The Middlebury Board of Trustees at its annual meeting May 10-11 approved a fiscal year 2025 operating budget with revenues of $325 million and expenses of $332 million. The board also received an update onFor Every Future: The Campaign for Middlebury and approved tenurerecommendations.
On Saturday, May 11, trustees passed a fiscal year 2025 budget that included $191 million in net tuition revenue and $76 million in endowment income, an increase of $5 million and $8 million respectively, over the 2024 fiscal year budget. David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration, said fiscal year 2025 expenses will increase by $8 million over the prior fiscal year due to a 4 percent salary pool increase ($4.8 million), benefits ($1.6 million), and other expenses ($1.4million).
Overall, the fiscal year 2025 budget resulted in a $6.7 million deficit. It was noted that one of the drivers of the deficit was the low enrollment projection for fiscal year 2025 at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey. Michelle McCauley, executive vice president and provost, shared a plan to eliminate the Institute’s deficit as part of the overall goal of creating a balanced budget across all divisions within threeyears.
Reaffirmation of Shared EducationalValues
Also Saturday, Board Chair William F. “Ted” Truscott ’83 read a statement on behalf of board leadership affirming the shared educational values of the Collegeshared by the administration on May 6 in response to a collective concern of students, faculty, staff, and administration over the ongoing violence in Gaza and Israel. After the board meeting, the statement was amended as follows by the Board’s Executive Committee to include additional information about ongoing work between the administration, trustees, and students, as well as nextsteps:
The leadership of the Middlebury Board of Trustees affirms the statement of shared educational values posted by the Administration on May 6th,2024.
We would like to take this opportunity to underscore our willingness to engage in thoughtful discussions with students about issues of mutualconcern.
As such, over the past two weeks, administrators and trustees have met with students on seven occasions. In a meeting held on Friday, May 10, 2024, we specifically discussed the students’ desire to codify our stance on future investments inarms.
In that meeting, all participants confirmed their understanding that presenting actions for Board votes require careful consideration and research, and that, similar to our Energy2028 process and resulting commitment, any formal governance process or vote will necessitate collaborative preparation and Board of Trustees careful deliberation overtime.
The students, administrators, and trustees agreed to continue an active dialogue over the summer to further these discussions and are creating a work plan to accomplish the same. We are working on scheduling a meeting in the next several weeks and creating a summer workplan.
We appreciate the good faith effort of the students and would like to thank the presenters for their thoughtful preparation andengagement.
President’sReport
President Laurie L. Patton updated trustees on her shared vision for enhancing Middlebury’s reputation as a leading institution of the liberal arts and sciences. She reported on the following areas in her presidential report: strengthening and optimization of academic excellence, educational relevance, global engagement, environmental leadership, financial stability, and belonging and well-being. In support of belonging and well-being, the College has allocated a$4.9 million unrestricted gift to increase the number of licensed counselor positions to address student mental health needs. The gift will also fund stipend-supported graduate internships in an effort to increase diversity in mental health services, and to expand workshops proven effective at building student success and belonging. Financially, Patton said the College continues to reduce the overall deficit including an anticipated fiscal year 2025 budget coming in $1 million lower than the previous year, break fundraising records since the launch of the For Every Future: The Campaign for Middlebury (see below), and continues to see growth in student applications, which has increased by 39 percent since 2018. She also told trustees that the College is on track to meet its environmental goals as part of the Energy2028 initiative, and continues to develop a shared culture with aconstructive approach to conflict.
CampaignUpdate
Dan Courcey, vice president for advancement, gave an update onFor Every Future: The Campaign for Middlebury—the largest, most comprehensive of its kind in Middlebury history. To date, Middlebury has raised over $443 million toward the $600 million campaign goal, with $157 million left to raise by June 30, 2028. The College has already broken its single-year fundraising record of $103 million by raising over $142 million to date in the fiscal year ending June 30. Additionally, the campaign moved closer to its goal of engaging 85 percent of alumni by having 68 percent of graduates attend an event, volunteer, communicate with the College, or make agift.
Progress toward meeting the pillars of the campaign includes thefollowing:
- Access and financial aid: 62 percent of $215 million goal
- Academic excellence: 71 percent of $120 million goal
- Experiential learning: 51 percent of $70.5 million goal
Affordable Housing and Childcare Expansion
On Friday, May 10, trustees received updates on two projects critical to recruiting and retaining faculty and staff in need of childcare and affordable housing. Tom Getz, Jr., owner and CEO of Summit Properties, and Zeke Davisson, chief operating officer at Summit, reported progress on Stonecrop Meadows—a housing development project featuring 229 housing units, divided into three categories: affordable, middle-income, and market-rate housing. The first phase of the new neighborhood—a $125 million investment in the local housing market—includes 133 homes located on 35 acres of college-owned property off Seminary Street Extension. The second phase consists of 35 affordable rental units funded through a combination of federal, state, and local housing agencies, including a $9.1 million lower‐income housing tax credit from the Vermont Housing Finance Agency. The final phase will provide 37 homes for sale at marketprices.
Also on Friday, Susan Ritter ’83, chief risk officer, deputy general counsel, and director of community relations, told trustees that the Otter Creek Childcare Expansion project is scheduled to break ground in September. Trustees previously authorized a $5 million unrestricted gift toward the childcare center that will significantly increase available spaces for children of faculty, staff and community members. The facility is expected to be completed by summer2025.
Tenure and FacultyPromotions
The board approved tenure recommendations for the following members of the College faculty, effective July1:
- Kristin Bright, Anthropology
- Erin Eggleston, Biology
- Joseph Holler, Geography
- Laurel Jenkins, Dance
- Shelby Kimmel, Computer Science
- Michael Linderman, Computer Science
- Jessica L’Roe, Geography
- Gary Winslett, Political Science
The board promoted the following to the rank of full professor at the Middlebury Institute of InternationalStudies:
- William Arrocha
- Gabriel Guillén
- Philip Murphy
- Thor Sawin
- Adam Wooten
The trustees elected Lucienne (Lucie) M. Ide ’97 as charter member of the board starting in July; Denver G. Edwards ’88 and Anne D. Peterson ’85–both of whom previously served as alumni trustees–to first terms as trustees; and A.J. Murphy ’98 to a second term starting inJuly.
Trustees also elected the following partner advisors to serve additional terms: Elaine White Gómez (second term), Jane Edwards (fourth term), and Margery Mayer (thirdterm).
Other elected positions included Allan R. Dragone, Jr. ’78 (emeriti); Elaine White Gómez (second term), Jane Edwards (fourth term), and Margery Mayer (third term) as partner advisors; Lansing (“Lanse”) A. Davis, ’01.5 (Term Trustee); Robert (“Bob”) Sideli, ‘77 (Alumni Trustee); and Sandhya S. Douglas ’93 (new partneradvisor).
