Language professor Clara Yu, who served as president of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and held several leadership positions at Middlebury College, died on January 1, 2026, at age 77. Yu spent nearly two decades at Middlebury, where she played a significant role in advancing language education.
Former Middlebury president Ron Liebowitz said, “It was a real pleasure to work with her. Clara was one-of-a-kind: creative, brilliant, collegial, and selfless. She did administrative work for all the right reasons and saw the possibilities in even the longest of long shots that might expand and enrich our students’ education. The College, Language Schools, Schools Abroad, and MIIS all benefited greatly from her talents and dedication.”
Yu was born in Chongqing, China in 1948 and moved to Taiwan as a child. She earned a BA in English from National Taiwan University before moving to the United States for graduate studies. She received her PhD in comparative literature from the University of Illinois. Before joining Middlebury in 1987 as an assistant professor of Chinese language and literature, she taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Maryland.
In 1992 Yu published a bilingual poetry collection titled “To the Interior: Poems by Clara Yu.” She received tenure at Middlebury in 1993 and later became vice president for languages and director of the Summer Language Schools. In these roles she restructured operations for both the Language Schools and Schools Abroad programs and developed a three-year program that became a model for Middlebury’s international studies major. In 1996 she founded the Center for Educational Technology at Middlebury.
Yu also helped establish the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) in 2001—a nonprofit organization that promoted technological innovation among more than 80 liberal arts colleges—and served as its first director.
She briefly retired but returned to assist with Middlebury’s acquisition of what became known as the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). From 2006 to 2008 she served as president of MIIS.
Former president John McCardell stated: “Clara was a dynamo—intelligent, articulate, amazingly well-read, and, perhaps most to the benefit of the College, entrepreneurial. Those traits manifested themselves in so many ways and so many places—in the classroom, with colleagues, and especially before donors, most especially the Mellon Foundation, without whose support the NITLE initiative simply would not have happened. Her gifts were many, her leadership exemplary, her devotion to Middlebury abiding, and her impact both on the College and in the wider world of technology and language pedagogy profound and enduring.”
Trustee Emeritus William “Bill” Kieffer III ’64 added: “Clara was devoted to MIIS and she was devoted to Middlebury. Her books of poetry bring to life the world around us. She was one of the most self-effacing individuals I have ever known, and her memory will be with me forever.”
Yu is survived by her husband John Deppman; three sisters May Yu Tsao, Hsiang Yu Pan, Alice Yang Yu; ten nieces and nephews; John’s children Ann Deppman, Hsiu-Chuang Deppman, Benjamin Deppman; their families including ten step-grandchildren; one step-great-granddaughter; while predeceased by her brother James Zhao Yu and stepson Jed Deppman.
The family requests that those wishing to honor Clara Yu’s memory do so through small acts of kindness.
