middbriefs

Author: Scott Greene

LeRoy Graham named new College registrar

The College announced the appointment of LeRoy Graham to the position of College registrar on Nov. 4. Graham, the former senior associate registrar at Dartmouth College, will be guide the operations of an office responsible for registration and record-keeping for 2,350 undergraduates and about 1,800 additional students enrolled in the Language Schools, Schools Abroad and Bread Loaf School of English.

Graham is a native of North Springfield, Vt. and a graduate of the University of Vermont. He replaces Pamela Anastassiou, the former registrar who left in June to pursue other opportunities.

Dartmouth College, where Graham worked for eight years, uses the same information management system as Middlebury College, called "SCT Banner." Even before working at Dartmouth, Graham worked for SunGard Higher Education (SCT) as a consultant in the development of the Bannerweb system.

"Leroy has an impressive knowledge of the Banner student information system and of technology in general," Dean of the Faculty Susan Campbell said in a press release. "He also has demonstrated skills in working effectively with students, faculty and staff. I look forward to working with such a qualified and capable professional."


National media revives "Picking up Butch"

The recent republication of "Picking up Butch" by Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated has generated a renewed buzz behind one of the longest-running and deeply respected College traditions, in which two or three first-year athletes pick up Butch Varno from his Middlebury home and transport him to and from every home football and basketball game.

Varno, who suffers from cerebral palsy, has been the subject of the Middlebury tradition "Picking up Butch" for the past 48 years. After he and his mother were flooded out of their apartment in town and forced to relocate to temporary housing, the College responded by paying for half of a house on South Street. The other half of the payment was raised through a college initiative.

Following the second publication of Reilly's column, ESPN ran a feature on Varno during an edition of SportsCenter, and millions more saw his story on "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." Butch was also featured in Steve Hartman's "Assignment America" segment for the same show, which aired on Friday, Nov. 2. In addition, the Boston Globe Magazine will run a feature story about Varno on Nov. 11.


WRMC to play mashup contest entries on-air

The College's radio station, WRMC, 91.1 FM, is holding a mashup contest and will devote airtime to the submissions it receieves between now and the contest deadline on Nov 23.

WRMC General Manager Ernest Russell '09 said that the station is looking forward to this contest and expects it to generate a good amount of submissions.

"We're inviting people to make their own songs using other artists materials and submit them," he said, "similar to something Girl Talk does."

Entries may be no more than four minutes long, and genre or genres are up to participants. Winning entries will be added to the radio station's rotation and broadcast accross the Champlain Valley. In addition, the winning entries will be streamed on both the WRMC Web site and its blog.