College's alumni network goes global

Author: Derek Schlickeisen

The College has added two international members to its Board of Trustees and is working to expand career and internship opportunities abroad, working toward the dual goals identified in last spring's Strategic Plan of building stronger ties with international alumni and attracting more foreign applicants for admission.

These efforts come on the heels of the affiliation of Middlebury and the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) last fall, as well as the recent establishment of the Davis United World College Scholars Program headquarters at Middlebury. Respectively, the affiliation and the Davis Scholars Program have added nearly 8,000 graduates - many of them foreign citizens - to the College's alumni pool and brought more international students to Middlebury through the United World Colleges.

Both President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz and Vice President for College Advancement Mike Schoenfeld have made numerous trips abroad in recent years, including a visit to the College's first international alumni chapter in London. Liebowitz emphasized that efforts directed at cultivating international connections have focused on expanding networking opportunities for students at the College rather than simply working to raise money abroad.

"Strengthening Middlebury's network so that our current students can benefit from internships, job opportunities, advice and contacts around the world is the single most important thing right now," Liebowitz said. "These things take time, but the results have been worth the wait [in the past] and I would venture to say the same will be true when it comes to building a strong international network of alumni and friends of the College."

In building this network, the College may benefit from the assistance of two new international trustees who joined the Board this fall: Louis Bacon '79 of London and Olivier Halley '91 of Brussels.

"I think the symbolism of their involvement in and commitment to Middlebury College is powerful," said Dean of Planning John Emerson, "and I think their contributions to the College over the coming years well be very important."

Schoenfeld and Executive Director of Career Services Jaye Roseborough added, however, that developing better ties with international alumni from both the College and MIIS can help current students improve their prospects for jobs and internships abroad.

"We expect that our alumni will help our students and our new graduates to find internships and then jobs in fields of work all over the world," Schoenfeld said.

Roseborough said that Career Services plans to take advantage of opportunities presented by the 8,000 MIIS alumni now available to College students by incorporating them into MiddNet Online, a searchable career networking database for students looking at internships and jobs both domestically and abroad.

"Once a student has identified a specific area of interest, emailing appropriate alumni for assistance in exploring possibilities abroad is a great next step," Roseborough said. The MiddNet database now includes mostly College graduates, as well as graduates of the summer Language Schools.

Roseborough said she would travel the week of Nov. 27 to MIIS to begin work on a cooperative career service program by which the College and MIIS can make use of each other's alumni networks in the job placement process.

In addition to building ties with international alumni, the College's Strategic Plan, adopted unanimously by the Board of Trustees last spring, places an emphasis on courting more international applicants to the College. Schoenfeld's international travel this fall has taken him to Norway, the United Kingdom and Italy - three of the twelve United World College locations.

"Building on the successes made possible through the Davis United World College Scholars Program," the Plan reads, "our prospects for continued progress in [maintaining strong international enrollment] are bright."

A number of international students said that they valued the College's increasing focus on their contributions to the student body, although they hoped the College would continue to build on the opportunities available to them.

"I appreciate how much Middlebury does for international students," said Robert Koeller '09 of Monte Carlo. "I think it's definitely a better program than what foreign students at other schools get. But I still think that they use the number of foreigners on campus as a selling point for the school rather than making it a substantive program with more benefits for students."

Despite his concerns, Koeller said he would nonetheless make an effort after graduating to help College students should they choose to study or work abroad.