan Watson

Tim Nguyen

Timothy Parsons

Tim Spears

Tom Palmer

Tracy Himmel Isham

Ursula Olender

Waithera Roki

William Sessions

Zane Anthony

Read 83 reviews for Interdepartmental courses at Middlebury College. Find the best Interdepartmental professors and courses.  Discover your new major today!

Super easy A. Really chill class but could get boring as classes are just lectures/presentation slides. Final project is over 15 pages of your own World, so if you're creative and like writing, you will love this class.

This has to be one of my favorite classes at Middlebury. Ever since coming to Midd, writing to me has been very stressful. This class made me remember why I like writing and how fun it can be. It also forced me to be creative again.

Mostly reading and a few reflection papers. I wasn’t challenged in my writing as much as I would have liked to be. The discussions were student-led and sometimes went way off topic. I thought the class was most interesting when the professor led the discussions