Month: September 2008

A Whole New Outlook on E-mail

Tired of archiving your messages every few days?  Tired of choking on large attachments? Frustrated with size limitations on mailing lists?  Help has arrived!

All faculty and staff at the Monterey Institute now have accounts on Middlebury’s Exchange e-mail server.  The accounts are one gigabyte each – 20 times the size of the average FirstClass account.  Most staff and many faculty have already begun to use Outlook to access these accounts. (If you’re a Mac user, you’ll need to use Mac mail, Entourage, or the equivalent.) We hope to transition the remaining faculty and staff to their new email accounts as soon as possible, so we can begin the process of converting student accounts.

If you haven’t converted yet, ITS will seek you out, but if you would like to activate your new Exchange email account right away, please contact the ITS Help Desk (x6656) for an appointment.  Please leave your name, phone extension, and office number, plus a time when you would be available for an ITS staff member to visit your office, set up your mail client, and highlight some of its features for you.

– from the Information Technology Services Department

New Students Build Community

New Student Orientation was a great success. We revamped the NSO week to include two new sessions focusing on community building, planned and delivered by students Bree Bacon and Wrenn Yennie, faculty member Peter Shaw, and several dozen highly competent student, faculty and staff facilitators.

The new students were organized into groups selected to ensure diversity of program, homeland and language.  One group activity involved expressing a common identity through the creation of group logos. Students also participated in a treasure hunt that helped to familiarize them with the campus and its people and services.

The feedback from new students, facilitators and the MIIS community has been quite positive.  Many thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!

–from the Student Services Office

New Hiring Guidelines

It can be confusing to know how to proceed when you need to hire new staff. HR has tried to demystify the process by publishing new guidelines that provide a step-by-step roadmap of the process. Along the way, we consulted with several veteran supervisors who helped us to see the process through their eyes.

— from the Human Resources Office

Horan Collection Celebrated

On August 27th, Institutional Advancement held a reception to unveil the Horan Collection of Pre-Columbian Artifacts, housed on the main level of the campus library.  The collection of 35 pre-Columbian items is a generous gift from longtime Institute board member and advocate Larry Horan and his wife Jean. This collection is significant in showcasing areas of Central American culture and history and fostering an understanding of international works of art in our community.  We hope that you will stop by to view and appreciate this exhibit, or visit it online.

— from the Office of Institutional Advancement

Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation Supports IPSS Scholarships

Continuing an almost 30-year tradition of supporting the Monterey Institute, the Dunspaugh-Dalton Foundation recently pledged $80,000 for International Professional Service Semester (IPSS) scholarships.  Eight IPSS students (four in 2009 and four in 2010) will be selected on the basis of academic strength, experience, and financial need to be Dunspaugh-Dalton Scholars. Each student will receive a $10,000 scholarship ($5,000/semester) in their second year to specifically support their studies and IPSS endeavors.

— from the Office of Institutional Advancement

Technology Support Reorganizes to Provide Better Service

Over the summer several technology support centers around campus have been merged to make it easier for students, faculty and staff to find the support they need.

  • • The former Lab Support Center and Wireless Laptop Support Center have merged to become the new Student Technology Services area (located in CF448). Wen Lu supervises this are, providing one-stop technology services for all students on campus.
  • • Staff from the former Lab Support Center have merged with staff from the former AV Center to become the new Lab & Media Services area, which now works out of the former AV Center (Morse A100).  Norman Metcalfe supervises this new combined service area.  Lab & Media Services now provides extended service hours for classroom, lab and AV technology needs around campus.
  • • The Teaching and Learning Collaborative manages the new Digital Media Commons, both of which can be found in the Kade Technology building.   Supervising both areas is Bob Cole.  TLC provides assistance for faculty members seeking to use technological tools to facilitate student learning. DMC offers a well-equipped space staffed with mentors for faculty, staff and students working on digital media projects.
  • • The Information Technology Services department continues to work with all of the new areas above, and continues to provide technology services for faculty, staff and students from the ITS Help Desk.   Supervising this area is John Grunder, with help from Trinidad Gomez, Gustavo Carvalho, Norman Metcalfe, Wen Lu and AnneMarie Steiger.

Here’s a contact list for Fall 2008.  This list describes each area and provides telephone and email addresses to contact for services.

— from the Information Technology Services Department