Year: 2008

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.

Staff Receive “Above and Beyond” Awards

One of the highlights of the annual MIIS faculty and staff holiday party is the announcement of recipients of the Institute’s Above and Beyond Awards. As described in the Employee Handbook,

The Above and Beyond Award was established in 2006 to recognize employees of the Institute who go above and beyond the normal duties of their position.

This year’s awards went to Sam Bravo, Ann Flower, and Kathy Sparaco.  Congratulations!

To Sam Bravo, Maintenance Assistant, In recognition of his countless hours of service to the Monterey Institute campus, at all hours.  Sam is a “can do” member of the MIIS community, who doesn’t know the meaning of “that’s not my job.”  He takes great pride in his work, and genuinely cares for the Institute’s faculty, staff, and students.

To Kathy Sparaco, Manager of International Services, In recognition of the expertise and innovative ideas she has brought to the Institute, especially in supporting international students, staff, and faculty.  She is an outstanding new staff member, energetic and passionate about community building, and about providing the highest level of service.

To Ann Flower, Coordinator of Public Services for the Library, in recognition of her consistent, excellent service to faculty, staff, and students.  She is well informed, helpful, pleasant, and willing to go the extra mile.  Whether blogging, doing research, or answering inquiries, her performance is always excellent, and greatly appreciated by all.

Clara Yu Honored by City of Monterey and MIIS Colleagues

On Tuesday, December 16, the City of Monterey City Council honored MIIS President Clara Yu for her accomplishments over the past three years.  Later, at the annual faculty and staff holiday party, colleagues paid tribute to Clara and wished Clara and John a fond and regretful farewell.  Thanks, Clara, for everything, from all of us!

Appropriate Use of MIIS Faculty and MIIS Staff Email Addresses

Now that we have the capability of posting email messages to all faculty and staff simultaneously through Exchange/Outlook, we would like to suggest some guidelines to make sure that this capability is used to greatest effect to convey those messages that are truly of community-wide interest and importance.

The following guidelines are adapted from those in use at Middlebury.  They have had this capability for some time, and these general guidelines are fairly well respected by all (or the sender usually gets swift feedback from colleagues).

* Messages should relate directly to Institute events and activities. Announcements of non-Institute events, fund-raisers, activities, etc. should be handled through other channels. MIIS@work is happy to publish such announcements, and we will continue to use the MIIS Faculty and MIIS Staff emails to publish the latest blog headlines.  This gives the reader the opportunity to choose items of interest, and reduces the number of separate email messages people receive in their already-crowded boxes.

* E-mail blasts should be avoided for Institute events already listed on-line or in publications, unless there is significant supplemental information or last-minute changes in location or time.

TLC Sandbox: digital stories!

Come and open your mind to the possibilities of using new forms of media to bring your story and the stories of MIIS to the world.

This Friday, December 12, at 3:30 in Kade, Innovation Consulting will present their findings and recommendations on how MIIS can implement a new broadcasting movement to build community,
break down barriers and connect us to the world.

Learn about new programming ideas capturing alumni stories from the field, recording current students working in far off places, highlighting our amazing and talented faculty and producing new signature content showcasing the Monterey Way 2.0.

Come learn how this idea can impact you!

Panel discussion about the Russian-Georgian conflict

On December the 3rd about 40 Monterey Institute community members were given a chance to inform themselves more thoroughly and discuss about the ongoing conflict in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The two-hour event hosted by the MIIS Conflict Resolution Association featured in addition to speakers from our own university also a foreign guest- Mr. Andrey I. Belousov from the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in San Francisco.

He was supported by Mr. Alexander Melikishvili from James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies and Professor Gordon M. Hahn. Speakers introduced their viewpoints about the conflict and discussed the possibilities of its peaceful resolution.

For further information please contact:

Andreas Sepp
MA Candidate Spring 2010
MIIS International Policy Studies, Conflict Resolution
831-2246-798
andreas.sepp@miis.edu

Staff Members Discuss Formation of Representative Group

Fifty staff members met Thursday afternoon in Irvine auditorium to initiate discussion about providing an ongoing and sustained voice for staff at the Monterey Institute.

The meeting was facilitated by Provost Amy Sands, but was quickly turned over to break-out groups of staff members who brainstormed possible approaches to representation.

There was broad interest in developing a vehicle analogous to the faculty senate that would represent staff perspectives and concerns in a constructive way that contributes to excellence across the institution.  A working group emerged from this meeting, charged with looking at next steps, such as:

1) Getting more info about who staff are at MIIS;
2) Looking at other institutions to see how their staffs are organized,
starting with Middlebury;
3) Talking to Jeff Wood and others who might have been directly
involved with previous MIIS Staff Groups;
4) Expanding the group of 6 to include 10-12 core members since several staff groups could not attend yesterday’s meeting.

The working group members are:

Karen Weiss
Priscilla Lorenzo
Toni Thomas
Lynn McDonald
Susan Wolfe
Erika Johnson

An Invitation to Be the Solution!

Contribute to a community-wide perspective on big issues: academic excellence, interdisciplinary synergies, Monterey Way 2.0 teaching and learning, student-centered services, “one MIIS.”

Identify and prioritize tasks that need to be accomplished in a semester-long planning process.

What: Half day planning retreats in support of administrative reorganization

Who: Faculty, Staff and Students – choose one or more retreats to attend, based on your interests. Sign up HERE.

When:

* Graduate School of International Policy and Management – Friday, February 20, retreat from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, followed by lunch from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.
* Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation and Language Education – Friday, February 20, lunch from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., retreat from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
* Advising and Student Services – Friday, February 27, lunch from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., retreat from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Where: All retreats will take place at the La Playa Hotel in Carmel

Why: The retreats are designed to kick off a semester-long planning process resulting in organizational roadmaps for the two new graduate schools and for a new office of advising and student services.

Expected outcomes include:

* A sense of common purpose and direction, as we move forward
* Excitement about new ideas and synergies
* A set of planning groups with clear tasks for the spring semester, leading to a smooth implementation of the new organizational structure in the summer of 2009

Examples of some of the questions we will consider:

* What will the internal structure of each school look like?
* How will we encourage synergies in program development between the two schools?
* How will the new program heads function within each school, vis-a-vis their deans, their faculty?
* How will the advising and student services functions be organized?
* How will the advising and student services staff interact with the two schools?
* How will the advising and student services functions interact with other administrative areas, such as admissions and alumni relations?
* How will we encourage-disciplinary collaboration and research opportunities among programs and schools?

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS AN FAQ ON THE REORGANIZATION PLANNING PROCESS.

“Engaging with Change” Workshops Resume

A reminder for staff participating in the “Engaging with Change” workshop series with Dr. Paul Porter:  the third session will take place on Tuesday, December 2, and the final workshop will take place on Monday, December 15. Location: Board Room.

Last Friday TLC offered a digital storytelling workshop in which participants created a “superhero” based on the strengths they identified in the first two workshops.  Check this out.

MIIS.edu Redesign Project Launched

The Monterey Institute is collaborating with Middlebury College colleagues to give web sites on both campuses a makeover.  You can read about the Middlebury project on their web makeover blog.  We hope to leverage Middlebury’s expertise to help us make innovative and cost-effective decisions about design, information architecture and delivery.

We’ve also assembled a team of volunteers to guide the planning process on our end. You can follow our progress here.  As a first step, we’re reaching out to everyone on campus for input. Help us build a site that reflects our commitment to excellence, innovation, and appreciation!

You can start by taking our brief survey.

In December and January, we’ll conduct a series of focus groups to further explore what we learn from the survey. To volunteer for a focus group, contact Lynn McDonald.

Why Wii?

The unveiling of the Wii in the Digital Media Commons last Friday added a dimension of hilarity, energy, and friendly competition to a successful Institutional Advancement and TLC sponsored event that was designed to blend learning with play and build community among MIIS staff.

It also raised questions for some: why are we buying toys when we need (you fill in the blank)…?

Here are some things to think about:

(1) Generally,  “play” unleashes creativity and enhances learning. To explore this idea, check out Tim Brown’s TED Talk.

(2) Specifically, the Wii controller makes possible a particular kind of activity that invokes our kinesthetic learning ability.  There is a great deal of interest in using this new tool to enhance learning in virtual spaces.  For example:

Lane Kuhlman, a graduate student at Ohio State, is studying gesture based interaction and its role in educational multimedia.  This kind of research could have major implications for the design of simulations for intercultural communication, negotiation, or conflict resolution.

MIT Research Fellow David Stone was featured in a recent Wired article for his work building Wiimote-controlled simulations in Second Life. To the already information-rich experiences available in this virtual world, one can now add the ability to take your hands off the keyboard and speak, gesture, and move naturally through virtual environments ranging from your favorite international city to an exhibition of the latest green building technologies.

The Educause Learning Initiative is encouraging its members to investigate the potential of the Wii. See their white paper, “7 Things You Should Know about Wii.”

Finally, in another TED talk, Johnny Lee demonstrates how he turned $40 Wii controllers into a multitouch display, and into a close approximation of a $2000 interactive whiteboard, increasing access to these technologies for schools and organizations with limited resources.

(3) We would like for MIIS be at the forefront of thinking about how people learn and experimenting with ways to enhance the quality of our education.  Our limited resources have, in the past, caused us to bypass many of the technologies that our peer institutions were adopting at great cost.  Now we are in a position of competitive advantage, in that we can leapfrog some of the less versatile earlier tools for learning, and focus on tools and strategies that match our pedagogical commitment through Monterey Way 2.0 to immersive learning, high performance thinking, and open architecture.

Agree? Disagree?  Join the conversation with your comments!

MIIS Team Develops Programs for Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy

Patricia Szasz of the Institute’s Intensive English Programs, Karen Hamilton, a current MA TESOL student, and Lisa Donohoe of the Center for Non-Proliferation Studies (left to right in photo) visited Baku, Azerbaijan this past week. The purpose of their trip was to perform a curriculum needs assessment for the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy. ADA currently runs the Advanced Foreign Service Program (AFSP) to train in-service diplomats in the areas of international law, politics and organizations, economic affairs, and public diplomacy. Kenley Butler from CNS was a guest lecturer for AFSP in May 2008. The curriculum team met with ADA administrators as well as current students to determine their English language training requirements. With diplomatic posts expected to triple in the coming years, the Azerbaijan Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to ramp up their human resource capacity quickly.

ADA will also be launching a master’s degree in Diplomacy and International Affairs in the Fall of 2009. ADA hopes to attract international students from neighboring Georgia, Russia, and Turkey as well as students from Azerbaijan, and the medium of instruction will be English.  MIIS will be designing both a pre-academic summer intensive English program as well as specialized language courses in support of the master’s program.

The collaboration between the Monterey Institute seems like a natural fit, as the MA program will include specializations in International Security & Conflict Resolution, Energy & the Environment, International Business & Finance, and Caspian Basin Studies. Both institutions look forward to continued cooperation between Monterey and Baku.Patricia, Karen, Lisa

Beryl Levinger Visits Banda Aceh

IPS Distinguished Professor Beryl Levinger went to Banda Aceh for two weeks in October 2008 to work w/ Pete LaRaus, MPA ’04, deputy director of Save the Children in Banda Aceh.  The assignment was to help Save the Children develop a three-year strategic plan.  The primary challenge Save the Children faces is how to redirect the organization away from post-tsunami relief toward longer-term development programs that serve conflict-affected populations.  There was a long war for independence that has claimed many lives in the Banda Aceh region.

Beryl has been a consultant for Save the Children since 1977.  Notable among her numerous assignments is the annual State of the World’s Mothers Report.  The Report is a standard resource used by the US government and international organizations in setting policy and aid budgets for programs serving families in developing nations.  Beryl includes students and former students in her work on this major initiative.

Beryl says the biggest thrill of this latest project was the opportunity to work with Pete, her former student.  Prior to his current assignment, Pete was country director for Save the Children in Nicaragua.  Beryl  was also excited about two new collaborative technologies that she uses in her teaching, ZohoWiki and ZohoProject.  The assignment gave her the opportunity to bring to Indonesia tools and approaches she is teaching on campus and to bring back to campus real stories about how these technologies make a difference in the world of professional development practice.