Topic	Topic Leader
Land Acknowledgement	Guest: Netta Avineri, Professor TESOL/TFL, Intercultural Competence Committee Chair, Collaborative in Conflict Transformation Graduate Training in Research Pillar Lead
Wiley Contract Update	Hannah Ross & Patricia Szasz
General Updates	All: Opportunity for ILG members to chime in with general updates or questions for the group

Land Acknowledgement (Netta Avineri)

• Guest: Guest: Netta Avineri, Professor TESOL/TFL, Intercultural Competence Committee Chair, Collaborative in Conflict Transformation Graduate Training in Research Pillar Lead
• Reference: MIIS Land Acknowledgement Process, Middlebury Institute Land Acknowledgement
• Process
  • Advocacy in Action Course student project (Assoc. Prof. Kent Glenzer) (Fall 2021)
  • Student Council DEI Committee engagement (Spring 2022 & Fall 2022)
  • Ohlone Sisters “MIIS Land Acknowledgment Conversation” (Spring 2022)
  • CoLab Land Acknowledgment Learning Circle (Fall 2022) [participant survey]
  • Conflict Transformation Cohort Fellows project (Karan Kunwar & Maria Zaharatos) (Fall 2022 & Spring 2023) [student survey]
  • CoLab Graduate Assistant project (Spring 2023 & Summer 2023) [development of ‘learning and action’ resources’] 
  • Consultation with MIIS Communications Director Sierra Abukins, MIIS JEDI Officer Nicholas Creary, Middlebury General Counsel & Chief of Staff Hannah Ross (Fall 2023)
  • Coordination with MIIS Mural Project (Summer & Fall 2023)
  • Consultation with Ohlone Sisters (Ongoing, Spring 2022 – Fall 2023)
  • Discussions with Middlebury Senior Leadership Group (Fall 2023)
• Statement
  • We pause to acknowledge that the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) sits in the Village of Achasta on the ancestral and unceded land of the Ohlone (Costanoan) Rumsen/Rumsien people, a Rumsen-speaking group. Several contemporary tribes, including Esselen, call this land home today. The surrounding Monterey Bay region includes lands traditionally inhabited by the Esselen (to the south), Chalon (to the south), Mutsun (to the north), and Salinan (to the east) groups. We honor these groups’ experiences in the past, present, and future, as we work collaboratively with them to protect the land and its inhabitants.  Let us take a moment of silence to honor these Indigenous communities, past and present. We give thanks for the opportunity to respectfully share in the bounty of this place, and are working collaboratively to protect it.  We are all one in the sacred web of life that connects people, animals, plants, air, water and earth. 
• Beyond the Land Acknowledgement: Where and how do we use the land acknowledgement and make it part of our community?
  • Events
  • Syllabi
  • Public spaces (library, garden, plaque, etc.)
  • Connections with Mural project
  • Ongoing engagement with local Indigenous groups
  • Fellowship opportunities
• Our focus was on the MIIS campus, not on the entire Monterey Bay region. As a result, we wanted to engage specifically with Rumsen Ohlone, so we worked with leaders in those groups. We also worked with Essalen groups as secondary sources. In the longer version of the statement, we have the five tribes local to the region with links to more information.
• Discussion
  • How often do you recommend using the land acknowledgement during a multi-day event?
    • One idea could be at the beginning of each day or during whatever opportunity the group will all be together, especially if participation may be differ across days. 
  • For an online syllabi what is the role of land acknowledgement, understanding the more distributed nature of the people and technological resources?
    • One perspective is that this is not about the location of individual faculty members or students as much as an institutional statement. MIIS has a physical location in Monterey, and this statement is on behalf of an institution. Our land acknowledgement might inspire research from remote community members to learn more about the land and history in their location.
  • What does it mean to have a land acknowledgement, and how does this fit with other acknowledgements?
    • This acknowledgement is a recognition of the appropriation of land and harms committed against the Indigenous population. There are related conversations about understanding how we address historical harms that have been done to a wide variety of communities.
  • The College sits on the historical land of the Abenaki people and also has developed a land acknowledgement. Beyond the land acknowledgement, the Abenaki language has been introduced into the language school programs. The College also owns conserved land that is traditional Abenaki land, and has been working on an agreement to allow traditional uses in keeping with conservation practices.
  • Another form of reckoning has involved de-naming structures and spaces or revisiting honorary degrees through a process of inquiry. We want to develop principles around what it means to establish these spaces and do so in a balanced way that involves engagement with our communities and invites people to learn more about the history.
  • There is so much complexity and a broad range of questions that arise, which makes this work an ongoing iterative and interrogative process.

Wiley Contract Update (Hannah Ross & Patricia Szasz)

• We have officially signed a contract with Wiley, an expert in online program marketing, recruiting, and bringing students through the application, enrollment, and advising process. 
• Middlebury has full academic control of our programs with Wiley. The program and course content are created by us and the admissions decisions are ours. 
• Program portfolio decisions are made on a basis of mission alignment, market opportunities, and competitor programs.
• After significant research we are going to use the price point of $850/credit and our master’s degrees will be mostly 30-credit models. 
• Our programs with Wiley are intended to be operated online and distinctive from on-ground programs. Where we have similar subject areas, it will be important to distinguish the unique components of the online and on-ground offerings.
• In the master service agreement (MSA) we agreed to the first six programs that will be offered over the next 2-4 years. These are not the sum total of the programs we will work on with Wiley or in the online modality. We expect to agree on additional programs to continue to grow the online cohort of students.
• The initial six programs in the contract are:
  • MPA in Sustainability 
  • Organizational Leadership
  • Analytics
  • Educational Leadership
  • Translation & Localization Management (distinct from on-ground program)
  • Cybersecurity
• Discussion
  • Do we have access to the contract and how it reflects input from stakeholders?
    • Unfortunately it is not a public document, but can share at a high level that a number of different stakeholders were consulted during contract negotiations – Student Disability Resource Center, Student Services, IT, etc
  • Wiley has also announced they are looking for new investment or partnership in their university services department, and we may learn more about that publicly soon.

General Updates (All)

• Welcome to the ILG:
  • Daniel Chatham, Director for Academic Initiatives
  • Landry Dohou Bi, Student Constituent Representative to the Institute Board of Advisors
  • Tabitha Fleming, Assistant Director for International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS)
  • Sharad Joshi, Faculty Constituent Representative to the Institute Board of Advisors