Laurie L. Patton was named the next president of Middlebury College, the high-ranking liberal arts institution in Vermont. She will take office on July 1, 2015. Dr. Patton currently serves as professor of religion and dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Professor Patton was named dean at Duke in 2011. From 1996 to 2011, she was the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Religions at Emory University in Atlanta. Earlier, she taught at Bard College in New York. Dr. Patton is the author or editor of nine books including Jewels of Authority: Women and Text in the Hindu Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2002). She is the past president of the American Society for the Study of Religion.
Professor Patton is a graduate of Harvard University, where she majored in Celtic languages and comparative religion. She holds a master’s degree from Chicago Divinity School and a Ph.D. in the history of religions from the University of Chicago.