美国米德尔伯里学院|Middlebury College

　　Founding and 19th Century

　　Middlebury received its founding charter on November 1, 1800 as an outgrowth of the Addison County Grammar School, which had been founded three years earlier in 1797.

　　Its founding religious affiliation was loosely Congregationalist. Yet the idea for a college was that of town fathers rather than clergymen and Middlebury was clearly "The Town's College" rather than the Church's. Chief among its founders were Seth Storrs and Gamaliel Painter, the former credited with the idea for a college and the latter as its greatest early benefactor. In addition to receiving a diploma upon graduation, Middlebury graduates also receive a replica of Gameliel Painter's cane. Painter bequeathed his original cane to the College and it is carried by the College President at official occasions including first-year convocation and graduation.

　　Alexander Twilight, class of 1823, was the first black graduate of any college or university in the United States; he also became the first African American elected to public office, being elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1856. In 1883, the trustees voted to accept women as students in the college, making Middlebury one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England to become a coeducational institution.

　　20th Century

　　The national fraternity Kappa Delta Rho was founded in Painter Hall on May 17, 1905. Middlebury College abolished fraternities in the early 1990s, but the organization continued on campus in the less ritualized form of a social house. Due to a policy at the school against single-sex organizations, the house was forced to coeducate during the same period as well.

　　The German school, founded in 1915, began the Middlebury Language Schools. These Schools, which take over the campus during the summer, teach about 1,350 students Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The C.V. Starr-Middlebury Schools Abroad, begun in 1949 with the school in Paris, host students at thirty sites in Argentina, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, and Uruguay.

　　Recent Developments

　　In May 2004, an anonymous benefactor made a $50 million donation to Middlebury. It was the largest cash gift the school has ever received. The donor asked only that Middlebury name its recently-built science building, Bicentennial Hall, after outgoing President John McCardell Jr. In June 2008, Middlebury's endowment stood at approximately $885 million.

　　In 2005, Middlebury signed an affiliation agreement with the Monterey Institute of International Studies, a graduate school in Monterey, California. While the Monterey Institute will remain a separate institution, the affiliation saved Monterey from financial difficulties, and will allow Middlebury to offer additional programs in international studies and foreign languages.

　　On October 6, 2007, President Ronald D. Liebowitz announced that the college is launching a five-year campaign to raise $500 million. Liebowitz also said that during the planning phases $234 million has already been raised. The campaign, which the college is calling the Middlebury Initiative, will extend and expand the range of opportunities available to students, focusing its efforts on financial aid and hiring more faculty.

　　In the spring of 2008, the Board of Trustees approved renovations to the Proctor Dining Hall and the McCullough Student Center's social space, mail room, and convenience store to be undertaken during the summer and the 2008-2009 academic year.

　　Middlebury is part of the SAT optional movement for undergraduate admission.

　　Presidents of Middlebury

　　Jeremiah Atwater, 1800-1809

　　Henry Davis, 1809-1818

　　Joshua Bates, 1818-1840

　　Benjamin Labaree, 1840-1866

　　Harvey Denison Kitchel, 1866-1875

　　Calvin Butler Hulbert, 1875-1880

　　Cyrus Hamlin, 1880-1885

　　Ezra Brainerd, 1885-1908

　　John Martin Thomas, 1908-1921

　　Paul Dwight Moody, 1921-1943

　　Samuel Somerville Stratton, 1943-1963

　　James Isbell Armstrong, 1963-1975

　　Olin Clyde Robison, 1975-1990

　　Timothy Light, 1990-1991

　　John Malcolm McCardell, Jr., 1991-2004

　　Ronald D. Liebowitz, 2004-Present

　　The Campus

　　The 350-acre (1.4 km2) main campus is located in the Champlain Valley between Vermont's Green Mountains to the east and New York's Adirondack Mountains to the west. The campus is situated on a hill to the west of the village of Middlebury, a traditional New England village centered around Otter Creek Falls. The nearby 1,800-acre (7.3 km2) mountain campus hosts the college's Bread Loaf School of English and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference every summer. The Conference was founded on an idea first born of poet Robert Frost.

　　Middlebury's campus is characterized by quads and open spaces, views of the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks, and historic granite, marble, and limestone buildings. Old Stone Row, consisting of the three oldest buildings on campus — Old Chapel, Painter Hall, and Starr Hall — is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Painter Hall, constructed in 1815, is the oldest extant college building in Vermont. Emma Willard House, a National Historic Landmark, hosts the admissions office. Of the campus, celebrated postmodern architect Robert Venturi said, "If anyone had told me that gray stone boxes set in lawns could be so beautiful, I would have said they were crazy. Middlebury looks like what everyone thinks an American campus should be but seldom is."

　　Since the mid-1990s, student housing has been grouped into five residential Commons: Atwater, Brainerd, Cook, Ross, and Wonnacott. All are named for illustrious college figures. The creation of the Commons, which remains controversial among students, accompanied an increase in the size of the student body and an ambitious building campaign. Recently completed building projects include the 220,000 sq ft McCardell Bicentennial Hall (1999), a 135,000 sq ft library (2004), two Atwater Commons Residence Halls (2004), and a new Atwater Dining Hall (2005). Hillcrest Environmental Center, an Italianate-styled farmhouse constructed around 1874, has been renovated to provide a home for the environmental studies program according to LEED standards. Starr Library, a Beaux-Arts edifice completed in 1900, now hosts the Donald Everett Axinn '51 Center for Literary and Cultural Studies at Starr Library after significant restoration of interior spaces and the addition of two wings for faculty offices, lecture halls, and a television production studio.

　　The campus is known affectionately to students, faculty, and alumni as "Club Midd" because of its bucolic setting and the quality of its academic and athletic facilities.

　　Academics

　　Reputation

　　U.S. News and World Report ranks Middlebury as the 5th-best liberal arts college in the U.S.

　　In the 2008 Forbes Magazine ranking of American colleges, which combines liberal arts colleges and national research universities together in one list, Middlebury is ranked #17.

　　Middlebury is ranked third among all colleges and universities in the nation according to the sixth annual report by the National Collegiate Scouting Association which ranks colleges based on student-athlete graduation rates, academic strength, and athletic prowess.

　　Middlebury's recognized areas of particular strength include international studies and perspective, literary studies, environmental studies and activism, and modern language instruction.

　　The 2009 Princeton Review ranks the College #1 for "professors get high marks;" #4 for "school runs like butter;" #8 for "quality of life," "best classroom experience," and "students study the most;" #14 for "best campus food," #16 for "best career/job placement services." The Princeton Review includes the Middlebury on its "colleges with a conscience" list.

　　According to the Wall Street Journal, Middlebury is one of the top "feeder schools" to elite graduate business, medical, and law schools.

　　The academic year follows a 4-1-4 schedule of two four-course semesters plus a one-course "J-term" term in January.

　　Campus activism

　　Environmental studies and college environmentalism

　　The Environmental Studies major at Middlebury was established in 1965, making it the first undergraduate major of its kind in the nation. Susan Johns (Paulsen) was the first graduate in 1969. The Program is an interdisciplinary, nondepartmental major that draws upon 52 faculty members from 26 departments.

　　Middlebury has a reputation as an environmentally conscious campus. Several student groups operate on campus and organize frequent trips to the state capitol and beyond. The highly successful Project BioBus initiative, spearheaded by Brian Reavey, Dan Dunning, and Leland Bourdon, raised nationwide awareness of biodiesel and other renewable energy alternatives. Project BioBus later donated the bus to Energy Action for use in the Road to Detroit initiative, the purpose of which was to protest the auto industry's environmental practices. The college is active in sustainable agriculture and recycling programs. Local farmers and the student-run organic garden supply more than a quarter of the food consumed in the dining halls, and the campus-wide recycling program has a 60% diversion rate. Moreover, the college has steadfastly used "green" building techniques in its recent construction.

　　Middlebury is committed to environmental sustainability and stewardship, both in its academic programs and in practice.Middlebury recently incorporated environmental stewardship into its new mission statement.The college is a signatory to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment and the Talloires Declaration. Additionally, the college has committed to be carbon neutral by 2016.Middlebury was one of only six universities to receive a grade of “A-” from the Sustainable Endowments Institute on its College Sustainability Report Card 2008, the highest grade awarded.

　　LGBT activism

　　In the 2007-2008 school year, Middlebury College took a very proactive stance against homophobia. In response to military recruitment being able to come to campus (despite their inability to comply to the College's nondiscrimination policy because of the ban on openly homosexual military personnel), the Middlebury Open Queer Alliance held protests and an open forum in order to discuss how the College should react to the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.

　　Further programming developed by Middlebury to provide support to its LGBT community included inviting congressmen to campus to discuss discrimination and inviting Academy Award winning director Cynthia Wade, and producer of the documentary Freeheld for a speaking engagement. The success of the organization and much of its programming has placed Middlebury as one of the most LGBT friendly institutions according to The Advocate College Guide.

　　Athletics

　　Middlebury competes in the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The Middlebury College Panthers lead the NESCAC in total number of National Championships, having won 28 individual titles since the conference lifted its ban on NCAA play in 1994. Middlebury enjoys national success in soccer, tennis, cross country running, lacrosse, hockey, field hockey, and skiing, and fields 31 varsity NCAA teams and over 10 competitive club teams. Currently, 28% of students participate in varsity sports.

　　In 1979 and 1980 the women's ski team won two AIAW national championships.

　　Middlebury's success in intercollegiate sports is evidenced by the college's second place ranking in the 2007 National Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings. From 2004 to 2006, both the men's and women's ice hockey teams won three consecutive NCAA Division III National Championships, an unprecedented feat for a college at any level. The baseball program is also on the rise, winning their first NESCAC championship in 2006, while finishing fourth in New England. In 2007, Middlebury's Men's Soccer Team captured its first NCAA Championship in the 54 year history of the program. Also in 2007, the Middlebury College Rugby Club won its first national championship by defeating Arkansas State in the Division II game 38 to 22.

　　Middlebury's athletic facilities include a state-of-the-art 50-meter by 25-yard swimming pool, the 3,500-seat Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium for football and lacrosse, a 2,600 spectator hockey arena, a regulation rugby pitch, the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, the 18-hole Ralph Myhre golf course, and the Carroll and Jane Rikert Ski Touring Center at the Bread Loaf mountain campus.

　　The college mascot is the panther.

　　想了解更多的美国留学信息，可登陆留学360美国院校大全（http://www.liuxue360.com/us）