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.

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.

Engaging with Change: a Workshop Series for Staff

As a community, the Monterey Institute is experiencing change on many levels, from integration with Middlebury to the reorganization of schools and services within the Institute. At the same time, as a society, we are facing  economic dislocations and uncertainty about the future of everything from the planet to our retirement accounts.

Change can be frightening, but times of change can also unleash powerful creative energies and offer opportunities for growth. To develop skills for constructive participation in a changing organization, the Human Resources department invites staff to take part in an exciting workshop series, Engaging with Change.

Dr. Paul Porter will facilitate the series of four half-day workshops designed to help staff members learn skills to assist with organizational change. Dr. Porter is a highly respected trainer, consultant, workshop leader, and speaker.  His background includes serving as a teacher, counselor, school principal, director of special education, university professor, and school district superintendent for 17 years.  He is well known for his practical and engaging style and work in the areas of change, leadership, team building, positive intent, organizational development and communications and has spoken to and worked with many public and private organizations in these areas.

The workshops will take place on November 4 and 11, and December 2 and 15. (There will be sessions from 9-12 and 1:30-4:30, and you can register for either the morning series or the afternoon series.)

We think you will find the workshops a positive and enjoyable learning experience. Not only will you acquire new skills to enhance your own career, but you will have a  chance to interact with other staff across departments.

The workshops will cover topics such as the following:

  • * Discovering and Utilizing Your Strengths
  • * Ideas and Techniques for Dealing Productively with Change
  • * Working Together Productively as a Team with Positive Intent
  • * Productive Utilization and Styles of Dealing with Stress
  • * Appreciative Inquiry
  • * Communication Skills:  the Key to Change

Staff members should check with their supervisors before signing up to make sure essential services are covered, but these workshops are considered part of the paid work day for those who participate. Each workshop builds on the learning from the previous session, so please check to make sure you can attend the entire series before you register.

Register HERE. (Enter your name and click “morning” or “afternoon.”)

Illustration: Plate from Metamorphosis of a Butterfly, Maria Sybilla Merian (1747-117)

GSTI Invites Papers for 2009 Monterey FORUM

GSTI invites translation and interpreting researchers, trainers, practitioners and students to submit papers for the 2009 Monterey Forum on “Principles and Practices of Assessment in the Training of Translators and Interpreters.”

The FORUM will take place April 3-4, 2009.

We invite papers addressing assessment practiced in translator and interpreter training programs, including the assessment of:

* applicants’ aptitude to enter a program

* in-class performances of consecutive and simultaneous interpreting by teachers, students and peers

* translation assignments

* qualifying and exit exams

Please submit your abstract (up to 300 words) by email to gsti@miis.edu. Include your name, affiliation and contact information. Submission deadline: December 15, 2008.

Program details will be announced in January 2009. Registration fees are: General -$150; MIIS alumni – $75. Please contact gsti@miis.edu to register.

Huddle Up! TLC & DMC logo release party

DMC and TLC logoThe Teaching & Learning Collaborative and the Digital Media Commons are excited to release our joint logo at an interactive, learning-centered, multimedia, cupcake infused, pinata busting Open House event.

DATE: Thursday, October 16, 2008
TIME: 12-2pm
LOCATION: Kade Building, Upstairs

The Open House Program will feature collaborative ‘huddles’ highlighting faculty, staff, and student conversations, projects, and services helping to shape Institute culture.  Come learn more about the work of the TLC and DMC!

12:00 – 1:00pm Huddles
1. Anna Bellerson, TLC Instructional Design Assistant: Project Development – It’s a Conversation…
2. Rebecca Walters and Rob Horgan, Campus Recruiting: Facebook and Foreign Language Social Networking
3. Lab & Media Services Technicians: Getting to know your Digital Video Camera
4. Ryan Gonzalez and DeVan Hankerson, DMC Media Developers: Mini Podcasting Tech Demo
5. Kelly Calvert and Matthew Robinson: FlipVideo and YouTube Student Project

1:00 -2:00 pm Huddles
1. DMC Consultant Presentation: Mini Podcasting Tech Demo
2. Lorraine Githioria, current IPS student: Zoho Notebook & Video Project
3. Sai Hernandez, Lab & Media Services and DMC Media Developer: Wireless Support
4. Seda Sevas, Student Council President: The new Foghorn
5. Jeremy Robinson, DMC Manager: YouTube and online video

International Education Day Brings High School Students to MIIS

The Office of Student Services, in conjunction with Peter Shaw and other student and staff facilitators, will host an International Education Day on Friday, November 21st.  Our mission is to celebrate the benefits of international education and foster interest in international education in the younger generation.  We will do this by introducing and exposing a group of 60 local high school students to the international environment that makes up the Monterey Institute community’s daily lives and by sharing insights of the international experience. We plan to have a fun-filled morning of interactive activities exclusively for these high school students.

Mapping a Changing World

New tools for spatial thinking, and for analyzing and visualizing spatial data, are indispensible for 21st century professionals.  On November 10, TLC will host a presentation by Diana Stuart Sinton, Director of Spatial Curriculum and Research at the University of Redlands, on “New Ways to Map a Changing World.”  Diana headed a national initiative to integrate GIS and spatial thinking across the curriculum for 100 liberal arts colleges, and is an outstanding teacher/presenter on both Geographic Information Systems and lower threshold web-mapping tools such as Google Earth. Diana will do a strategy session for faculty interested in incorporating mapping and data visualization into their teaching, a public presentation on the latest trends in mapping, and a hands-on workshop using Google Earth.

Colleges Collaborate on “Windows to the World”

On October 16 – 19, the Monterey Institute, NPS, and DLI will be co-sponsoring Windows to the World: A Cultural  Education Film Symposium.  Films will be shown at the following locations during the Symposium:

Thursday, October 16:  DLI
Friday, October 17:  Community event at the Golden State Theater on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey
Saturday, October 18:  NPS
Sunday, October 19:  MIIS

Here is a flyer for the event and additional information can be found here. Please note that it would be helpful for you to register for the films that you are interested in. NPS and DLI require gate access, so registering to attend any of the films shown on those campuses will be necessary and makes entering their facility easier.  The October 17 event at the Golden State Theater is open to the public.

Four films will be shown at the Monterey Institute on Sunday, October 19 – two at 1PM and two at 3:30PM.  There will be a 15 minute introduction by a faculty expert for each film, followed by a 30 minute discussion.  There will also be a reception at the end of the last set of movies.

Publicizing MIIS Events

If you are planning an Institute event and would like the extend an invitation to the public and/or members of the local press, please contact Beth McDermott in Institutional Advancement (beth.mcdermott@miis.edu or extension 3509).  She can assist you with outreach to local media outlets to build awareness of your event, as well as for the Monterey Institute, throughout the community.

— from the Office of Institutional Advancement

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.

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.

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