Ian Baucom is set to become Middlebury College’s 18th president after a unanimous recommendation from the college’s presidential search committee, the university announced Wednesday.
Baucom has served as executive vice president, provost and English professor at the University of Virginia since 2022.
“There are a handful of defining colleges and universities across the globe,” Baucom said in the college’s announcement. “Middlebury is one of them.”
Baucom’s predecessor, Laurie Patton, stepped down in December, after becoming Middlebury’s first female president and leading the college for a decade. Steve Snyder, the former dean of Middlebury Language Schools, has served as interim president since Patton’s departure and plans to continue in that role until Baucom begins July 1.
“He is a big thinker about the future of education and the role of liberal arts, but he is also student centric, relationship driven, and spoke passionately about the importance of place in learning and about Middlebury’s campus in Vermont,” search committee chair Kirtley Cameron said in the announcement.
Baucom will also hold a position as tenured professor in the college’s Department of English.
Before becoming provost at the University of Virginia, he was dean of its College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences for eight years, where he led a major revision of its undergraduate curriculum during his tenure, according to the college’s announcement.
As provost, he saw the University of Virginia’s research spending and grant-awarding reach record highs, with the college reporting $700 million in research funding for 2024, according to the announcement. He also oversaw a $5 billion fundraising campaign at the university that has already reported $5.6 billion in commitment.
Middlebury College is in the midst of its own significant fundraising campaign, which has already brought in $510 million of a $600 million goal. Simultaneously, the new president will be tasked with managing efforts to shrink the college’s endowment spend rate from 5.5% to 5%, Patton told the Middlebury student paper in an exit interview.
“The presidency is a defining role for an institution,” Baucom said in a video included in the announcement. “And to accept the position as president means that you have the responsibility to serve a community that is present to you, community that has preceded you, in this case by centuries. And you’re also serving a future to come.”
