Save the Date! Middlebury Physics Professor to Speak at MIIS

Global Vision-Global Reach: Monterey/Middlebury Lecture Series

presents:

Richard Wolfson

Benjamin F. Wissler Professor of Physics, Middlebury College

“Nuclear Power: One Environmentalist’s Perspective.”

Wed, Nov. 11, 6:00 -7:30 pm

McGowan 102

Pro- or anti-nuclear? To this environmentalist, nuclear power is too complex for a simple “pro” or “anti” stance. On the one hand, nuclear power is decidedly dangerous, with its deadly radioactive waste, potential for accidents and terrorist attacks, and its connection to nuclear weapons. On the other hand, nuclear power provides a significant fraction of the world’s electricity, and does so with minimal carbon emissions. The nuclear option is one of only two long-proven, large-scale alternatives to fossil fuels for electric power generation. And the very thing that makes nuclear power dangerous—its high energy density—also means that the nuclear option uses far fewer resources and generates far less waste than fossil fuels. So how should an environmentalist view nuclear power? This talk gives one environmentalist’s nuanced answer.

President’s Message on Health and Welfare Benefits

Dear Monterey Institute Faculty and Staff:

I am writing to keep faculty and staff informed regarding ongoing integration efforts that are bringing systems, processes, and policies at MIIS and Middlebury College into alignment with one another. As you know, the goal of the two boards of trustees and two presidents at MIIS and Middlebury with respect to institutional policies is to achieve parity, meaning not necessarily identical policies, but highly compatible ones that may be adapted to the unique circumstances of either campus.

In the area of health and welfare benefits, our analysis has pointed to distinct advantages with respect to both absolute cost and the coverage we get for our money when we team up with Middlebury to create a larger pool of enrollees.

At the MIIS board meeting later this month, we will be presenting a proposal to align MIIS health and welfare benefits with Middlebury’s beginning on January 1, 2010. The changes being proposed will result in more generous benefits and greater choice of providers than are available under the existing MIIS plans. The specific changes include:

o Transition MIIS to the Middlebury medical plan (a self-insured plan under which the College contracts with CBA Blue to administer its claims process)

o Transition MIIS to the Middlebury dental plan

o Existing vision plan retained by MIIS, but not added by Middlebury

o Consolidate COBRA administration

o Consolidate flexible spending administration (with retention of debit card feature for MIIS employees)

o Consolidate Employee Assistance Program (retaining student coverage at MIIS)

o Joint transition by both MIIS and Midd employees to Mutual of Omaha life insurance, disability, etc., with adjustment for California disability plan

o Implementation of income sensitive premiums at MIIS

Overall Impact of Proposal:

o Significant potential monetary savings for the Institute, that would become available to address other pressing needs

o Plans have similar or greater value

o Greater flexibility in choice of medical and dental providers

o Overall ratio of employer to employee contributions remains approximately the same

o Income sensitivity in employee contributions, based on a percent of pay

o most employees will see reduced premiums

o some more highly compensated employees will see increased premiums

o one-year transitional funding to provide the latter employees with a year to budget for the increase

Among the benefits we can look forward to if this plan is approved by the board is an enhanced ability for Middlebury Human Resources staff to assist Institute employees with questions and issues, since all Middlebury and MIIS employees will be under the same benefit plans.

Because the MIIS plan year begins in October, we will conduct an open enrollment period to continue our existing plans for the three months remaining in 2009. Open enrollment for calendar year 2010 will take place in November and December. HR staff from MIIS and Middlebury will offer a series of webinars and/or videoconferences in order to explain the various benefit plans and answer questions from faculty and staff.

We believe these changes retain all of the key components of existing health and welfare benefits for Institute employees, while offering significant cost and/or coverage advantages for many members of our community. This proposal was presented to the Faculty Senate and the Staff Advisory Team on September 15, and will be presented to the Institute’s board of trustees for approval at their regularly scheduled September 24-26 meeting. This timing will ensure our ability to implement the changes by the January 1 start of the new plan year.

We will make every effort to respond to any questions or concerns faculty or staff may have about these changes. Please direct your questions to Cathy Vincent or Michael Ulibarri in the Human Resources office.

Sunder

Advancement Leads Off in “Running One MIIS” series

On May 5, Beth McDermott gave the first presentation in the “Running One MIIS” series of discussions on the impact of reorganization and integration. If you missed it, you can download her presentation.

Additional presentation will take place every other Tuesday at noon in the Board Room.  Please check here for a complete list of topics and dates.  Next up, on May 19: HR.

Running “One MIIS”

Following up on discussions at the community-wide retreats at the end of February, President Ramaswamy, Provost Sands, and the deans-designate who will assume office in June announced a series of task forces to ensure smooth implementation of a new, streamlined administrative model for the Institute.

The One MIIS Working Group is assigned the task of analyzing and making recommendations on organizational and infrastructural issues regarding

• the reorganization into two schools
• the transition to full integration with Middlebury in 2010

We plan to approach this task by holding Community Feedback Sessions on each of the following topics: Advancement, HR, Admissions, Communications, Student/Academic Info Systems, Technology, Physical and Financial Resources, and Maintenance of Accreditation. The administrator(s) responsible for each of these areas will prepare a draft report that analyzes current practices, raises unanswered questions, and outlines possible changes needed for a smooth rollout of the reorganization in Fall 2009, and for integration with Middlebury in June 2010. Each of these drafts will be the topic of a Community Feedback Session:

The schedule of Community Feedback Sessions is as follows:

May 5  –  Advancement
May 19  –  HR
June 2  –  Communications
June 16  –  Admissions
June 30  –  Maintenance of Accreditation
July 14  –  Technology
July 28  –  Physical and Financial Resources
August 11  –  Student/Academic Info Systems

(All sessions from 12:15 – 1:30, locations TBA.)

All members of the Institute community are invited to attend and participate in these sessions, providing feedback to improve the drafts before they are added to a master set of recommendations to be assembled by the middle of August. Since much of the work will be done during the summer, we will post all report drafts to the Reorganization website for comment by faculty and students who wish to participate virtually. We believe this process will not only produce better reorg implementation plans in all departments, but will also provide an opportunity for each of us to understand and appreciate the work of our colleagues in other departments, creating stronger bonds of collaboration across the Institute.

Questions?  Contact Amy McGill

President Ramaswamy Announces Expanded MIIS Role for Bob Huth

I am pleased to announce that Bob Huth, a frequent visitor from Middlebury and valued partner in our preparations for financial integration, has agreed to take on a significant role in the MIIS community over the next 16 months.

Bob, who is currently Executive Vice President at Middlebury, will take on the principal responsibility for guiding and supporting our financial operations effective July 1, 2009, and lead those efforts all the way through full integration with Middlebury on June 30, 2010.

Bob has been involved in the Middlebury-Monterey affiliation since it began, and has worked diligently with colleagues at Monterey to lay the groundwork to ensure the smoothest transition possible for both Monterey and Middlebury.

A graduate of Moravian College, Bob has been at Middlebury since 1998 and is a certified public accountant with an M.B.A. from Lehigh University. Bob has over 30 years of experience in finance and accounting, including serving as Senior Vice President for Administration at Moravian College and Controller of Lehigh University.  He is a past President of the Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers (EACUBO), a former Board member of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) from 2001 to 2004, and has served as a Commissioner of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) since 2007.

Bob will spend approximately 3/4 of his time in California and, back in Vermont, will continue to oversee Middlebury’s Department of Facilities Services and real estate holdings.  He will also continue his service as a NEASC commissioner.

Bob and his wife Barbara are in the process of relocating to Monterey for the duration of this assignment, and I am sure you will all give them a warm reception.

Jim Graber, who has provided exceptional service to the Institute as interim CFO during the early stages of integration, will complete his contract at the end of June, at which time Bob will assume the title of Acting Executive Director of Business and Finance Operations at the Institute.

We are extremely grateful for Jim’s contribution to the Institute, as a six-month initial assignment turned into a two-and-a-half-year stay marked by increasing financial stability and progress toward our strategic goal of long-term sustainability.  We have been fortunate to benefit from Jim’s wisdom and experience, and he and Deb will remain in our circle of friends in the Monterey community.

M-squared Finance, Operations and Communications Group Formed

As the Institute moves closer to the June 30, 2010 date for legal integration with Middlebury, President Ramaswamy is taking steps to formalize some of the structures that we have in place for keeping the M-squared integration planning process on track.  Beginning this week, Amy McGill will chair a bi-weekly Finance, Operations and Communications group, mirroring a similar group at Middlebury.  While meetings between counterparts on both campuses (such as those in HR, IT, IA, Finance and Communications) will continue as needed to collaborate on specific projects, we hope that regular FOC meetings here will enable us to better coordinate the many facets of our evolving relationship with Middlebury.

FOC members at Monterey are:  Amy McGill (Planning, Technology and HR), Jim Graber (Finance), Steve Marino (Finance), Beth McDermott (Advancement), Jason Warburg (Communications), Jill Stoffers (Enrollment), Cathy Vincent (Human Resources).

Members of the community who have questions or concerns relating to integration are welcome to bring those issues to any member of the FOC group, and we’ll report back regularly with news of our progress.

Cathy Vincent Returns to MIIS HR

If you didn’t get to say goodbye to Cathy Vincent when she returned to Middlebury in November, don’t worry – now you can say hello!  Cathy will be returning to Monterey, beginning Monday, January 26.

Cathy will continue to co-manage the HR department with Michael Ulibarri, but we have reconfigured their job responsibilities so that each of them will have oversight of specific HR functions.  Michael will continue to serve as the primary point of contact for staff and student HR issues, while Cathy will focus on developing more specialized HR processes and services for faculty.  Cathy will also be the primary liaison with Middlebury HR for integration issues, including our shared HR information systems. Michael will continue to focus on compliance, training and development. Together, they are charged with pursuing the following priorities for strengthening MIIS HR, as we move toward integration with Middlebury:

1. Continue transition of benefits and compensation management to Middlebury;
2. Educate members of the community about important policies and procedures, leading to a culture of cooperation and compliance;
3. Differentiate and improve HR capacity for faculty recruitment and services;
4. Provide orientation opportunities for new faculty and staff that are tailored to the needs of those groups;
5. Develop, collaboratively with Middlebury, “21st century employment practices” that take into account mobility and work-life balance issues.

Got Kids? Get Language!

If you have children who are interested in a summer immersion language programs — or you have friends who do — check out the Middlebury Monterey Language Academy. In its second year offering French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic, MMLA programs help middle and high school students leap ahead of their peers in language proficiency.

AACSB Accreditation News

Here is some good news, just in time for the holidays: In October, Middlebury president Ron Liebowitz submitted a substantive change request to AACSB.  This request described the planned academic reorganization at MIIS in the context of integration with Middlebury.  This week, we received notification from AACSB that that our re-accreditation process can continue as originally scheduled:

“Your letter and supporting materials dated 30 October 2008 were reviewed by the AACSB Maintenance of Accreditation Committee at its meeting on 8 December 2008. On behalf of the committee, we appreciate the thoroughness of the report on the integration of the Monterey Institute of International Studies into Middlebury College.  At this time, MAC does not see the need to change any of our plans regarding the next review of the business programs at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.”

This means that our next re-accreditation visit will occur in 2011.

Website Changes

Our website is the main source of information on our programs for prospective students. Recruitment for these new students starts earlier and earlier each year.  Considering that our new students in Fall 2009 will be attending MIIS under a new administrative structure, it is important that our website best represent both our current programs and the future changes.  Beginning immediately, we will replace references to specific schools and their acronyms with program references and institute references where applicable.  In most situations, this is an improvement to our site, since prospective students rarely understand our alphabet soup.

The website will retain its structure and the content will remain the same, we’re just changing some titles.  This is quick fix to a website that is in need of facelift.  A more extensive re-design is currently planned to take place during the spring and summer of 2009.

We need your help! If you are adding content to the website, please refrain from specific school references.  When updating documents or PDF’s on the website, please scan the pages for graduate school names and make changes where appropriate.

If you have any questions, please contact Lynn McDonald or Jill Stoffers.

Reorganization Planning Begins November 13

Monterey Institute faculty, staff, and students are all invited to join President Designate Sunder Ramaswamy for an initial discussion about the MIIS reorganization planning process on Thursday, November 13, 2008.

The agenda of the meeting will be to share guiding principles, expected outcomes, and indicative timeline with the MIIS community, including how the community will be able to participate in and contribute to the reorganization efforts going forward.  In addition, there will be a brief update provided on the current integration progress with Middlebury.

To enable more interactive, focused discussions, Dr. Ramaswamy will hold four one-hour meetings with faculty, staff, and students, one for each school. Administrative staff may join any of the four meetings of their choosing.  If faculty, staff, and students cannot attend their school’s session for any reason, they are welcome to attend another school’s session.  Please find the meeting schedule below:

Meeting Schedule
Thursday, November 13

12:00PM          GSTI                Irvine Auditorium

1:00PM            FGSIB             Irvine Auditorium

2:00PM            GSIPS             Irvine Auditorium

4:00PM            GSLEL            Irvine Auditorium

We look forward to your attendance and contributions as we begin this exciting process in achieving an even stronger, better institution for our future global leaders.