Laurie L. Patton has served as Middlebury’s president since 2015 and is the first woman to lead the institution. Under her leadership, Middlebury has distinguished itself as a forward-thinking, community-driven institution through programs like the Energy2028 sustainability plan and the Conflict Transformation initiative. And since 2019, Laurie has hosted the MiddMoment podcast.  

But Laurie’s tenure is coming to a close. Beginning in January 2025, Laurie will take over as president at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Before she goes though, she sits down with Matt Jennings, editor of Middlebury Magazine and the executive director of editorial services at Middlebury, for an exit interview. 

Now in the guest chair, Laurie answers questions about how the job of president and the Middlebury community has changed her over the last 10 years, her work on free speech and inclusivity in the higher education realm, navigating the COVID-19 pandemic, and what she hopes her lasting legacy at Middlebury will be. 

MiddMoment is a production of Middlebury College and is produced by University FM.

[15:54] Every single dream I had for Middlebury I have either accomplished or begun so that I know it's going to stay in some form. And that has been extraordinary to see. And those are things like the school of Abenaki, the conflict transformation work, an initiative and the effect it has had in our community and as well as in broader communities, the work on Energy2028, and the sense that we always need to assume the mantle of leadership because we have a combination of rural resources, capital resources, and a can-do spirit and a legacy that we're proud of. That's very rare. And that means that our obligation to lead environmentally is hugely important—the town-gown relationship being as vibrant and cordial as it always was, but I really wanted to give that message loud and clear.

[50:05] Middlebury is that kind of space where there's an opportunity simply to be on your own and enjoy. In the midst of community, that allows for the tension between the solitude that creativity demands and the community that creativity demands together.

[13:04]  There's something else about the restlessness, and that is more about the fact that I have never been in an institution that has been this old and still has a spirit of newness in it. Every other American institution that has been this old that I've been part of has not embraced the sense of innovation. And that's an overused word, but I think Middlebury appreciates creativity.

[23:41] The last 10 years have been central and critical for Middlebury to be in a space where it sees its own brokenness and moves from that to do the honest rebuilding that has to be done, whether that's thinking about freedom of expression and freedom of academic inquiry—two different things—and inclusivity afresh. Whether that's thinking about what it means to belong at Middlebury and also what it means to be accountable at Middlebury for constructive engagement in its own right. I think all of those things have emerged to the fore, and when I tell this story, I talk about the fact that we began by listening.