After twelve successful years as President of Middlebury College (1992-2004), John M. McCardell, Jr. is now President Emeritus and College Professor. As President, McCardell led a 10-year strategic planning effort that boldly projected a 15 percent increase to an enrollment of 2,350 by the year 2004, an addition of 30 new faculty, and a facilities plan for $200M in new or renovated space (including a 220,000-square-foot science center and a new library). The "Vision for Middlebury College" articulated a case for "peaks of conspicuous excellence" in language, literature, international studies, and environmental studies, and created a residential commons system that integrates student life in small, continuing communities of residential clusters that include living, dining, and faculty residences. To support these strategic initiatives, McCardell led a successful capital campaign, which exceeded its $200M goal by almost $12M, and a second mini-campaign for $40M. In honor of McCardell’s service as president, the board of trustees named the College’s science center, “John M. McCardell Jr. Bicentennial Hall,” created an endowed professorship that will bear his name upon his retirement, and established an endowed fund, the “John and Bonnie McCardell Scholarship,” which will support a student or students from the South who attend the College. 

Prior to becoming president, McCardell served the College in multiple positions, beginning in 1976 as a faculty member. In 1985 he became Dean for Academic Development and Planning, in 1988 Dean of Faculty, in 1989 Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and in 1991 Acting President.

During his distinguished career, McCardell chaired reaccredidation reviews for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges at Salve Regina University and Merrimack, Colby, Wheaton, Bates, and Hamilton Colleges. He served as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina both in 1980-81 and 1995-96 and as a Scholar-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort in 2002. He was a member and chair of the Founders Award Committee of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, a member of the Vermont Business Roundtable, a participant and speaker at the “Universities Project” at the 1997 Salzburg Seminar, chair of the New England Small College Athletic Conference, and a member, vice chair and chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council.

McCardell is currently Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and is on the boards of the national Bank of Middlebury, “Child Care Counts,” Community Financial Services Group, and the National Civil War Museum in Tredegar, Richmond, Virginia.

A native of Maryland, McCardell attended both Washington and Lee University and The Johns Hopkins University for A.B. degree, which he earned in 1973. He received his Ph.D. in 1976 from Harvard University. McCardell also received an honorary Litt.D. degree in 1997 from Washington and Lee University and an honorary L.H.D. from St. Michael’s College.