Category: Uncategorized

Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy Project Complete

Teachers on Their Way to Baku

Patricia Szasz and her team of curriculum developers have recently
delivered their completed coursework to the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy
(ADA). The team was hired by ADA last year to develop the English language
curriculum for a new Master’s program in Diplomacy & International
Affairs, as well as specialized English training for in-service diplomats.
The new curriculum will be piloted this summer. The relationship between
ADA and MIIS continues to grow as two MA TESOL alumnae will lead the pilot
implementation. Lisa Donohoe and Nicole Doty Langi will be heading to Baku
in June to teach the curriculum that they developed. You can learn more
about the project at the Inauguration Symposium to be held here on campus
on May 15.

The Pizza Process Continues

The ideas were presented at the idea fair on April 16th and 187 MIIS community members gave feedback to the pizza groups. All the ideas where seen as in line with the strategic plan of the Institute and will move forward in some way.  The pizza groups deserve a big CONGRATULATIONS for all their hard work and for their vision of making MIIS a better place.

The groups will be meeting with Lynn McDonald to discuss next steps.  Some groups might start to implement their ideas quickly and others will continue to research and look into important issues such as sustainability, needs and phasing.  It’s a process!

For more information about the pizza process and various pizza ideas, stop by our booth at the Inauguration Symposium on May 15th from 1 – 5 pm or visit our social network.

Innovation does not only happen with pizza – keep thinking of ideas and stop by Kade to continue the conversation!

2009 Innovators

Critical Issues Forum (CIF) Spring Student Conference

— U.S., Russian High School Students Present Research On Nuclear Disarmament

More than 70 students and teachers from 10 U.S. high schools and 10
schools in Russia’s closed nuclear cities gathered to present their
research on “Nuclear Disarmament: Challenges, Opportunities, and Next
Steps” at the spring 2009 Critical Issues Forum (CIF) conference April
23-24 in Monterey.

The conference is the culmination of a semester-long program designed to increase
students’ awareness of nonproliferation and disarmament issues and enhance
critical thinking skills.

All the students’ presentations were very creative, enjoyable, and
well-researched.  Presentations included student-produced movies, NPT
Review Conference simulation, skits revolving around nuclear weapons
history, current events in nuclear development, and interactive activities.

With the still-lingering excitement of President Obama’s historic speech
on April 5th in Prague calling for a world without nuclear weapons, many
of students’ presentations at the conference featured recent developments
in nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation issues.

Dr. Patricia Lewis, Deputy Director and Scientist-in-Residence at the CNS,
and former director of the UNIDIR, gave a keynote presentation with a
title of “Passing the Nuclear Baton: Nuclear Disarmament and the Next
Generation.”

This year marks the 20th anniversary of CNS.  Over the past two decades,
CNS has dedicated itself to training the next generation of
nonproliferation specialists and raising global public awareness. The CIF
is one of the flagship educational outreach programs the Center has
established to accomplish its mission.

In addition to high school student presentations, MIIS students
specializing in nonproliferation, and junior CNS staff members who also
study nonproliferation, shared their experiences on how they ended up
studying nonproliferation issues, and inspired the CIF high school
students to pursue their dreams.

The April 24th Monterey County Herald carried a long story of the CIF
conference with three large photos.

The Russian students and American students also took advantage of
opportunities for cultural exchange, building friendships.

New Fact Sheets

Are you sometimes called upon to explain the many changes taking place at MIIS to prospective students, alums, members of the community?  We now have two fact sheets, developed by Jason Warburg, that summarize the major developments involved in Reorganization and Integration.

“Running One MIIS” Series Begins

Attend the first of a series of open sessions to imagine the reorganized MIIS and its integration with Middlebury. How will it all work? What will change? How will you be affected?

People all over campus are working hard to figure out all the complexities and opportunities inherent in the changes that are underway.  We need your perspective and ideas!

We lead off with a discussion of Advancement on May 5, at 12 noon in the Board Room.

Here’s the schedule for subsequent sessions:

HR – May 19 * Communications – June 2 * Admissions – June 16 * Accreditation – June 30 * Technology – July 14 * Physical and Financial Resources – July 28 * Student/Academic Information Systems – August 11

All sessions: 12-1:30 p.m. in the Board Room

Follow the progress of Runing One MIIS here.  If you can’t make a session, give your input online.

Provide Feedback on Pizza Ideas!

Intrigued by the possibility of donating online to fund MIIS student projects?

Think a MIIS bookstore is a good idea?

If you attended the Idea Fair last week (or even if you didn’t), there are some great ideas looking for community feedback!  It’s easy to weigh in.  Just go to http://miis.uservoice.com, sign up, and cast your votes for the idea(s) you think have the greatest potential to contribute to excellence at MIIS. Even more importantly, make comments on what you like or don’t like about each idea!

OR… Make up your own idea!

MBA Program Chair Announced

Dean-designate Yuwei Shi announced today that Dr. Bruce Paton will be the Chair of the Fisher Program in International Business (Fisher International MBA). The decision has been made after deliberation and consultation with President Sunder Ramaswamy, Provost Amy Sands, the Fisher Faculty and Staff, and the incoming Program Chairs of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management.

Dr. Paton is Visiting Associate Professor of Sustainable Business and Strategy at the Monterey Institute. He is Associate Professor at San Francisco State University’s College of Business, where he teaches courses on corporate social responsibility and sustainable business at undergraduate, graduate, and executive levels. He was named the Teaching Professor of the Year for the College of Business in 2005. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at Monterey Institute since 2002. Dr. Paton has been actively involved in curriculum reform at SF State. He served on a Dean’s Taskforce on Graduate Programs that led to streamlined MBA program requirements. He also chaired the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee during its preparation for the AACSB’s re-accreditation process. Dr. Paton currently serves as Board Chair for Sustainable Silicon Valley, a collaboration of nearly 100 businesses, cities, and community organizations that works to focus the region’s leaders on its most important environmental challenges and opportunities. He also serves on the International Planning Board for the Greening of Industry Network, and on the editorial board for the Journal, Business Strategy and Environment.

Dr. Paton focuses his research on business strategies and public policies for sustainability, especially the development of methods for designing and evaluating voluntary and collaborative initiatives to address social and environmental issues in management. His research and teaching draw on more than twenty years of decision-making experience in industry, government and higher education, including the District of Columbia government, an environmental policy consulting firm, Hewlett-Packard, and a Silicon Valley startup. He also served for two years as Director of Admissions for the MBA Program at Stanford University. Dr. Paton holds a BA in Environmental Science from Wesleyan University, an MBA from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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

Traveling? Help Us Yield Applicants for Fall 2009

Spring is the time of year when applicants to graduate schools are making
decisions about where to attend. They have received their financial aid
packages, know about their scholarships, and are trying to narrow down
their options for fall. Making a personal connection to a MIIS person
might be all it takes to help them realize that a MIIS degree is worth the
substantial investment involved.

If you are traveling this spring or summer, we would love to set up a
meeting with applicants/admitted students. These gatherings are
generally small groups that meet in a local restaurant or bar for
appetizers and drinks or coffee and sweets– which ever is most
appropriate. They generally last 2 hours and can be done during the day or
evening. We can often set them up to meet at your hotel restaurant. The
Recruiting Department handles all of the invites, RSVPs, and sets the
location. We would provide you with an RSVP list in advance and reimburse
your expenses for the event.

It will take all of us in the community to reach this fall’s enrollment goal.

Please contact Jill Stoffers by email (or at 647-6571), or your Enrollment Manager if you are able to help us yield the next class. Thank you!

MIIS Hosts International Storytelling Session for Kids

Peter Shaw’s TESOL students and the Office of Student Services will host a storytelling event for community children (ages 5-8) on Monday, April 9, from 10:15-noon.  The evnt includes with international folktales and interactive activities. Space for MIIS children are limited so contact Gail Lu to reserve a space for your child.

Download flyer.

Staff Advisory Team Formed

We are pleased to announce the formation of the new Staff Advisory Team. We’re very fortunate to have a group of volunteers who represent several different departments at the Institute, and bring diverse backgrounds, perspective, interests and skills to the important work of ensuring that issues of concern to Institute staff are articulated.  They are:

Kenley Butler, JMCNS
Rachel Christopherson, GSTI
Trinidad Gomez, ITS
Gail Lu, Student Affairs
Devin Luedekke, Recruiting
Raphael Ochoa, Financial Aid
Edy Rhodes, current GSIPS Career Development Officer, future Advising Staff

Thanks to the ad hoc staff group that has been working for the past several months to develop alternative frameworks for staff organization, and to carry out the process of vetting these frameworks  and implementing  the one favored by the majority of the staff:

Karen Weiss, Dean’s Assistant GSTI
Priscilla Lorenzo, Office Services Coordinator
Toni Thomas, MBA Academic Advisor and Program Coordinator
Lynn McDonald, Postgraduate Fellow in Organizational Development
Susan Wolfe, Manager of Foundation and Corporate Relations
Erika Johnson, Acquisitions Librarian
Kenley Butler, CNS Senior Project Manager, Executive Officer

Once the new team members have had an initial meeting, they will call an all-staff meeting to develop ideas for the agenda for the coming months.