Day: September 8, 2008

Welcome to MIIS@work

As we work to build a cohesive community of professionals collaborating to achieve common goals, effective communication to and among faculty and staff is an indispensible ingredient for success.

This summer, Beth McDermott and Amy McGill convened a focus group of MIIS employees to learn more about how people perceive communications on campus, and how communications might be improved.

MIIS@work* grew out of that conversation.

Because we know that most MIIS employees are too busy to check a blog for news on a regular basis, we plan to email all faculty and staff a linked list of the latest stories once a week.

The blog also includes a list of links to online resources useful to MIIS employees, including the blogs published by student services and the library.

Because we learned from the focus group that there is a strong need for more information about Middlebury, and its evolving relationship with MIIS, we have included links to several Middlebury blogs, including those of the president and provost.

Communication, though, is more than just information transmission.  We need to hear your voices.  Anyone is welcome to become a contributor. Your contributions don’t all have to be traditional “news items.”  Do you have ideas about how we can strengthen the Institute and make it a more vibrant and innovative place to work?  Is there a special person or achievement you would like us all to celebrate? Your colleagues want to hear your stories!

If you want to learn how to post directly to the blog, just let us know.  If you would rather email your contributions to Amy , she’ll make sure they get posted.  You can comment on any existing post by clicking the “comments” link below the title of the post.

* Thanks to Devin Lueddeke for naming our blog!

MIIS, Bread Loaf Co-sponsor CATESOL Workshop

Patricia Szasz, Director of Intensive English Programs, and Therese Tishakov, GSLEL’s Director of Career Services, have collaborated with Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English to develop a workshop for teachers on “Creative Voices in the Classroom, ” offered on October 11 under the auspices of the Steinbeck chapter of CATESOL (California Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Other community partners in this event are the Monterey Peninsula College, Hartnell College, Youth Arts Collective, the Dare to Dream Fund, and the Steinbeck Center. The workshop will be held from 9 am to 1 pm at Hartnell College. Admission is $25 for teachers/$10 for students.

The featured speaker is Andrea Lunsford, Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of English and Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford, and writer-in-residence at the Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College.

Monterey Institute TESOL/TFL students and faculty will also have a special session with Prof. Lunsford on October 10 at 1 pm, on campus in B105.

Download flyer.

The Pizzas are Coming!

Last year’s “pizza process” led to the creation or strengthening of several programs that contribute to academic excellence and exemplify Monterey Way 2.0 principles of learning, such as open architecture and immersive learning.

  • • The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies has built a “Nonproliferation Schoolhouse” in Second Life
  • • Custom Language Services has developed a new curriculum for diplomats who want to learn English
  • • The Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics successfully piloted the DELCAT (Diploma in English Language Curriculum, Assessment and Teaching ) concept with a group of teachers from Spain this summer.
  • • The Digital Media Commons is up and running, with a media production space equipped with new iMacs on the second floor of Kade, and digital media tutors available to help faculty and staff who want to learn new skills in a project-based environment.

This year, the Innovation Incubator will challenge groups to design and implement ideas that respect the various cultures we have on campus while at the same time finding innovative solutions to the divisions and silos that get in the way of the effectiveness of the organization as a whole..

And yes, we plan to feed you lots of pizza! Stay tuned!

— from the Innovations Incubator

New Technology on Campus

The Simul2 interpretation lab now sports two new 32” Plasma screens, soon to be joined by a third unit in the Simul3 lab in the IIRC building.

In addition, each of the three Simul labs will soon receive a Sony SLV D380P – DVD/VCR combo unit, replacing the older VCRs to allow more digital content to be deployed in the interpretation booths.

A second IP-based videoconferencing site will also come on line soon. A new Polycom videoconferencing unit will generally reside in the board room, but is portable within McCone. This will complement the VC service now available in the Fletcher-Jones conference room in the Library.

How do you set up a VC?
1)    Ascertain that your videoconferencing partner has comparable equipment.
2)    Reserve the space. (Contact the President’s office for the Board Room or Ann Flower in the Library for the Fletcher Jones room, or consult with ITS about other possible locations in McCone).
3)    Make arrangements with ITS for VC support. This includes putting them in touch with a technologist at the other end for a test call.
4)    Sit down and talk with your colleague on the other side of the country—or the world.

— from Information Technology Services

First Town Hall Meeting of the Year Scheduled

Town Hall meetings have been scheduled approximately once a month throughout the fall semester, to give the Institute community a chance to hear from President Clara Yu about important new developments and directions for the Institute.  The first Town Hall Meeting, on September 18, will also include President Designate Sunder Ramswamy. Clara and Sunder will answer questions from the audience, as well as questions submitted in advance. (Look for a submission box near the Library circulation desk a couple of days before the meeting.)

Additional Town Meetings for faculty and staff are scheduled for October 28 and November 20, and a meeting for students is scheduled for September 25.

All meetings will be held in the Irvine Auditorium from 12:15PM – 1:45PM.

Fall Enrollment the Largest Ever

At last count (day 3), our fall FTE of 791 surpassed the most recent record (728), reflecting a large entering class and excellent retention of continuing students. Congratulations to our enrollment managers and admissions staff, and all those students, faculty, staff and alumni who helped to tell our story to the world.

Donors Recognized

Institutional Advancement will soon be releasing a publication recognizing those donors who made gifts to the Institute during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.  We are happy to be able to recognize and acknowledge these individuals and organizations and plan to distribute copies on campus in mid-September.

–from the Office of Institutional Advancement