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Middlebury College

Middlebury College
Middlebury College seal.svg
Latin: Collegium Medioburiense Viridis Montis
Motto Scientia et Virtus (Latin)
Motto in English
Knowledge and Virtue
Type Private - Liberal Arts
Established November 1, 1800 (1800-11-01)
Endowment $1.101 billion
President Laurie L. Patton
Academic staff
331
Undergraduates 2,526
Location Middlebury, Vermont, U.S.
44°00′32″N 73°10′38″W / 44.00889°N 73.17722°W / 44.00889; -73.17722Coordinates: 44°00′32″N 73°10′38″W / 44.00889°N 73.17722°W / 44.00889; -73.17722
Campus Rural, 350 acres (1.4 km2)
Colors Blue & White
         
Athletics NCAA Division IIINESCAC
Nickname Panthers
Affiliations
Website www.middlebury.edu
Middlebury College logo.svg
University rankings
National
Forbes 34
Liberal arts colleges
U.S. News & World Report 4
Washington Monthly 16

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont. The college was founded in 1800 by Congregationalists making it the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,526 undergraduates from all 50 states and 74 countries. Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts, humanities, literature, foreign languages, social sciences, and natural sciences.

The college is the first American institution of higher education to have granted a bachelor's degree to an African-American, graduating Alexander Twilight in the class of 1823. Middlebury was also one of the first formerly all-male liberal arts colleges in New England to become a coeducational institution, following the trustees' decision in 1883 to accept women. In 1886, May Belle Chellis was the first woman to graduate and she was the valedictorian (although she was not allowed to address the graduating class because she was a woman). Middlebury was listed as tied for the fourth-best liberal arts college in the U.S. in the 2016 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Middlebury's 31 varsity teams are known as the Middlebury Panthers and compete in the NCAA Division III's NESCAC conference. The school is known for its graduate programs that focus on language, political science and entrepreneurship.

Middlebury received its founding charter on November 1, 1800, as an outgrowth of the Addison County Grammar School, which had been founded three years earlier in 1797. The College's first president—Jeremiah Atwater—began classes a few days later, making Middlebury the first operating college or university in Vermont. One student named Aaron Petty graduated at the first commencement held in August 1802. The College's founding religious affiliation was loosely Congregationalist. Yet the idea for a college was that of town fathers rather than clergymen, and Middlebury was clearly "the Town's College" rather than the Church's. Chief among its founders were Seth Storrs and Gamaliel Painter, the former credited with the idea for a college and the latter as its greatest early benefactor. In addition to receiving a diploma upon graduation, Middlebury graduates also receive a replica of Gamaliel Painter's cane. Painter bequeathed his original cane to the College and it is carried by the College President at official occasions including first-year convocation and graduation. Alexander Twilight, class of 1823, was the first black graduate of any college or university in the United States; he also became the first African American elected to public office, joining the Vermont House of Representatives in 1836. At its second commencement in 1804, Middlebury granted Lemuel Haynes an honorary master's degree, the first advanced degree ever bestowed upon an African American.


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