Year: 2008

MIIS Reorganization Planning Information Published

As promised by President Designate Sunder Ramaswamy at last week’s series of meetings, here is a presentation on the administrative reorganization of the Monterey Institute’s academic programs. It provides guiding principles for the reorganization, an overview of key elements and rationale, timelines, and a preview of the process for community engagement.  Also attached is a document that describes the key leadership positions within the restructured administration and invites expressions of interest in these roles between now and December 15.

Stay tuned for further details regarding faculty and staff participation in the February retreats (dates, times, locations, how to sign up).

What’s all the yammering about?

Yammer?  What’s that?  Sounds like nonsense…

Yammer is a new tool that is currently being used by some staff, faculty and students to stay more connected.  It’s a website, just for folks with a miis.edu email account, that asks you to answer the question “What are you working on?”.  This is a simple and quick way to share what you’re doing, send out interesting articles/resources or ask questions of the MIIS community.  It can be compared to twitter or the status update from facebook, but just for the MIIS community.  Yammer started as an experiment initiated by the TLC and has now grown to include 56 members and 297 messages. 

Interesting…how do I sign up?

Simply go to www.yammer.com and put in your miis.edu email address.  You will be sent a confirmation email and redirected to our miis.edu yammer site. 

Then what?

Once on the site, please post messages to the community!  You can tag your messages, follow certain people or tags, and make work groups on specific topics.  You can also download yammer for your desktop so you don’t have to use it only on the web or install a yammer application for your iphone or blackberry.  It is simple to use and they provide a clear guide to help you learn the ropes.

See you on yammer! 

Graduate Writing Center Receives Grant

The MIIS Graduate Writing Center has received a $50,000 grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation to expand and improve its services.

The center offers writing workshops to students to prepare them for academic and professional assignments, such as cover letters, resumes, CVs, policy memos, and op-eds..

With increased funding, the center will be able to:
•    Support French, Spanish, and Arabic tutoring sessions that began this fall;
•    Offer workshops on giving and receiving effective peer feedback;
•    Provide professional development opportunities for its tutors;
•    Develop print and online resources for students seeking help from the center.

The center is directed by Kelley Calvert.

MIIS, DLI Sponsor Panel Discussion

The Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Defense Language
Institute cordially invite you to attend a panel discussion, titled
“Leadership in a Time of War”, on Wednesday, November 19 from 6:30PM –
8:00PM in the Irvine Auditorium, featuring:

* LTC Danial Pick, former Army Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Amman, Jordan and
Iraq Policy Officer, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

* Bill Murphy Jr., author of In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous
Journey of West Point’s Class of 2002 and a former Army JAG office who
reported from Iraq for The Washington Post.

* Mike Cerre, an Emmy-award winning journlist for ABC News in Iraq who
served as an USMC officer in Vietnam.

* CPT Fergal O’Reilly, a former platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne in
Afghanistan and Iraq, who is now assigned to the Defense Language
Institute.

The discussion will be moderated by Capt DJ Skelton, who was wounded
during U.S. combat operations in Fallujah, Iraq in Nov 2004.  He is one of
the leading U.S. Army advocates for Wounded Warriors, playing a key role
in strategic policy development and analysis regarding care for wounded
servicemen and who currently serves at the Defense Language Institute.
Bios for all of the participants (except O’Reilly) are attached.

Join these Iraq war veterans and the author of an important new book on
the sacrifices of young American Army officers for a discussion about
country, service, and leadership in a time of war.

There will be a light reception in the McCone Atrium immediately following
the panel discussion.

MIIS Delegation Attends Beijing Trade Conference

Last week Tate Miller and former MIIS president Robert Gard returned from a successful whirlwind trip to Beijing.  The centerpiece of the trip was participation in an invitation-only, two-day conference on China’s world trade opportunities and relationship with the World Trade Organization.

The conference, sponsored by the Beijing-based WTO Affairs Center, was attended by 350-400 senior and mid-level Chinese government officials.

Dawei Cheng, a 2000 graduate of the commercial diplomacy program, arranged for the Institute’s participation.  Ms. Cheng is chief expert at the WTO Affairs Center.  The Monterey Institute was the sole educational institution invited.  Other international dignitaries included senior officials from the WTO headquarters in Geneva.  President Gard’s opening plenary address, on the topic of the US development of special zones for business such Silicon Valley, was well-received, and the WTO Center has commenced discussions with the Institute regarding future cooperation on trade research and training. While in Beijing, Tate and Bob also held an alumni dinner at a restaurant owned and operated by alum Clayton Noack in an historic ‘hutong’ neighborhood in the center of the city.

Holiday Food Drive Begins December 1

The Institute’s 4th annual Holiday Food Drive, benefiting the Monterey County Food Bank, begins Monday, December 1st.  Barrels will be located in the main lobby of the McCone building from Dec 1-10.
The campus goal is to raise 1 lb/0.45kg for every student, staff and faculty member, so approximately 100lbs/45kg per day for ten business days.  The donations will be weighed daily!

In 2007 we raised over 800 lbs during the ten day drive.  I hope our campus will continue to be generous with their donations (rice, beans, pasta, flour, peanut butter, etc are all great items to donate).  If you would like to make a cash donation, please contact Leah Gowron (ext. 3558).

Thank you for your support.

Grant Writing Workshop for Faculty, Staff

The offices of the Provost & Institutional Advancement have teamed up to offer a special workshop for faculty and staff interested in grant funding opportunities.

The workshop will consist of two, two-hour grant writing overview sessions, to be
taught by Jonathan Berkey, Adjunct Professor, GSIPS, on February 24th & 26th from 12-2 PM. (Note: The second session will build on the first.)

Learn about:
•       Foundation and corporate database searches
•       Proposal writing techniques
•       Strategies for writing successful proposals
•       Project management
•       Developing good relationships with funders

Please register with Susan Wolfe no later than Monday, December 1 as space in these session will be limited to 15 participants.

Once registered, you will be contacted in early February concerning your interests and needs related to specific information that will be presented in the sessions.

A free lunch will be provided for participants.

Website Changes

Our website is the main source of information on our programs for prospective students. Recruitment for these new students starts earlier and earlier each year.  Considering that our new students in Fall 2009 will be attending MIIS under a new administrative structure, it is important that our website best represent both our current programs and the future changes.  Beginning immediately, we will replace references to specific schools and their acronyms with program references and institute references where applicable.  In most situations, this is an improvement to our site, since prospective students rarely understand our alphabet soup.

The website will retain its structure and the content will remain the same, we’re just changing some titles.  This is quick fix to a website that is in need of facelift.  A more extensive re-design is currently planned to take place during the spring and summer of 2009.

We need your help! If you are adding content to the website, please refrain from specific school references.  When updating documents or PDF’s on the website, please scan the pages for graduate school names and make changes where appropriate.

If you have any questions, please contact Lynn McDonald or Jill Stoffers.

New Media Development Specialist Joins MIIS Staff

Please join us in welcoming Kristen Byers to the MIIS staff. Kristen will be working with TLC/DMC as a new media development specialist.  Her job is to help MIIS faculty, staff and students tell their stories using digital media. In keeping with the philosophy of TLC/DMC, her role is to work with members of the community to define a project and acquire the necessary skills and tools to achieve the desired outcomes.  She’ll be working closely with the admissions staff to help us make better use of community generated digital media in our marketing efforts.

Kristen graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in professional writing, minors in French and journalism, and specializations in editing and publishing, digital design & technical writing.  She has used her exceptional digital media and design skills in a variety of jobs involving web development, communications, marketing, and online learning.

Stop in at Kade, introduce yourself to Kristen, and bring her your project ideas!  After this week, she’ll be in her own office—Morse A105.

More News…

MIIS@work is just one component of a growing online community here at the Monterey Institute.  Check out  the MIIS Facebook page, where recent posts include an update on Our Green Thumb, the community garden project taking shape next to Morse, and an article on the podcasts posted recently to our iTunes U site.

Other MIIS and Middlebury blogs are listed in the “blog roll” in the left hand column of this blog.  Check them out!

Permission to Be Great

This video was produced in collaboration between the Advancement office and the Digital Media Commons and presented Friday, October 24th during a tribute dinner for President Yu’s leadership in helping to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and appreciation.

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Faculty and Staff Participation Sought for Mentor Program

The  Monterey Institute Ambassador MAP Peer Mentor program is now recruiting peer mentors for the Fall 2009 semester!

Mentor applications are available at http://www.miis.edu/saffairs_map_mentor.html.  Prospective peer mentors should apply no later than December 1st.

Here is more information about the MAP Peer Mentor Program:

Who we are: Current students (who have been at MIIS one semester or more) mentoring new incoming and first year students.

What we do: Establish peer mentoring relationships to support new student transition and encourage professional networking, information sharing, friendships and community. Read more about us on our blog and website.

Contact Information: Gail Lu, Coordinator of Student Services, at gail.lu@miis.edu or 831.647.3586.
During the month of November there will also be information sessions for prospective MAP Peer Mentors wishing to learn more about the program. Here are more details:

MAP Peer Mentor Program Information Sessions

Dates: Thursday, November 13th and Tuesday, November 25th.
Time: 1-2 pm
Location: B105

Interested faculty and staff are also welcome to attend the information sessions and are encouraged to contact Gail Lu, Coordinator of Student Services, for more information about the MAP Peer Mentor Program.

Reorganization Planning Begins November 13

Monterey Institute faculty, staff, and students are all invited to join President Designate Sunder Ramaswamy for an initial discussion about the MIIS reorganization planning process on Thursday, November 13, 2008.

The agenda of the meeting will be to share guiding principles, expected outcomes, and indicative timeline with the MIIS community, including how the community will be able to participate in and contribute to the reorganization efforts going forward.  In addition, there will be a brief update provided on the current integration progress with Middlebury.

To enable more interactive, focused discussions, Dr. Ramaswamy will hold four one-hour meetings with faculty, staff, and students, one for each school. Administrative staff may join any of the four meetings of their choosing.  If faculty, staff, and students cannot attend their school’s session for any reason, they are welcome to attend another school’s session.  Please find the meeting schedule below:

Meeting Schedule
Thursday, November 13

12:00PM          GSTI                Irvine Auditorium

1:00PM            FGSIB             Irvine Auditorium

2:00PM            GSIPS             Irvine Auditorium

4:00PM            GSLEL            Irvine Auditorium

We look forward to your attendance and contributions as we begin this exciting process in achieving an even stronger, better institution for our future global leaders.

President Yu Delivers Good News for Faculty and Staff

Addressing faculty and staff at the fourth Town Meeting of the semester on October 28, President Clara Yu reported on Board actions regarding administrative reorganization and delivered several pieces of good news for employees that came out of the recent Board of Trustees meeting:

Faculty and staff salary increases will be implemented on January 1.  These increases will be awarded based on the performance evaluation process administered for the staff during the spring and summer, and for faculty during the early fall, and will range from 4% to 6%.

The Institute’s matching contribution to employee retirement accounts will increase from 1% to 2% on January 1.  This means that for eligible employees who set aside 2% of their salary for retirement, the Institute will contribute 2%, in addition to the 5% contribution the Institute makes for employees who have been at the Institute for a year or more.

In addition to holiday time off between Christmas and the New Year, the Board voted to extend the break through Friday, January 2.  This means that the holiday break will begin at noon on December 24, and the Institute will reopen on Monday, January 5.

Trustees Approve Monterey Institute Reorganization

The following message was sent to the Institute community on Friday.

To the members of the Monterey Institute community,

At its meeting this morning, the Board of Trustees of the Monterey Institute of International Studies unanimously approved the following resolution regarding reorganization of the academic administration.

RESOLVED, the Board of Trustees approves the following academic administrative reorganization, effective Academic Year 2009/2010:

*  The Graduate School of International Policy Studies and Fisher Graduate School of International Business will become a single Graduate School of International Policy and Management.

*  The Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation and the Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics will become a single Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education.

In taking this action, the Board gave careful consideration to the thoughtful and constructive input it has received from the community.

Our intention in approving this reorganization is to reaffirm the commitment of the Board and the administration to pursue academic excellence as we look toward the process of reaccreditation by NEASC and AACSB.  We believe that the synergies within the new structure will enhance our programs and make the Institute a truly distinctive leader in global education.

As we proceed to develop the details within this basic organizational framework, there are many decisions to be made. We value the engagement of the whole Institute community in a collaborative and appreciative process, to be announced in a timely manner. 

William H Kieffer III, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Clara Yu, President

Sunder Ramaswamy, President Designate