Running “One MIIS”

Following up on discussions at the community-wide retreats at the end of February, President Ramaswamy, Provost Sands, and the deans-designate who will assume office in June announced a series of task forces to ensure smooth implementation of a new, streamlined administrative model for the Institute.

The One MIIS Working Group is assigned the task of analyzing and making recommendations on organizational and infrastructural issues regarding

• the reorganization into two schools
• the transition to full integration with Middlebury in 2010

We plan to approach this task by holding Community Feedback Sessions on each of the following topics: Advancement, HR, Admissions, Communications, Student/Academic Info Systems, Technology, Physical and Financial Resources, and Maintenance of Accreditation. The administrator(s) responsible for each of these areas will prepare a draft report that analyzes current practices, raises unanswered questions, and outlines possible changes needed for a smooth rollout of the reorganization in Fall 2009, and for integration with Middlebury in June 2010. Each of these drafts will be the topic of a Community Feedback Session:

The schedule of Community Feedback Sessions is as follows:

May 5  –  Advancement
May 19  –  HR
June 2  –  Communications
June 16  –  Admissions
June 30  –  Maintenance of Accreditation
July 14  –  Technology
July 28  –  Physical and Financial Resources
August 11  –  Student/Academic Info Systems

(All sessions from 12:15 – 1:30, locations TBA.)

All members of the Institute community are invited to attend and participate in these sessions, providing feedback to improve the drafts before they are added to a master set of recommendations to be assembled by the middle of August. Since much of the work will be done during the summer, we will post all report drafts to the Reorganization website for comment by faculty and students who wish to participate virtually. We believe this process will not only produce better reorg implementation plans in all departments, but will also provide an opportunity for each of us to understand and appreciate the work of our colleagues in other departments, creating stronger bonds of collaboration across the Institute.

Questions?  Contact Amy McGill