Eric Davis preps for retirement Secretary of the College to step down after Commencement

Author: Myra Palmero

In March 2004, Secretary of the College Eric Davis announced that he would be stepping down from his position as Secretary after May 2005 Commencement to join the faculty as a full-time Professor of Political Science before his final retirement in January 2008.

Though Eric Davis was appointed as Secretary of the College in 1997, he had been part of the faculty since 1980 as a Political Science professor. In 1991 he was appointed as dean of academic programs, and chief information officer in 1997. In his 25 years at Middlebury, Davis has been involved with academic and curricular matters, having served on the Educational Affairs Committee or its predecessor committees for 18 of the 25 years.

Before current President Ronald D. Liebowitz was appointed president in April, Davis decided to step down as Secretary, believing that whoever was to become the new president should have the opportunity to fill a senior administrative position with someone who would be able to spend years developing the changes that the new administration would be making. Though Davis has enjoyed working as an administrator, tackling the College's interesting issues, being a part of the College's changes in the last, watching Fred Rogers sing the "Mr. Rogers" theme song and being able to give Meryl Streep stage directions at Commencement, he did not want to spend the rest of his remaining years before retirement in Old Chapel. Davis said, "I have always considered myself a political scientist who has happened to be in the administration, rather than a professional administrator, and I knew it was time for me to be spending more time teaching about, reading about, thinking about, and writing about politics."

Davis recounted that in his 25 years at Middlebury, three administrative accomplishments of which he is most proud are chairing the committee that developed the first-year seminar program from 1985 to 1988, participating in decisions about the 30-position growth of the faculty, and chairing the committee that developed the program for the new library.

Of the First-Year Seminar program, Davis stated, "The FYS program has been one of the most significant curricular changes at Middlebury in the past quarter-century, guaranteeing all first-year students a place in a small, writing-intensive seminar in their first semester and having those students' faculty adviser be the teacher of one of their courses, whom they see two or three times a week in class."

Of the new library, Davis commends Gwathmey Siegal and Associates' firm for translating the College's hope for a library that would "reflect the centrality of the academic enterprise in the life of Middlebury College" into the architecture on the historic "front lawn" of the campus, Old Stone Row. Despite the many changes and strides that the College has taken, however, Davis says that Middlebury continues to exemplify values of when he first arrived in 1980 of recognizing every Middlebury member's unique qualities and the importance of faculty-student interaction at a liberal arts college.

Davis looks forward to returning to the faculty, working with students and teaching what he calls a "mix of new and old standard courses" in his last two years. In the fall, he will be teaching his final first-year seminar on the English Cathedrals, and will be doing a "farewell tour" of his favorite political science courses: the introductory American politics course, and courses on Congress, U.S. elections, and comparative elections.

When Davis leaves in 2008, he will be devoting his time to study the response of the Democratic Party to the 2004 election results and the strategies the Democratic Party and Democratic candidates choose to pursue in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election.

Only a few months before stepping down as Secretary, Davis is optimistic that the College will continue to make great changes. Davis stated, "I am confident that under the leadership of President Liebowitz, with an extremely committed, resourceful, and energetic administrative team, and with the generous support of an engaged Board of Trustees and alumni body, this College will make even greater strides forward in the years ahead."