Author: Anne-Marie Steiger

It’s a story familiar to anyone who has ever experienced the tight-knit community and life-long professional support system that is an essential element of the Institute’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program. The newest installment involves a pair of alumnae—both Fulbright scholars—teaming up to do academic research in Taiwan.

Sarah DeMola MATESOL ’12 majored in international relations as an undergraduate student, but when she volunteered to teach English to refugees, she knew she had found her calling. “I find TESOL to be the perfect combination of my interests in international education and education.”

While enrolled at the Institute, she twice went to India to work with Tarana Patel MATESOL ’01 at S.K. University in Gujarat, where she collaborated with classmate Maggie Steingraeber MATESOL ’12 on developing curriculum and teaching courses. After graduation, Sarah received a Fulbright scholarship as an English teaching assistant in Taiwan, investigating her program’s impact on students’ listening skills, as well as their attitude and behavior towards learning and using English. Her job involved supporting English teachers throughout Taiwan, which offered the opportunity to learn about the diverse cultures of each region.

For her second year in Taiwan, Sarah was joined by Emily Quade MATESOL PCMI ’13, and together they developed and hosted the first annual Fulbright English Teaching Forum. Emily had served in the Peace Corps in Central America as part of the TESOL Peace Corps Masters International program. Like Sarah, the most remarkable part of her experience continues to be the perpetual support and camaraderie of the TESOL community of faculty, students, and alumni.

When Jeff Wood arrived at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 1985, he recalls, “some faculty offices were literally in closets.” He felt like he was taking a bit of a chance on a school with an uncertain reputation, but he believed in the president and the job that came with the opportunity to move to Carmel Valley with his family.

Jeff made the leap from Occidental College, where he was director of alumni and careers, and technically counted a young man named Barack Obama as one of his advisees, although he does not remember meeting him. Among other things, Jeff says he was drawn to the “start-up spirit” of the Institute.

Jeff had known then-president Bill Craig from when they were both working in Vermont in the 1970s. A graduate of Middlebury College, Craig is often remembered as the captain of a legendary football team from 1936.

“Everyone at the Institute called the president 'Bill,' but the head of facilities was 'Mr. Campbell,'” says Jeff with a chuckle. Jeff saw that President Craig was in the process of “revitalizing the Institute” and clearly believed Jeff would be an important addition to his team.

It turns out he was right, and for 30 years Jeff has had immense impact on the lives of countless students and alumni through his solid guidance and counseling. That includes several of his coworkers and half the faculty now teaching in the Master of Arts in Translation and Interpretation program. “I still vividly remember them as students,” says Jeff.

He stays in touch with many of his former advisees and is an irreplaceable resource for alumni information and connections. A member of the Legacy Society, Jeff intends to stay connected to the Institute and says he might now finally have time to attend more events. “The interactions with people are what makes this place,” he says, and we could not agree more.

The Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ Cyber Initiative (MIIS Cyber) recently welcomed Brian D. Steckler as its new senior fellow on disaster communications. In this new role, Steckler will harness nearly 40 years of expertise in disaster relief communications to provide consulting expertise, research, hands-on demonstrations, and in-class instruction for Middlebury Institute students.

Steckler’s decades of experience include 12 years managing interoperability at the government inter-agency level, seven years in the private sector and 20 years in the U.S. Navy, of which 10 were spent as a cryptologic technician and 10 as an officer, including a surface warfare officer, communications officer, mine warfare officer, and information systems officer. He is the recipient of the Red Cross “Military Hero” award for his work in Hurricane Katrina.

Since 2004, Steckler has directed the Hastily Formed Networks Research Group at the Cebrowski Institute of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, leading teams of faculty and students into numerous real-world, major disasters to provide critical communications to the early-responder community with both wireless equipment solutions and interoperability at the civil-military boundary.
 
“It is an honor and a privilege to join MIIS Cyber as the senior fellow on disaster communications. I have followed the Institute for many years as a local Monterey-area resident and was pleased to see them set up this cyber program as it is critical for MIIS students, faculty, and research staff to be on the bleeding edge of such an important aspect of today’s world,” said Steckler. “I also look forward to learning from these top-notch, international graduate students.”

Steckler was also recently confirmed as a member of the Super Bowl 50 Cyber Committee supporting the event, joining a team comprised of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other security/law enforcement agencies tasked with securing this major event, to be held in Santa Clara, California’s Levi’s Stadium in February 2016. Additionally, Mr. Steckler is a founding member of the CAL FIRE Comms Task Force, a group of volunteer information and communications technology experts who assist CAL FIRE during wildfire events.

At NPS, Mr. Steckler has developed and taught courses focusing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, computer network attack/defense, operational security and electronic warfare basics. Steckler also developed the first information operations curriculum at the National University of Singapore in 2004 and is an adjunct faculty member at San Diego State University.

This summer, a new generation of students and practitioners is learning how to design international development projects rooted in local solutions. Development program sponsors and implementers are increasingly recognizing that local solutions are a vital ingredient in any sustainable development strategy according to Professor Beryl Levinger, chair of the Development Practice and Policy program at the Middlebury Institute and founding director of its Design, Partnering, Management and Innovation program.
 
Through a partnership between the Institute and Locus, a landmark initiative dedicated to finding new solutions to old development challenges by focusing on local solutions and integrated programming, 19 students and current development professionals are gathered in Nairobi, Kenya to gain hands-on experience through the DPMI program.
 
This is a landmark year for international development. The Millennium Development Goals are coming to a close and a new chapter is unfolding with the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals. With these big changes come discussions on what has and has not worked, the path forward, and how to finance this path.
 
“Across the international development field, one thing that is rising to the top of the discussion is local solutions,” says Graham Wood, senior vice president of Pact. “No longer are people satisfied with the historical nature of development in which someone in Washington D.C. or Geneva determines solutions to challenges faced by communities in Myanmar, Ethiopia, or Guatemala.”
 
Wood and Levinger agree that in order to achieve true, transformational change, local knowledge and expertise must be harnessed. Wood shares that this is a core objective of Locus, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, foundations and consulting firms that promotes integrated solutions to address the underlying causes of poverty. The Locus agenda also includes adoption of a shared measurement system that helps participating organizations readily identify effective initiatives as well as those that require further refinement.
 
Monterey’s DPMI certificate program offers participants the tools and skills they need to forge effective, local networks, alliances and partnerships. This orientation makes Monterey and Locus natural partners. DPMI participants will learn how to map local systems; translate findings into compelling project designs; and promote organizational learning for continuous improvement. Participants, who come from the U.S., Africa, and Latin America, will learn from one another as they search out innovative solutions to persistent problems.

Kathryn Smart MANPTS ’15 used to love going to ice hockey games with her father when she was growing up in Michigan. “It was our thing,” she says. Her favorite player was Russian, which became a large factor in her choice of Russian as her language of study while earning her undergraduate degree in international relations at Michigan State University. “I’ve evolved a lot since then,” she says with a bright smile and a warm laugh.

Kathryn cultivated her love for Russian culture as she participated in a study abroad program in Volgograd not once, but twice, the second time enrolling in an advanced Russian language study program. Her interest in the Chechen culture was piqued during her second trip to Russia and developed further as she returned to work as an English tutor for a Chechen family in Moscow. She enrolled in the master’s degree program in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies at the Middlebury Institute with an eye on a career in the nonproliferation field, but switched to a focus on terrorism after taking Professor Gordon Hahn’s Islamism in Russia course during her first semester.

“I am incredibly happy with my studies here at MIIS,” she shares, adding that she is particularly pleased with the way every class is fitted to her interests, including the language courses. “Professor Vassilieva challenges us with topics that are related to our areas of study and that is great.” Through the Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies, Kathryn will continue researching the role of women in Chechen culture at the Grozny State University, with the goal of better understanding the role culture and politics plays in women’s decisions to join militant groups in the North Caucasus.

In the fall, Kathryn will move to neighboring Georgia for three months to continue her Chechen language studies, supported by a prestigious Boren Fellowship. She has been studying Chechen online this winter and will continue working with a tutor while in Chechnya this summer. “I think it is very important to learn Chechen to fully understand the culture,” she shares, adding that she is very excited for the summer. When she visited Grozny over spring break, Kathryn says she found a modern city, and that the people were very warm and welcoming to her as an American, a far cry from the prevalent news images from a decade ago of a city in rubble.

Last month’s annual California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) conference in Monterey provided the home team with a pair of big wins, as two members of the Middlebury Institute’s tight-knit campus community took home prestigious awards.

First, Johanna Parker MATI Spanish ’05 was given the CHIA Trainer of the Year award. Johanna holds the title of Lead Interpreter for Education and Training at Stanford Hospital and Clinics, as well as serving as a freelance conference interpreter and translator, and a seminar interpreter for the U.S. Department of State. Johanna also teaches medical interpreting at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and helped to coordinate the Stanford Health Care Internship Program for Summer 2015.

Coincidentally, Johanna is also a faculty member for the Spanish Community Interpreting Certificate program at MIIS that is led by her fellow awardee—Professor Holly Mikkelson MAICC ’76, who received the President’s Award at the recent CHIA conference. Holly is no stranger to this sort of recognition from her peers, having been awarded the American Translators Association’s highest honor, the Alexander Gode Medal, in 2012.

“We couldn’t be prouder of Johanna and Holly,” commented Dean Renée Jourdenais of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education. “They continue to represent our translation and interpretation programs with great distinction.”

The Holland Center is undergoing a major renovation project this fall; this image shows the initial demo work almost complete.

Work began this week to renovate the Holland Center, located on Van Buren Street on the Monterey Institute campus. The plan is for principal construction to be completed in December and the new student facilities to open before the start of the spring semester in late January.

The Holland Center has long served as a favorite place for Monterey Institute students to convene, whether to work on class projects, host social gatherings or play a game of ping-pong. The building is really a hybrid of three separate buildings or additions, and served as the Institute’s cafeteria before being replaced by the Samson Student Center in 2001.

The renovation is partially donor-funded and incorporates key concepts that the Student Council identified that they would like to see in a refurbished Holland Center. The project will open the space up into one large area divided into flexible sections. There will be a kitchen area where students can heat up meals or store their food in a refrigerator, and tables both inside and out on the large new patio. There will also be space for students to work together in groups, making use of large flat-screen televisions that can be used as display monitors, or just to kick back and enjoy watching a film or sporting event together. And of course, continuing a MIIS tradition, there will be a ping-pong table.

“This is a very exciting project for us,” says Director of Facilities Andrew Hernandez, who is overseeing the renovations, beginning with stripping the building down to the frame and overhauling all wiring and plumbing. There is considerable excitement on campus about this project, and as is characteristic of the Institute’s enterprising community, people have already started to develop their plans to make good use of this happy addition to the MIIS campus.

Members of the incoming class at the Monterey Institute kicked off orientation with the President’s Welcome session held at the historic Golden State Theatre in downtown Monterey.

For 373 individuals hailing from 35 different countries—the incoming fall class at the Monterey Institute—this week marks the beginning of an extraordinary journey that will set them on a path to their chosen career. Members of this year’s class are enrolled in one of the thirteen graduate degree programs offered at the Institute, are native speakers of two dozen languages, and bring with them a wide range of experiences and cultural backgrounds.

One of the highlights of the orientation week is spoken-word performance based on responses the incoming class gave on a questionnaire sent out earlier this summer, along with some excerpts from their statements of purpose. This year the theme of the performance was the important personal connections that students form with each other while at Monterey, and the close-knit community of MIIS alumni they will soon be joining.

So who are these people? Following is a snapshot of some of their responses addressing that very question:

• “a wanderer, ponderer, dreamer, explorer” 
• “a basketball mania nerd” 
• “a Caribbean American” 
• “raised in the military but quite the hippie” 
• “I know what it is to be homeless and hungry” 
• “I am from France. I eat way more cheese than the average person.” 
• “I am from Shanghai, China. The tremendous change there lets me believe that I should never underestimate my potential”

…and hopefully they all agree with the student who simply replied: “I am ready!”

DPMI Kenya underway, with Prof. Beryl Levinger (center left, in blue) leading the group.

At its core a cutting-edge institution, the unique, intensive, development-focused three-week Development Project Management Institute (DPMI) program seems ageless. Nonetheless, as “nae man can tether time or tide” (in the words of Robert Burns), 10 years have passed since its inception, and that is worth celebrating. “A decade of DPMI has produced over 1,000 alumni using their skills everywhere in the world,” remarks founder and fearless leader Professor Beryl Levinger.

This year also marks the change of the official name of the program from Development Project Management Institute to Design, Partnering, Management and Innovation – still DPMI! Levinger shares that the “process of renewal and reinvention means seeing ourselves not only as responders to international development trends, but also shapers of them.”

The DPMI alumni network is vibrant, diverse, and a source of wonderful social capital for past, present, and future program participants, says Levinger, noting also that there is “nothing more rewarding than seeing a DPMI team in action responding to a development challenge by drawing on culturally diverse perspectives, deep social interaction, and a rich toolbox of tools and approaches.” Apart from Monterey and Washington D.C., the program has been offered in Ecuador, Egypt, Rwanda, and beginning this year, in Kenya.

DPMI alumni are encouraged to share their stories on the anniversary website found at go.miis.edu/dpmi.

Summer Intensive Language Program students relaxing after a fun get-together over a game of ping-pong.

As the Monterey Institute’s Summer Intensive Language Program prepares to wrap up for the season on August 8, its faculty and staff have gathered a very useful guide to learning a new language. Over the month of July, they shared one tip per day on Facebook – totaling 31 tips that we have now compiled into a list for anyone interested in acquiring a foreign language:

1. Find your style. Take a learning style survey so you can understand how you learn best.
2. Pop music. Find out who the most popular musicians are in your target language and
listen to their music.
3. Find someone to talk to. Find a key pal or conversation partner so you can practice together.
4. Make Siri your partner. Switch Siri’s or other voice’s language on your smartphone so you can practice with a handy partner.
5. Computer games. Give DuoLingo a try: a “gamified” way to learn languages on a computer or mobile device.
6. Language setting. Add the appropriate international keyboard to your smartphone or tablet so you can type in the language.
7. Take notes. Utilize flash cards or keep a small notebook of words and phrases to practice on the go!
8. Listen before speaking. When first learning a language, attempt to listen as much as possible instead of trying to speak it. The first step in learning a language is “acquiring an ear” for it.
9. Company. Two words: group study!!
10. Learn from failure. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes!
11. Shopping lists. Use every day scenarios to practice thinking in your target language. At the grocery store? Think about your shopping list in your language.
12. Digital flashcards. Use Quizlet or another free digital flash card program to make environmentally friendly (and more reliable!) flashcards for practice.
13. Humor. Read cartoons or comics in your target language.
14. Dictionaries. Use free online dictionaries.
15. Podcasts. Waiting in line? Stuck in traffic? Use this time to listen to a podcast in your target language.
16. Take a break. Don’t forget to take a break to give yourself a chance to fully process all the new vocabulary and grammar!
17. Subtitles. Watch movies and videos with subtitles in your target language.
18. Sing in the shower. Practice pronouncing unique sounds in the target language while in the shower, or just let loose and sing!
19. More than words. Don’t stop at just learning the language. Learn about different aspects of the culture, such as food, dance or even a martial art!
20. Your daily life. Make learning vocabulary a part of your everyday routine. Post note cards around your home with words for bed, sofa, computer, refrigerator, etc. Practice pronouncing these words every day.
21. Know the history. When learning a new writing system, such as Chinese characters, knowing the history behind the characters may help you remember how to write them.
22. Culture in your neighborhood. Look for cultural events or centers in your area where you can engage with native speakers of the language you’re learning and immerse yourself.
23. Invent mnemonics. Invent interesting or funny mnemonics to help you memorize new vocabulary or concepts.
24. Game Night! Play games you’re familiar with in the target language, such as Russian Scrabble. Or learn a new game from the country and some phrases unique to it!
25. Lyrics you already know. There are often foreign versions of popular or classic songs. You already know the music and tune, so it’s just simply practicing with the new vocabulary.
26. Speak up! Whether you are in class, with a partner or studying alone, saying key phrases and new words out loud is more helpful than simply reading them on paper.
27. Don’t get stuck on a word. When reading, don’t get hung up on translating word for word. It’s better to learn the overall meaning of the sentences first.
28. Set goals when watching TV programs or videos. For example, hearing the main points of a news story, such as the time, date, place and names of the people involved.
29. Free Apps! Take advantage of the numerous free apps available related to language learning!
30. Set realistic goals. Becoming a master of a new language doesn’t happen overnight and it can be easy to get discouraged.
31. Get help! Enroll in an intensive or immersive language program to activate your language skills!