Business as Culture: Commerce in Context In this course, students will familiarize themselves with the field of business and design anthropology, an emergent field which examines the understanding of culture by focusing on the nexus between individual interactions and broader structure, market, and particularly business. Students will learn why it is fundamental for business leaders to understand culture and the material impacts different cultural values and preferences have on the success or failure of business.    Students will have the opportunity to explore the kinds of strategies firms can adopt to make their business more suitable to the various socio-cultural contexts in which they operate.

Financial Literacy & Inequality This course will apply an interdisciplinary approach to issues of financial literacy, financial exclusion, and financial inequality.  Topics relating to the specified domains include intergenerational equity, retirement security, consumer debt, individual taxation, and economic development.  These concepts provide a disciplined way of thinking about personal financial decisions while simultaneously framing how we think about retirement security and issues of financial equity writ large.

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.

MiddCORE 2024 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.

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.

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.

Conflict Transformation: An On The Ground Case Study in Northern Ireland (half-credit) In preparation for a spring break trip to Northern Ireland, we will learn how conflict transformation (CT) led to the Good Friday Agreement, to The Troubles in Northern Ireland, and how it continues to be used to maintain peace there. We will approach this with a CT lens while also learning and practicing CT skills and traveling to Northern Ireland to study the history of the conflict and its current status today. This course will look at many aspects of The Troubles including history, religion, colonialism, violence, peacemaking, and civil involvement through readings, lectures, using CT approaches to reflection and hearing from local experts and peace activists during our trip. The tour will be led by Mejdi Tours, a tour group which provides guides from different perspectives for a dual-narrative approach. Throughout the course and our travels we will ask how the CT approach in Northern Ireland may or may not be relevant to other global or local conflicts. This class will be team taught by Sarah Stroup, Mark Orten, Danielle Stillman and Zahra Moeini. We will meet weekly for classes over dinner before the trip, travel to Northern Ireland together over spring break, and gather for three more weeks of final presentations after the trip. Students must apply for this half credit course; the application deadline is October 15, 2024.

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.

Financial Analysis In this course we will learn basic accounting and corporate finance concepts and apply them to for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Students will develop in-depth language skills for interpreting financial information  (by way of case studies and the textbook) used to make decisions for shareholders, stakeholders, and government, and we will reflect on the impact of these decisions on society writ large.  Topics of accounting ethics, corporate governance, and financial frauds will also be discussed in a liberal arts context.  David R. Miller is an experienced private equity investor and strategy consultant.  His career included positions at a middle-market focused private equity firm, as well in investment banking and strategy consulting.  David, with his wife Sonya and their two daughters, lived in Chicago for many years before moving to Charleston, SC, and more recently to just outside of Newport, RI.  David earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign./

Past, Present and Future of AI We will review the key developments in the evolution of AI this century and how it has been applied to many products we use every day. We will explain the significance, in layman’s terms, of the transformers model and how it enabled the development of LLMs and ChatGPT. With that understanding, we will explore a variety of questions from a philosophical and psychological perspective. Why do we anthropomorphize instances of AI, and should we? Do the models really “understand”? What does it mean to “understand”? Why do they “hallucinate”? Is AI sentient? What does it mean to be sentient? We will review and discuss depictions of AI in modern films such as Her (2017), Ex Machina (2014), After Yang (2021), and Robot & Frank (2012).  Daren Gill is currently Senior Director of Product at Google focused on leveraging AI in the Search experience. He has been building ML-powered consumer software products for over 20 years at big tech companies, including Amazon, Spotify, and Google, as well as several startups. Daren is on the board of directors for Yobe, Inc., and is an advisor to Slang.ai. Daren has a J.D. and a B.A. from the University of Connecticut, and currently splits time between New York City and Block Island, RI./

Bad Bunny: Genre, Gender & National Identity Bad Bunny has transcended the Puerto Rican and Spanish-language music scene to become one of the most streamed artists in the world. In this course we will focus on Bad Bunny as a case study to explore the origins, development, and globalization of the Caribbean music genre and cultural phenomenon of reggaetón. Through an interdisciplinary lens, we will analyze songs, videos, performances, social media, and scholarly and mainstream articles, in order to explore topics such as the transnational dissemination of Puerto Rican lexicon, Bad Bunny's perpetuation and subversion of gender normativity in Latin American music culture, his activism against political disenfranchisement, gender and racial discrimination, neocolonialist gentrification of Puerto Rico, among other social issues. (Placement of SPAN 0104 or higher, or instructor's approval)

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.

The Great Pamphlets Many courses are devoted to the great books of civilization, but historians increasingly wonder how many contemporaries really read them. Pamphlets, on the other hand, have consistently been among the most popular, persuasive, and political texts around. Emerging as a form of mass media in the European Reformation, the form has served the subversives of pre-revolutionary France and England, and been adopted by figures from Martin Luther to Simon Bolivar, Karl Marx, Rosa Luxembourg, and Upton Sinclair. We will examine the pamphlet as a form across genres (memoir, manifesto, essay, exposé, etc.) and historical contexts, reading specific examples as a way into broader questions of literacy, rebellion, and authority: crucial vehicles for both revolutionary and reactionary ideas.

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.

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.

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.

Public Management: Creating Public Value In this course, we will learn how a public administrator/manager is qualitatively different from a manager in the private sector and the nonprofit sector.  We will first survey the core foundations, principles, and readings of the field of public administration and public management. Students will then acquire and develop their own public manager’s toolbox which includes an introduction to goal setting and accountability, financial stewardship of public assets, policy system analysis, quantitative policy modeling techniques, and market failures. Students will also engage with International public administration/management readings and examples. Class discussion, case studies, short lectures, individual research projects, and oral presentations will inform students’ learning experiences.

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.

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.

Nanotechnology In this interdisciplinary course, we’ll zoom in (and out) on nanotechnology–the manipulation of matter at the atomic scale. We’ll explore nanotechnology’s role in optics, computing, energy, and biology, beginning with ancient art all the way through the AI revolution. We'll explore applications of nanoscience, including the chips in your smartphone and the mRNA COVID vaccines, while considering the accessibility and sustainability of these emerging technologies. In addition to interactive lectures and discussions, we’ll hear from guest scientists, entrepreneurs, and regulators in this evolving space. With hands-on experiments and field trips to local science labs and art installations, we’ll observe nanoscale structures at work. Together, we’ll focus on developing critical thinking and creative communication skills across both scientific and social contexts. Vijay Kris Narasimhan, Ph.D. (he/him) is the Director of R&D Collaborations at EMD Electronics, a science and technology company that develops advanced materials for semiconductor nanotechnology. With a BASc in Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa, an MPhil in Nanotechnology Enterprise from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University, Vijay has broad expertise, with contributions in nanostructures for neural interfaces; nanoscale electronic and optical materials; renewable energy technology and rural electricity access; and AI for sustainability.

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.  Catherine Lee ’92 is a change agent dedicated to helping organizations and teams envision and execute their strategic aspirations. She has spent much of her career in global finance and the maritime sector and also enjoys mentoring and coaching the next generation of leaders.

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) .

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./

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.

Conflict Transformation: Mindfulness Skills as Educational Praxis This course will introduce students to a variety of approaches to conflict transformation (CT) using skills-based practices from the fields of mindfulness and contemplative education. Conflict, as a personal or collective act of disruption, will be examined as a driver for social/political and individual change. We will examine this work through the theoretical lens of social justice and liberatory educational philosophies. Using these frameworks, we will also explore mindfulness-based skills as tools for engaged inquiry, including: identifying shifting conceptual frameworks and mindful states and employing embodied practices as learning praxis.

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.

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.

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.  Alexandra Yuster worked for UNICEF for over 30 years, and has lived and worked in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Her interests, experience and networks include health, immigration, poverty and inequality, public finance, child protection and LGBTQ issues – focusing on strategies for systemic change./

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.  Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. At the Middlebury Institute he teaches courses on arms control issues in Northeast Asia and Chinese nuclear policy.

Archival Interventions: Tracing Power and Memory Through the Archives In this course, we will examine the ways that power, knowledge, and memory are instantiated through a variety of record keeping practices. Through a blend of readings, guest lectures, site visits, and hands-on projects, students will be asked to think critically about the construction of the archival record and its implications for the writing of history. We will engage with social justice approaches, feminist theory, science and technology studies, and queer theory, and students will contend with a broad range of questions about power and historiography. Though a hands-on archival project, we will gain deeper insights into the challenges and opportunities inherent in archiving, and will collectively work to reimagine what the very act of archiving might look like.  Kristen Iemma is a PhD Candidate in American Studies at Brown University. She also holds an MA in Public Humanities from Brown University and an MS in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute, and has worked in the archives of a number of cultural heritage institutions and museums./

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 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.

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 is a 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.

The Trial of Frank Gallagher: An Introduction into the Criminal Justice System Frank Gallagher is the prime suspect in a double homicide being investigated by the Vermont Special Investigations Unit. What charges will be filed? What will his defense be? In this course we will familiarize students with the Vermont Criminal Justice system through the lens of his case. Students will be asked to view and analyze evidence, examine trial issues surrounding competency to stand trial, self-defense and the voluntariness of confessions. These topics will be explored both through lecture and through practical experience. The course will culminate with the trial of Frank Gallagher.

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).

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.

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.

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./

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 sophomores.)

Sports & Society: How Sports Transcend Their Sidelines Politics, religion, and sports are the common denominators of any society. It could be argued, however, that sport is the only one that unites communities rather than divides them, drives economies rather than diminishing them, and offers tools to expand horizons rather than dogma that limits them. In this course students explore the premise that sports are much more than the games they watch on TV. They are a multi-billion dollar industry impacting all facets of everyday life. Unlike most businesses sport sits uniquely within the public trust, with the ability to effect change, offer hope and transform the essence of who we are as individuals.The lessons from sport echo throughout life, and this class will examine them firsthand. (interested juniors and seniors can email Mike Leonard at dleonard@middlebury.edu)  Mike Leonard is Middlebury’s Head Baseball Coach, joining the team in 2016 and leading them to a NESCAC championship in 2022.  A standout player at the University of Connecticut, Coach Leonard spent several years in the Boston Red Sox system before obtaining his Masters in Education and beginning his coaching career in 2009.  Scott Langerman (Middlebury ’87, P ’19.5 & ‘22) has spent more than 25 years in the sports and entertainment industries, most recently as Founder and CEO of ACE Media, the content arm of the NFL Player’s Association, and the Founder and EVP of Hall of Fame Village Media, the content arm of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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.

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.

Corporate Governance In this course, students will learn about the topic of corporate governance with a focus on large publicly traded corporations. At the firm level, the importance of corporate governance is justified by the complexity of the contractual environment where owners (shareholders), executive managers, board of directors and other stakeholders interact. We will cover topics in ownership and control, managerial monitoring and compensation, the structure and diversity of the board of directors, and shareholder engagement and activism. Also, in the wake of various corporate scandals worldwide, the role of corporate governance codes and regulation in setting new standards and best practices is evident. We will look at the evolution of these corporate governance standards, both in the U.S. and internationally.

Shaping Climate Narratives: Impactful Advocacy In this course we will examine how advocacy strategies and tactics can be employed to drive progress on climate issues. Throughout the term, we will engage with distinguished professionals working in the fields of communications and climate advocacy who will share their experiences and perspectives. Each student will prepare short exposés of tactics being deployed to impede progress on climate issues, and the class will collectively frame a documentary storyboard on how to counter such efforts. The class will also 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.

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.

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.

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).

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)/

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Beyond Bretton Woods: A Critical Global Financial Architecture Review In this course we will discuss the ongoing international financial architecture review (IFAR) process, from the angle of the polycrisis (amongst others, climate change, global health pandemic, social and racial injustice, geo-political tensions and global financial instability) challenges. Students will be offered foundational knowledge about the existing global financial architecture constellation, which emerged from the 1944 Bretton Woods conference in New Hampshire. The course will canvas the core purposes, principles and design intentions to critically analyze and judiciously engage in the core IFAR themes and proposals. The 80-year developments and ensuing challenges will be contextualized with the evolving strands of the current polycrisis. The main course objective is to impart an innovative solutions mindset.

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.

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./

Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov Long recognized as a pinnacle of literary art and a canonical work of Western culture, Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov (1880) was the Russian author’s final towering achievement that sums up his life and work. The plot involves the mysterious murder of a depraved landowner, the 	subsequent investigation,  sensational trial, and the involvement of his three very different sons in his murder.  In a close reading, we will examine the genesis, background, and notebooks of this novel, its philosophical, religious, and psychological themes, and its narrative technique.  Readings include Notes from Underground (1864) and Dostoevsky’s famous speech celebrating Pushkin. (1881). (Not open to students who have taken RUSS 0351)  Michael Katz is the former Dean of Language Schools and Schools Abroad, and is currently C.V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies./

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 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.

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

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.

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./

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./

Quant Trading in Finance In this course we will learn about quantitative finance and the stock market specifically.  We will focus on how the stock market works and what it means to be a “quant”.  Students will use Matlab extensively or another statistical package to build models that predict future stock movements.  Morning lectures/discussions will focus on the workings of the stock market and the inefficiencies that might be present.  In afternoons “lab” sessions and as “homework” students will work by themselves or in teams (with the instructor’s help) to build actual models of future stock prices.  Students will learn not only how to build those models but also how to evaluate how effective they are.  It would be very useful if the interested student had some previous coding experience or took a matlab tutorial before the class starts. (BIOL 0211 or CSCI 0145 or CSCI 0150 or ECON 0210 or MATH 0116 or PSYC 0201 or STAT 0116 or Instructor Approval)  Scott Smallwood has worked in the hedge fund field for 15 years and is currently running his own small quantitative hedge fund.

Introduction to Quantum Biology Although it is well known that the rules of quantum mechanics govern the shapes of atoms and molecules, and how they interact when they are close to each other, it is not clear whether the properties of the quanta that distinguish their dynamics from those of classical particles contribute meaningfully to biological functions. In this course, we will look for common mechanisms in recent studies of magnetoreception in migratory birds, efficient transport of energy in photosynthetic bacteria, enzyme function and the action of anesthetics in human brains cells that support the thesis that biology has evolved molecular structures that can sustain quantum coherent excitations for long enough times and across large enough regions to impact essential functions.  In this interdisciplinary course, we will cover necessary terms from chemistry, biology and physics. (MATH 121 required, BIOL 145 or CHEM 103 or PHYS 109 recommended)  Siegfried Bleher has a PhD in physics (nonlinear dynamics), completed two postdoctoral appointments in computational transition state dynamics and quantum chaos, and has taught physics since 1994, most recently at Middlebury College. His current research is the nonlinear dynamics of photosynthetic molecules such as the FMO complex./

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.

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)./

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.

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, Life Design principles, and Jung’s Theory of Personality; hear from professional experts; and practice skills proven to increase access to purposeful opportunities in the world of work. Classes will involve instructor led lectures and alumni expert guest panels followed by discussions, videos/podcasts, career inventories, and individual/group reflections using tools and developing strategies to navigate immediate and future search for meaningful work.  Tracy Himmel Isham is a professional having worked for 14 years in the natural resource sector and 20 years at Middlebury College and the Center for Careers and Internships as a social impact and education career adviser.  Her career has spanned the nonprofit, for-profit, start-up venture, and association worlds focusing on global issues and pragmatic solutions: the environment and ecosystem market-based models; economic, community and market development; fair trade; innovation and social entrepreneurship; sustainable food systems; and educational access.

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./

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.

Numbers & Narratives: Human Stories in Business Data In this course we combine the rigor of business analytics with the depth of the liberal arts, unveiling the human tapestry behind the data. We will breathe life into numbers through storytelling, crafting compelling narratives from financial reports, using ethical frameworks to evaluate operational efficiencies, and weaving historical and cultural insights into marketing campaigns. Students will learn how to translate complex data into impactful narratives, how to uncover biases and ethical dilemmas embedded in data, how to infuse empathy and understanding into analytical models and how to bridge the gap between quantitative and qualitative worlds, speaking the language of both data and humanity. No coding or past experience required but you will need access to Microsoft Excel.

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.

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./

Supply Chain, Logistics & Transportation: The Backbone of Global Commerce In this course students will learn about the basics of supply chain, including activities such as planning, sourcing & procurement, manufacturing, transportation & freight, reverse logistics and supporting technologies. We will explore and go deeper into industries or aspects that students find a connection to (ex: the supply chain of sports or the sustainable supply chain or Gen AI-powered autonomous supply chains). We will hear from guest speakers from companies such as Accenture, DataBank, Capital Group, Deloitte, Gartner, IFC/World Bank, Altana and Amazon, etc. and discuss career opportunities in supply chain, and related areas (finance, marketing, operations, talent, consulting, etc.). Weather and time-permitting, we will look to have a field trip to a warehouse or distribution center (TBD). The class will conclude with a project that asks the students to fuse what they’ve learned with an innovative new idea. (Open to Juniors and Seniors or by instructor approval)  John Atherton graduated from Middlebury College in 1993 with a major in geography, and a minor in studio art. After coaching athletics at the college level, and teaching at a boarding school, he found his way into the world of global supply chains, and has been a practitioner for over 20 years. John has worked for a major global container shipping line, grew a tech start-up from nothing to something, and is now with the biggest consulting firm on the planet. In 2018, John was inducted into the Middlebury College Athletic Hall of Fame (Soccer, Ice Hockey, Lacrosse and Football).

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./

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./

Nonprofit Management & 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).

Minding Business: Neuroscience and Business In this seminar, we will explore the potentiality of building better businesses through brain science.  We will investigate the field of neuroscience and business.  Falling under the penumbra of organizational behavior and management science, this course will focus on the following five key areas: ethical, legal, and philosophical concepts of neuroscience in commerce and technology, group and team-based leadership chemistry and dynamics enhanced by neuroscience, neuroeconomics, neuromarketing, and lastly brain science and the humanities.  Class discussion, short lectures, individual research projects, and oral presentations will inform student learning experience.

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.

Restorative Justice Practice and Theory Conflict, harm, and wrongdoing are often addressed through ascribing blame and exacting punishment; this approach rarely meets the needs and desires of those directly impacted and their communities. By contrast, restorative justice provides opportunities for those most affected to collectively determine the impact, needs, and obligations that rise in the wake of wrongdoing, and establish steps to put things as right as possible. In this course we will explore the theory and practice of restorative justice, illustrated through the primary modes of restorative practice (victim offender dialogue in prisons, circle processes, peacemaking, family group conferencing as diversion, and truth and reconciliation commissions). We will examine restorative justice’s strengths and shortcomings, and create opportunities to put theory into practice.  Sujatha Baliga’s work is characterized by an equal dedication to people who have caused and experienced harm and violence. A former victim advocate and public defender, Baliga was awarded a Soros Justice Fellowship in 2008 which she used to launch a now-nationwide pre-charge restorative youth diversion program; an internationally recognized leader in the field, she was named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Design Lab I High quality design succeeds through problem solving and iteration. In this studio course, students first each identify a problem and devise a solution that that uses high-tech equipment like CNC fabrication, robotics, 3D printing, laser cutting, or 2D/3D graphics. They also build a production calendar with at least two design iterations toward a final deliverable. And then they head out on the adventure of project work where they discover the unforeseen surprises, knowledge and experience gaps, and calendar setbacks that define serious design work. The outcome is a final deliverable in metal, wood, plastic, or pixels.

Data Science Across Disciplines In this course, we will gain exposure to the entire data science pipeline—obtaining and cleaning large and messy data sets, exploring these data and creating engaging visualizations, and communicating insights from the data in a meaningful manner. During morning sessions, we will learn the tools and techniques required to explore new and exciting data sets. During afternoon sessions, students will work in small groups with one of several faculty members on domain-specific research projects in Geography, Political Science, Restorative Justice, or Healthcare. This course will use the R programming language. No prior experience with R is necessary.  INTD 1230 A: Data is a powerful tool for improving health outcomes by making programmatic choices to support justice. In this afternoon section of Data Across the Disciplines, students will be working with Addison County Restorative Justice (ACRJ) on understanding patterns in the occurrence of driving under the influence. ACRJ has over 1,000 cases and would like to better understand their data and come up with ways to access information. We will explore how identity, geography, and support impact outcomes from DUI cases. Using statistical analysis and data visualizations, along with learning about ethical data practices, we will report our findings.   INTD 1230 B: Let’s dive into the minutes and reports of local towns to develop an accessible news and history resource. Could this be a tool for small newspapers to track local news more easily? Can we map this fresh data for a new look across geographies? Do you want to help volunteer town officials make decisions and better wrangle with their town’s history and data?  In this course we will develop a focused database of documents produced by several municipal boards and commissions. We will engage in conversation with local officials, researchers, and journalists. This course aims to introduce students to making data from real world documents and the people that make them to generate useful information that is often open but frequently difficult to sift through.  GEOG 1230: In this section, students will use data science tools to explore the ways migration systems in the United States changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will draw on data collected from mobile phones recording each phone’s monthly place of residence at the census tract level. The dataset includes monthly observations from January 2019 through December 2021 allowing the analysis to compare migration systems pre-pandemic with those during the pandemic.  MATH/STAT 1230: Students will explore pediatric healthcare data to better understand the risks correlated with various childhood illnesses through an emphasis on the intuition behind statistical and machine learning techniques. We will practice making informed decisions from noisy data and the steps to go from messy data to a final report. Students will become proficient in R and gain an understanding of various statistical techniques.  PSCI 1230: How do candidates for U.S. national office raise money? From whom do they raise it? In this section we will explore these questions using Federal Election Commission data on individual campaign contributions to federal candidates. Our analysis using R will help us identify geographic patterns in the data, as well as variations in funds raised across types of candidates. We will discuss what implications these patterns may have for the health and functioning of democracy in the U.S.

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, 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 graduated from Middlebury in 1985 (as did his wife Heather Henderson Palmer) with a double major in Economics and Geography and a concentration in Modern Art History. That blend of disciplines has been instrumental in his business success, and it is the inspiration for this course proposal.  He thanks his friend and Middlebury advisor, Bob Churchill, for inspiring him to learn for the love of learning and to teach for the love of teaching. As they say in advertising, Bob Churchill was the “pivot” in the story of his Middlebury experience.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Study of Post-War Fascism In this course we investigate the transformation of fascism and fascist movements following World War II. Tracing the philosophical and political roots of post-war fascism, we will study fascist behavior, activism, and violence. We will survey work from history, political theory, sociology, social computing, and political science to understand the landscape of contemporary fascism, with particular emphasis on its variants in Italy, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We will discuss in-depth how fascist movements interact with broader far-right politics and how they choose to either embrace or reject electoral politics in democratic countries. Students will also learn about research ethics and best practices in fascism studies, and they produce their own original work researching a particular topic of interest.

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.  John Huddleston retired from the Studio Art Program in 2017. For the last eight years he also taught mindfulness courses at the college.

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.

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 ultimately as partners collaborating with Vermont organizations that make an impact in our community. Group work is a core component of this course, giving students regular opportunity to apply and develop oratory skills. We will use practices developed at Middlebury in Oratory Now’s coach training program, the physical education course, OratoryX, and the 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.

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.

Theories and Fundamentals of Conflict Transformation In this course, we will explore the interdisciplinary field of Conflict Transformation as both a philosophical orientation and a theoretical framework for understanding conflict as part of the human experience. In exploring conflict transformation, we will move beyond examining conflict as something that should be avoided (conflict prevention) or resolved through various formal and informal processes of negotiation (conflict resolution). Instead, this course will examine the ways that conflict is normal in human relationships, an integral part of human experiences, and can act as a catalyst for social transformation. To do so, we will examine conflict at multiple different levels of human experiences such as interpersonal, national, and international using a broader lens to explore the “bigger picture” of the historical, social, and interpersonal causes of conflict. In doing so, we will come to understand conflict as not something that is always destructive but also productive in creating social change on the personal, interpersonal, local, national, and international level.

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.

Laurie Patton

Gabriella Koltai

Adi Livny

Claire Tebbs

Roberto Lint Sagarena

Tracy Himmel Isham

Marilyn Skoglund Skoglund

Tim Nguyen

Jodie Marshall

Shannon McClain

William Sessions

Nadia Horning

Lida Winfield

Scott Smallwood Smallwood

Samantha Roach-Gerber

Jeff Munroe

Ruth Hardy

Tanya Byker

Vijay Narasimhan

Alex Lyford

Chong Han

James Calvin Davis

Dana Yeaton

Lindsay Houpt-Varner

Pam Berenbaum

Amy Collier

Deb Evans

Danielle Stillman

Matthew Considine

Melissa Hammerle

J. Ashley Laux

Mark Orten

Leila McVeigh

Zahra Moeini Meybodi

Cheryl Faraone

Erik Bleich

Steven Viner

Kim Gagne

Siegfried Bleher

Jean du Preez

Minna Brown

Pete Schumer

Alix Pauchet

Julian Portilla

Steven Carlisle

David Bradbury

Craig Wilson

J. Fitzpatrick

Matt Lawrence

Daniel Houghton

Amitava Biswas

Andrew Schwarz

John Dooley

Elianna Kan

David Torres

Catherine Lee

Nathalie Jonas

John Huddleston

J. Conor Stinson

Ben Powers

Murray Dry

Zane Anthony

Tom Palmer

Jon Isham

Shawna Shapiro

Sarah Lohnes Watulak

Kristen Iemma

Sheila Cheston

Daren Gill

David Payne

Molly Anderson

Joseph Andriano

Ursula Olender

John Pickens

Michal Strier

Susan Watson

Charles Frankel

Alexandra Yuster

Karen Carroll

Marcos Rohena-Madrazo

Scott Langerman

Sujatha Baliga

Richard Finkelstein

Ernie Parizeau

Peter Bevere

Waithera Roki

Alex Newhouse

Ananya Das

Jasmin Msuya

Timothy Parsons

Ron Makleff

Stacie Cassarino

Allan Hamilton

John Pirone

Neha Tiwari

Amy McGlashan

Sarah Stroup

Jocelyn Breton

Anne-Marie Magri

Jamie Hand

Read 364 reviews for Interdepartmental courses at Middlebury College. Find the best Interdepartmental professors and courses.  Discover your new major today!