by Robert Keren Sanskrit is the ancient language of India. Similar to Latin, it lives on today mostly in religious or official ceremonies. It enjoys a rich history with contemporary literary importance. If you want to know more about the traditional language of Hinduism and Buddhism, you should, of course, really ask an expert, such as the new president of Middlebury College. Laurie L Patton reads, writes and translates Sanskrit, along with several other languages. That seems to make the Harvard educated and current Duke professor and perfect fit for Middlebury.
Laurie L. Patton, a professor of religion and the dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University, was introduced to the Middlebury community with a formal announcement November 18 at Mead Chapel and subsequent tour of the campus. Patton will succeed President Ron Liebowitz, who has served as president since 2004. Patton will take office on July 1, 2015.
Duke's Laurie L Patton to become Middlebury’s 17th presidentvermontbiz.com November 18, 2014 The Middlebury Board of Trustees today named Laurie L Patton, dean of Duke University’s Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Robert F Durden Professor of Religion, as Middlebury’s next president. Patton will take office on July 1, 2015, succeeding Ronald D Liebowitz, who has served as president since July 2004. Patton, a distinguished religion scholar and translator of classic Indian Sanskrit texts, joined Duke in her current position in 2011. Patton will be Middlebury's first woman president. Trinity College is the largest of Duke’s undergraduate schools, with 5,200 students, 36 academic departments and programs, and 640 faculty members. It awards nearly 80 percent of the university’s bachelor degrees. As dean, she is responsible for overseeing the educational mission of Duke’s core undergraduate liberal arts programs, including curriculum, faculty hiring and development, student research, assessment, and the College’s $370 million annual budget. Under her leadership, Trinity College raised more than $300 million for professorships, financial aid, educational initiatives, and other priorities. Patton’s selection followed an extensive, six-month search conducted by a 20-member search committee chaired by Middlebury trustee Allan Dragone Jr. ’78. The committee engaged in a process of broad outreach to students, faculty, staff, and alumni. From an initial list of more than 250 individuals nominated or put under consideration, the committee gradually narrowed the pool to a dozen and then to a small list of finalists, before unanimously recommending Patton to the full board on Tuesday. Patton will be the first woman to lead Middlebury in its 214-year history. “I can’t imagine a place that more fully exemplifies my interests and commitments to higher education than Middlebury,” said Patton. “These last five months have been a wonderful experience for me as I have had the opportunity to learn more about this great institution and the values it holds dear. I have so many people to thank, starting with the search committee and Al Dragone, and I am truly honored with the confidence the Board of Trustees has shown in me today. I look forward with anticipation to joining this community of faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and friends.” Marna C Whittington, chair of the Middlebury Board of Trustees, called Patton an “outstanding choice” to be the next president. “Laurie is an accomplished scholar with a deep commitment to the liberal arts and a global perspective on the value and role of education,” said Whittington. “She lives the values of Middlebury, and I am confident she will provide the leadership and innovative thinking required to maintain the positive momentum and success Middlebury has experienced during Ron Liebowitz’s tenure as president.” Patton, 53, is married to Shalom Goldman, professor of religious studies and Middle Eastern studies at Duke. The two met at Emory University. Goldman will become a tenured professor in the Department of Religion at Middlebury College. Dragone, who led the search process and spent many hours with Patton in recent months, said the search committee was deeply impressed. “Laurie combines qualities of scholarship and leadership to an extraordinary degree,” said Dragone. “She is enthusiastic and passionate about students and the totality of their experiences, from the classroom to the lab, from the performance space to the playing field, from the time they spend abroad to the way they can participate in the life of the Middlebury community in Vermont. We have found an exceptional leader in Laurie Patton and I know she is committed to building upon the institution’s strong foundation.” Patton earned her undergraduate degree in comparative religion and Celtic languages and literatures from Harvard University in 1983. She received an MA from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1986 and her PhD in history of religions from the University of Chicago in 1991. Patton’s first teaching position was at Bard College from 1991 to 1996. Before she joined Duke, Patton taught from 1996 to 2011 at Emory University in Atlanta, where she was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Religions. While at Emory, Patton served as chair of the religion department from 2000 to 2007; founded and co-convened the Religions and the Human Spirit Strategic Plan; was the inaugural director of the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence; and from 2000 to 2010 was founder and co-convener of Emory’s Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding Initiative. In 2005 she received the Emory Williams Award, the university’s most prestigious teaching honor. Patton is the editor or author of nine scholarly books on South Asian history, culture, and religion, including Myth as Argument: The Brhaddevata as Canonical Commentary; Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice;and Jewels of Authority: Women and Text in the Hindu Tradition. From 2008 to 2011, she served as president of the American Society for the Study of Religion. In addition to writing two volumes of original poetry, Patton has translated the classical Sanskrit text, The Bhagavad Gita, for the Penguin Classics Series. “Laurie Patton's commitment to the success of students and faculty has made her an extraordinary leader at Duke,” said Duke Provost Sally Kornbluth, the James B. Duke Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. “She is energetic, creative, and passionate about scholarship and learning. We could not be more proud of her appointment at Middlebury.” Liebowitz announced in December 2013 that he wished to step down following the 2014–15 academic year. By that time he will have served as president for 11 years and as a member of the Middlebury faculty for 31 years. “Ron Liebowitz has been a transformative leader and his impact upon this institution will be felt for generations,” said Whittington. “Middlebury students have a richer experience than ever before because of the innovations he championed, and the institution is stronger than it has ever been.” Liebowitz called Patton a “remarkable scholar whose deep commitment to her field would be an example and inspiration” to students and faculty alike. “I look forward to working with Laurie in the months ahead to create a smooth transition to what I am sure will be an outstanding presidency,” he said. “Jessica and I look forward to welcoming both Laurie and Shalom to Middlebury.” |
At 10 minutes past noon on the 18th, Trustee Al Dragone Jr ’78, the chair of the presidential search committee, announced that the 17th president of Middlebury “stood apart” from all of the other candidates in five respects: her intellectual curiosity, recognition as a scholar, commitment to the liberal arts, administrative experience, and alignment with Middlebury’s values.
The search committee found 53-year-old Laurie Patton to be uniquely prepared and qualified to be the next president of Middlebury, Dragone said, and thus the Middlebury Board of Trustees in special session voted unanimously to appoint her to the presidency effective on July 1, 2015. Middlebury’s first woman president will join the faculty as a tenured member of the Department of Religion.
The president-elect then ascended the chancel in Mead Chapel amid a standing ovation from the gathering of more than 500 students, faculty, staff, and trustees, and gave a short speech in which she touched upon her aspirations for Middlebury.
Patton opened her remarks with a touch of humility. Middlebury exemplifies “the best ideals of a 21st-century liberal arts education,” she said, “and it has been built, maintained, and nurtured by you — the members of the community sitting before me, and whom I am greatly excited to meet.
“Please do not be shy. Please find me today and introduce yourself,” she urged. “Please don’t worry if you may have to introduce yourself again next year, because that will simply be another occasion that we can look forward to with joy.”
President Ron Liebowitz and Jessica Liebowitz applaud President-elect Laurie Patton before her remarks at Mead Chapel.
Selected from a field of 260 candidates for the presidency, Patton said she sees seven great educational virtues of Middlebury, among them a “dynamism baked into the habits of the college,” students who “will always imagine themselves as travelers,” a balance and commitment to all forms of knowledge, and how the role of writing, language, and translation at the institution reaches out to the entire world. She also commended Middlebury for its “highly adaptive” Board of Trustees, how faculty and staff have embraced and been inspired by the addition of the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and for placing environmental stewardship at the forefront of nearly every conversation.
Standing at the same Mead Chapel podium that Middlebury presidents have used for generations, Patton spoke for 14 minutes and closed with a variation on a Wendell Berry quote. “I am delighted to begin work as your 17th president because here, in all the glorious places where Middlebury lives and thrives, we will become together who we are meant to be.”
Patton received another standing ovation and, as the throng exited the 99-year-old chapel, smiles and looks of satisfaction (and relief) adorned the members of the community, all of whom were invited to meet the next president at a reception in Wilson Hall later in the afternoon. But first, after a short respite, Patton met members of the news media gathered in the Harman Reading Room at Davis Family Library.
The first question went to Joe Flaherty '15, editor in chief of the Campus, who asked Patton about diversity on campus. Reporters peppered her with queries about town-gown relations, the rising cost of college, and the relationship of the undergraduate college to the Monterey Institute.
When Jack Thurston, a reporter for New England Cable News and a member of the Class of 2002, asked her, “What does it mean to you to be the first female president of Middlebury?” Patton remarked that it was “a wonderfully happy accident,” but not something that she set out to become. (Marna Whittington, the Board of Trustees chair seated beside Patton at the news conference, revealed that the search committee “worked very hard to convince Laurie” to be a candidate.) Patton pointed out that her research is “deeply engaged in the educational experiences of women,” and that she is personally involved in two micro-philanthropy projects devoted to women in South Asia.
“Women’s education is of huge importance to me,” she said, calling it a global issue for the women of the world “who have not yet come into their own voice.”
President-elect Laurie Patton starts her day in the Middlebury Board Room, beneath the portrait of Middlebury's first president, Jeremiah Atwater.
Following the press conference Patton walked to the reception where she shook hands with about 350 members of the Middlebury community. As the line of patient well-wishers snaked out of Wilson Hall, through the Center Gallery, and down the back hallway on the second floor of McCullough, the president-elect was happy to speak briefly with every faculty, student, and staff member who came forward.
The public portion of her day now coming to a close, Laurie Patton put on her coat and prepared to brave the 28-degree temperatures as the sun went down on her first day as president-elect. It was a day for the Middlebury community to give its next president a warm embrace, and a day when the wintry weather said "Welcome to Vermont” between gusts of wind.
Source: Middlebury College. 11.18.2014. Reporting by Robert Keren, photos by Todd Balfour and Brett Simison. Timothy McQuiston of Vermont Business Magazine contributed to this story.