Dear Colleagues,

I hope this message finds you feeling restored after winter break and energized for this spring semester. My warmest Lunar New Year wishes to all: 祝大家新春快乐，兔年大吉，健康平安！새해 복 많이 받으십시오 !

These are the Institute Council’s key initiatives this spring:

New Offerings 

Online MPA with a Sustainability Focus (Target launch: January 2024)

Based on our market research, we’ve identified the next new online program we plan to move forward: an online MPA with a focus on climate resilience and sustainability (name TBD). This is a cross-program initiative, with Maha Baimyrzaeva, Scott Pulizzi, and Lyuba Zarsky leading the instructional design together with the DLINQ team.

I’ve recorded this short video to share why I’m particularly excited about the potential of this opportunity and how it leverages our strengths.

MA in Cybersecurity (Target launch: Fall 2024)

We also hope to develop and launch a MA in Cybersecurity in fall 2024, for which we’ll request an additional faculty hire, with the posting going up in early 2023.

Online Microcredentials in TLM & Financial Crimes (Target launch: Fall 2023)

We plan to launch two 6-credit (3 courses each) microcredentials on these in-demand areas in September 2023. 

Online Infrastructure     

We’re building out our infrastructure and policies to support the expansion of online offerings. We are in continued conversations with online program management (OPM) providers with plans to finalize our contract by fall 2023. The new online MPA will be the first program that will have external marketing support from an OPM.

Existing Program Opportunities      

Strengthen TLM Teaching Capacity

We are posting for a new TLM faculty in early 2023 to address current overloads/course size issues in our TLM program.

T&I Transformation

Our T&I Task Force is finalizing its recommendations to the Provost and an implementation plan will be finalized by June.

It’s important to note that we are also continuing our work to bring more Middlebury undergraduates to study in Monterey, which is being led by colleagues in Vermont.

We’ve moved to setting Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for each quarter, rather than by semester. I’ll be sharing the final OKRs in the next two weeks with the project plan and interim milestones for these initiatives.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week –

JDJ