Dedicated AND Appreciated LaForce Hall Dedicated, Staff Members Recognized in Friday Ceremony

Author: Samuel Wilson

The Ross Commons dedication and the Septemberfest picnic were held on Friday, Sept. 13, outside the newly completed LaForce Hall and New Dorms. The events celebrated the Staff Recognition Awards, the completion of LaForce Hall and the Ross dining hall and Ross Commons as the first fully-articulated commons.
This summer, every member of the College faculty and staff had the chance to nominate other staff members for the new Staff Recognition Awards. Some 39 staff members received nominations, and then a committee selected four of those for the awards. The recipients were Tom Cutter, director of Network Services at Informational Technology Services; Paul LaRocque, head chef at Bread Loaf in the summer and head chef at Le Chateau in the winter; Linda Ross, assistant director of Custodial Services; and Charlotte Tate, assistant director of the Center for International Affairs. The awards were taken to be very well deserved.
"The staff keeps Middlebury running. They are incredible human beings. I am glad to see the awards given at a public event, it gives them recognition," Ross Commons Dean Janine Clookey said.
The awarded staff members were selected on the criteria of leadership, stewardship, attitude and community service. The award comes from a gift from Professor Emeritus of Sociology Rudolf Haerle. In the future, students will also be granted the opportunity to nominate staff, and the awards will be presented annually at the May Day celebration.
Construction of LaForce and the adjoining Ross Dining Hall began in September of 2000. Tai Soo Kim Partners of Hartford, Conn., designed the buildings, which Barr & Barr of New York City constructed. The project, like the construction of other College buildings, highlighted Middlebury's committment to local resources and services. The College is a partner in the Cornerstone Project, a plan organized by the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports using Vermont goods and services. Sixty percent of the lumber used came from local College forests.
LaForce Hall provides 67 seniors with high quality housing in the form of four bedroom suites, each with a kitchen and bathroom, and 11 singles that share a lounge and kitchen. Ross Dining Hall seats 275 and offers an array of food from deli to a Mongolian grill.
LaForce Hall is named for the late Arnold LaForce '35, former chair of the Board of Trustees.
"Arnold LaForce really cared about the College and its students. I would really like to thank him," Clookey said.
The completion of the new building marked Ross Commons as the first fully articulated commons on campus. Ross now provides a neighborhood atmosphere for Ross students. It melds academics and social life through continuing student membership, decentralized dining and proximate faculty residence. As the other Commons are completed in future years, each with its own dining hall, the dining halls will become less crowded.
"Smaller dining spaces encourage people to linger after meals for conversation. Conversation opens doors to informal learning and enriching interaction, which is entirely different form the learning that occurs in the class room," President John McCardell said.