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(11/16/17 12:58am)
While the temperature on Friday Nov. 10 was a brisk 26 degrees and frost covered the ground, the conversation in the conference room at the Robert A. Jones ’59 House certainly warmed up the room and created a lively, rich atmosphere. The International Politics and Economics (IPE) Department hosted its sixth annual symposium, featuring three scholars from universities across the northeast, each delivering separate lectures moderated by a chosen student majoring in IPE.
With the support of the department, Professors Douglas Irwin of Dartmouth College, Edward Mansfield of the University of Pennsylvania and Peter Schott of Yale University came to campus to give short lectures for about 30 minutes each. After each presentation, students, faculty and other community members were invited to ask questions about the topics discussed, with the first question reserved for students, as per tradition. This year’s symposium was titled, “The United States and Global Trade: Winners, Losers and the Way Forward,” and each speaker had his own addition to the conversation topic.
William Pyle, IPE program director and professor of economics, who co-organized the event along with Associate Professor of Political Science Sarah Stroup, introduced the packed audience to the afternoon’s event.
“This is the signature public event of [the] IPE program, when we invite three outside experts to speak to a question of global importance,” he said. Jeffrey Cason, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the schools, continued the introductions, noting that thinking about trade in global context is crucial, especially in today’s political climate.
“Trade is perfect topic for symposium that wants to cross borders between politics and economics,” he said.
Irwin gave the first lecture, titled “Protectionism and Economic Populism: Lessons from US History.” Irwin is the John French Professor of Economics at Dartmouth College and is the author of the recently published, “Clashing over Commerce: A History of U.S. Trade Policy”. Using examples from current politics, he showed that there is a new divide in America regarding opinions on trade that does not revolve around political parties.
“It’s not so much a left-right issue as an open-closed issue,” Irwin said. Drawing on the history of trade policy in the U.S., Irwin suggested that there have been three eras of trade policy: Revenue (1789-1860), during which Congress was given the power to tax; Restriction (1860-1934), during which there was a move to protect American interests; and Reciprocity (1934-present), during which the U.S. encouraged trade. Throughout his lecture on the histories of policy, he concluded that trade has always been a source of domestic political conflict and there has been a renewed partisan conflict in the post-Cold War era and the recent presidential election.
Continuing the conversation,Mansfield gave a presentation on American attitudes toward trade. Mansfield, professor of political science and director of the center for international politics at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the changing public mood towards U.S. trade policy. Using graphs showing the public’s opinion toward trade and economic models such as the Heckscher-Ohlin and Ricardo Viner models, he explained the various factors towards these fluctuations. In addition to volatile political economy and partisanship, Mansfield mentioned three factors of political psychology: attitudes of isolationism, nationalism and ethnocentrism.
“All three factors play a huge role in what people think about trade and globalization, but people think about [the] international part; they don’t think about the trade part,” he said, showing that the public opinion is based on an individual’s comfort with globalization, rather than a specific opinion on trade policy. Mansfield concluded his presentation with the idea that despite widespread claims that attitudes about trade reflect economic consequences, these attitudes were guided to a much larger extent by isolationism, nationalism and prejudice.
Schott concluded the set of presentations with a lecture titled “The Distributional Implications of Trade Liberalization with China.” Schott is a professor of international economics at the Yale School of Management, and one his most recent projects examines the decline of U.S. manufacturing employment during the 2000s. He recounted a brief history of U.S. manufacturing employment and trade liberalization with China. Schott also linked mortality rates in the U.S. with exposure to trade liberalization, in addition to discussing the decline of manufacturing employment in certain areas of the U.S., such as Appalachia. He finished his presentation with the recommendation to conduct more research into the factors that impede reallocation before policy can be formulated.
Pyle thought the event was a success.
“I was extremely pleased with the audience turnout. The room was full to capacity for all three of the presentations. And the quality of the presentations was uniformly high,” he said. “There’s really so much still we have to learn about how our labor markets respond to shocks, whether those are induced by trade, as was the case when China joined the WTO, or technology. Going forward, we need to understand better as a society how we can do more to spread the gains and alleviate the costs.”
Fusing together politics and economics, this year’s IPE symposium shed light on a topic very relevant to today’s society and political climate.
(11/09/17 12:28am)
Clubs and student organizations are abundant at Middlebury, ranging from a capella groups to outdoor clubs to visual arts organizations. However, one lesser-known club unites those affected by the loss of loved ones: The Dead Parents Society.
Founded by Tabitha Mueller ’18, Maddie Stewart-Boldin ’18.5, Silas Keeter ’18.5 and Joe Dempsey ’18, the club is open to students who have lost parents as well as to individuals willing to fill a support role. In a conversation, all four of them realized they had lost parents and wanted to start a club where students would feel comfortable talking about death.
“I thought a space needed to be made for students to talk about something that is so integral to who they are,” Mueller said. Often death is a taboo topic and many students do not feel comfortable talking about the passing of their parents. This organization aims to have a shared community where members can talk about not only death, but their lives at college as well. The name of the club is based on the movie Dead Poets Society, and the acronym (DPS) is also a spinoff of the acronym for the Department of Public Safety.
The club meets every two weeks over snacks and has discussions ranging from topics surrounding death and loss to general check-ins about college life.
“The conversation shifts depending on what people want to talk about,” Mueller said. In addition to their meetings, the leaders of the club will also host death day recognitions, held on the anniversary of a member’s loved one’s death. These often take place in the form of a dinner or a movie night. The group also gathers for holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah, times that can be stressful and difficult for its members.
Mueller and the other leaders of the club emphasized that the Dead Parents Society is not a therapy group; resources such as Counseling at the Parton Center for Health and Wellness and the Counseling Service of Addison County exist to assist students seeking mental help and medical attention. Rather, the group is a place for community and valuable discussion.
“It’s a space for people to gather and feel like there are no expectations placed on them in regards to the person they lost,” Mueller said. The group was created out of the need and desire to create a space that is free of judgements, as not everyone processes grief in the same way. Members of the Dead Parents Society are not just those who have lost parents; any student who has experienced the loss of a sibling or close family member in any way is welcome to join. Currently the club has between 20 and 30 members and uses a Facebook group and posters around campus to communicate its upcoming meetings and events.
Assistant Professor of Geology Will Amidon serves as the club’s advisor. As a father, he said he relishes the “deep love and support that goes on between a parent and child. It is hard for most of us to understand how losing a parent changes your worldview and your day to day social/emotional outlook.” As advisor, Amidon recognizes the need for the group and is optimistic for its growth.
“I am so glad that these students have found a way to connect with each other and find folks who do understand their experience,” he said. “It is certainly a pleasure to know these students who have a very different outlook on life than most of their peers.”
Through creating a tight community around their shared experiences and a safe environment in which they can discuss the topic of death, members of the Dead Parents Society strive to provide support and a space for those affected by the loss of loved ones.
(10/11/17 10:15pm)
A creator, filmmaker, sound designer and professor of film and media culture, David Miranda Hardy discussed the presence of trauma and memory throughout his work and own personal experiences in a lecture last Wednesday, Oct. 4. Miranda Hardy’s talk, entitled “Representing trauma: from Testimony to (Post)memory in my own artistic practice,” was the second lecture in the Carol Rifelj Faculty Lecture Series
A longtime Middlebury tradition, this year’s Carol Rifelj Faculty Lecture Series features 13 lectures by Middlebury faculty spread across various departments, and aims to put a spotlight on their research and interests.
“It’s a chance for us to build an intellectual community and learn from one another,” said Jim Ralph, dean for faculty development and research, who coordinates the series.
The series was named in Rifelj’s memory in 2010. Faculty members submit proposals prior to the commencement of the year with their lecture topic. One of the unique features about this lecture series is that faculty can present to a general audience of not just their own peers, but students, staff and local community members.
As a filmmaker, Miranda Hardy saw his lecture as a chance to reflect on his craft.
“I wanted to try to understand the impulses behind my work,” he said.
Miranda Hardy opened his lecture by using his biography and his works as a case study to talk about social and personal trauma. He most recently produced a television miniseries called “Bala Loca,” a historical thriller based on the Chilean military coup d’état and the bombing of La Moneda (the seat of the country’s president) on September 11, 1973. The miniseries, available on Netflix, attempts to use fiction as a way to display the duality between hero and victim, while also evoking emotions of fear and happiness from the audience.
“Dealing with memory can be enriching and productive, but it can also be a drag,” Miranda Hardy said in his lecture.
Away from Chile for part of his childhood, Miranda Hardy recounts that the country was thick in fear. “Fear was something in every interaction,” he said.
“Bala Loca” aims to connect the dots and repair broken ties after turbulent times in Chile. The miniseries was also nominated for a Platino Award this year, the Latin American equivalent of an Academy Award. Miranda Hardy’s lecture featured a multimedia presentation, during which he showed clips of his work in order to demonstrate trauma and postmemory. In addition to its critical reception in the U.S., the film sparked social many social conversations about the distrust in corporations and the spurious relationship between money and politics, key themes of the miniseries.
“It was a good conversation starter,” Miranda Hardy said.
According to Miranda Hardy, there is a direct connection between his creations and his teaching at Middlebury.
“I frame what I teach as a search for your own voice…, incorporating reflection and encouraging a sense of identity and community,” he said.
This semester, Miranda Hardy is teaching two courses: Writing for the Screen I and Sound Aesthetics and Production. Being at a liberal arts institution, he believes that his classes strive to include periods of reflection and assignments requiring students to use their own experiences, similar to his own work.
In addition to working as a producer for “Bala Loca,” Miranda Hardy has worked as a band member and sound engineer. His beginning works helped set him up for the miniseries, which aims to connect crimes and Chilean complementary social ailments.
After the lecture, the audience was invited to ask questions in an extended Q&A period. Ralph sees this time as a way to foster community.
“The questions are good for both the presenter and the audience,” he said. Ralph particularly enjoyed Miranda Hardy’s intertwining of his own personal story and his evolving realizations present in the miniseries. “David is a creator,” he said. Ralph believes that he is seen as someone who has made a substantial impact, and hopes that community members will discover Miranda Hardy’s artistic brilliance through watching his miniseries on Netflix.
Both Ralph and Miranda Hardy hope that that this lecture will foster connections between their peers, students and community members.
“It’s a great way to build community and understand what [faculty] do when we’re not teaching classes,” Miranda Hardy said. Similarly, Ralph believes that the line up is appealing, and some future lectures will also feature students as a presentation component.
“On so many levels what defines us is that we’re a face-to-face community and so I think that David [Miranda Hardy]’s lecture and others continue to generate intimate connections between people,” Ralph said.
(09/20/17 11:44pm)
When finding jobs, internships and other post-college opportunities, an intuitive and accessible job-searching system is key to students’ success. After experiencing drawbacks and limitations with their old platform, Mojo, the Center for Careers and Internships (CCI) has launched a new platform called Handshake, now available to all current Middlebury students.
The CCI hopes that the new system will enable students to better connect with future employers and search for opportunities tailored to their interests.
The CCI has been using Mojo for the past few years and realized that the website did not meet the diverse needs and interests of the student body.
“We were hearing a lot of concerns from students over Mojo over the number and the variety of opportunities on Mojo,” commented Samantha Haimes, Assistant Director for Communications and Outreach at the CCI. Being the primary resource at the CCI, a replacement to Mojo was needed due to its lack of a mobile-friendly design and general user-friendliness.
The process of switching platforms from Mojo to Handshake involved contributions from many community members, including employers, staff and students. The CCI tested a few different platforms before deciding to use a Handshake, used by many peer institutions. Last spring, representatives from Handshake came to campus, spending time with CCI staff members, students and IT staff.
“One of the students came into the office a few weeks later and said, ‘Are we switching to Handshake?’” Haimes said, describing this moment as confirmation from the students that it was time to make the change.
Through focus groups, the CCI learned that students expressed interest in a new system being more user friendly and having more geographic locations where students can find internships and job opportunities. Haimes said that the system and its features look and feel similar to Facebook and LinkedIn, two platforms relatively familiar to college students. After the first week of classes, 50 percent of first-year students have already logged onto the platform, showing that it is “resonating with students,” Haimes said.
The advantages of Handshake extend to employers as well. In contrast to Mojo, where employers had to create a separate profile for each school from which they would like to recruit, companies can now simply check a box to indicate that they would like to recruit from Middlebury students. This results in an increased amount of job opportunities for students, due to the ease of use for employers.
Handshake includes a wealth of intuitive features designed to assist in the job and internship searching process. For example, a user can save a job or internship search and get updates about a recently posted internship or open work position. In addition, the computer algorithm behind Handshake will display opportunities related to ones a student views or expresses interest.
“It’s nice to be able to get the information you want, care about and need,” Haimes said. She believes that Handshake will be able to better target students’ career interests and goals, as well as reducing the amount of unwanted emails in students’ inboxes.
In an effort to make Handshake the central hub for all the CCI’s contact with students, other useful resources are also available through the platform. Students can make appointments to meet with CCI advisers directly on Handshake’s website, as well as see upcoming events at the CCI. Handshake also contains a resources section, including a list of internships past Middlebury students have completed and integration with GoinGlobal, a site dedicated to finding opportunities around the globe.
Students can begin familiarizing themselves with Handshake’s new features immediately.
“It’s a great first virtual front door into CCI,” Ms. Haimes said. Once they log in with their Middlebury email and password, students can complete their profile and upload their resumé. They can also add their career interests to help Handshake determine job and internship opportunities tailored to each individual student. Haimes and her team also recommend that students simply explore the site and its new features at go/handshake.
The CCI posts weekly tips for using Handshake on their Facebook page and Instagram feed @middcci. Open to feedback on the new system.
The CCI is eager for students to contact them directly with their experiences. The CCI hopes searching for jobs and internships will become much easier with the introduction of Handshake.