Sarah Bidgood MANPTS ’16 arrived in Monterey with one key part of the skill set she will need to play a role in the future of U.S.-Russian relations: a solid grasp of the Russian language. “I came here with strong Russian language skills, but without the holistic understanding of Russia-U.S. policy or the vocabulary I needed to contribute actively to bilateral nonproliferation and security efforts.” The second half of that equation is now falling into place thanks to the opportunity Sarah had to travel to Russia to participate in two unique programs this fall with support from the Institute’s Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies, the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and the Office of the Vice President.

The first of these programs was the 15th annual PIR Center International Summer School on Global Security, which gathered 24 students from Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and China, as well as Turkey and Germany, for a week-long curriculum focusing on diverse issues from cybersecurity to BRICs, to the threat of ISIS, to the status of the nonproliferation and disarmament regimes.

The Summer School has a rich tradition of bringing high level speakers from the Russian government, the private sector, and from international organizations to engage with students, and 2015 was no exception. Lecturers included: Sergey Ryabkov, Russia’s deputy minister of foreign affairs; Dmitry Balakin, head of NATO’s European Security Office at the Department of European Cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry; and Maria Zakharova, director of the Information and Press Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry. Because the school follows Chatham House Rules, speakers were able to provide candid answers to a wide range of tough questions following each lecture, stimulating active and frank discussion among the participants.            

Sarah, a student in the Institute’s Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program was the only American student to take part in the school, which was conducted entirely in Russian. Beyond listening to lectures, students were expected to contribute actively by giving presentations, asking questions, and participating in debates. Of the experience, she says: “Participating in the Summer Security School was a truly unique opportunity, particularly as an American during the current crisis in relations between Russia and the West. Not only was it a chance for me to learn about the Russian perspective on issues critical to global security, but it allowed me to interact on a personal level with Russian and Russian-speaking peers. My fellow participants could not have been more welcoming or more interested in my opinion on the current state of affairs. The lasting friendships I cultivated on the trip give me hope that my generation will be able to overcome diplomatic tensions and work cooperatively together in our future careers. I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity.”

Following the conclusion of the PIR Center program, Sarah traveled to Moscow for the opening conference of the Stanford U.S.-Russia Forum (SURF), a program that facilitates collaborative research projects in critical areas between young experts from both countries. One of 20 American delegates and three Middlebury Institute students who were selected for participation in the Forum in 2015-2016, Sarah is serving in a working group that focuses on nuclear security issues. The conference provided the first opportunity for Sarah to meet her teammates in person; they will continue to research and develop their topic remotely over the next eight months, and they will present their findings at a capstone conference at Stanford University in the spring. 

The week-long SURF conference focused not only on collaborative research but also on helping participants better understand the current diplomatic crisis and their role in remedying it. The SURF delegation visited both the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for a discussion with Deputy Director of the Department of North America Alexey Korjouev, and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for a panel with senior embassy leadership opened by Ambassador John Tefft. Sarah and her fellow participants then traveled to the Tyumen’ region of Siberia for four days of intensive meetings with local leadership, energy experts, and representatives of Tyumen State University. The Siberian segment of the trip gave delegates the chance to experience life outside of the capital and to build relationships with peers from “real Russia.” As the only current bilateral initiative to bring student researchers from both countries together for collaborative research projects, the SURF program provides an opportunity for Sarah to utilize her knowledge of U.S.-Russian cooperation in nuclear security, which she has been cultivating in her work at the Institute: “I focus on U.S.-Russia bilateral nuclear arms control and nuclear security efforts in the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program here in Monterey. Russia and the United States have a strong track record of making headway on nuclear security and arms control efforts even in challenging political situations, such as the one in which we find ourselves today. Through the Stanford U.S.-Russia Forum, I have the opportunity to work with young Russian and American experts in the nuclear security field in making real progress toward restoring this tradition of collaboration.”

Sarah’s participation in both the PIR Center International School on Global Security and the Stanford U.S.-Russia Forum were made possible in part by funding from the Institute’s Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies (GIRS). Sarah, who holds an undergraduate degree from Wellesley College in Russian and a master’s degree in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies from the University of North Carolina, is an active participant in GIRS and currently serves as its project manager. Of the initiative, Sarah says: “Through GIRS, I have developed the subject matter expertise I needed faster and more solidly than I ever could have imagined possible. My trip to Russia gave me the opportunity not only to advance my knowledge but also to see how far I have come as a result of my participation in GIRS. The fact that I was able to deliver a highly technical presentation to experts in Russian and then answer follow-up questions off-the-cuff with no trouble is proof positive of the value of the Initiative. There is no other program like it in the United States, and I feel lucky to be a part of it.”

After graduating in December 2016, Sarah hopes to work on advancing U.S.-Russia relations on disarmament and nonproliferation issues in her future career, possibly as a research analyst with a nongovernmental organization or think tank.

Imagine you’re a graduate student. And imagine that, instead of juggling several classes at once, jumping from professor to professor, subject to subject, and project team to project team on a daily basis, you had the chance to take one class at a time, four hours a day, five days a week, covering an entire semester’s worth of material in just three weeks. And then repeated the process three more times, until after 12 weeks you’d completed an entire four-course, full-load semester, one class at a time.

That’s the basic concept of an innovative new approach to teaching and learning that 27 student volunteers at the Middlebury Institute will experience this spring. The block-scheduling approach isn’t really the main innovation here, though. “Scheduling is just the means to accomplish the real innovation,” maintains Beryl Levinger, co-director of the so-called “Sprintensive” project and chair of the Institute’s Development Practice and Policy (DPP) program, home to the four courses that will be part of the initial pilot project. The real innovation is “a pedagogical approach that’s all about hands-on learning, that’s relationship-rich and feedback-rich, and that involves a great deal of peer-to-peer and faculty-student interaction.”

Focusing on one subject at a time in an intensive way offers many advantages. In addition to reducing the distractions and competing priorities of a standard schedule, the intensive schedule ensures that the cohort of 27 students will be in every class together every day for a full semester. “They’ll have the opportunity to develop some great working relationships” both with each other and with their professors, notes Project Coordinator Galen Anderson MAIEM/MPA ’15, adding that “the students are effectively going to be colleagues,” further preparing them for life in a professional work environment.

In one sense, the 27 students in the initial pilot project will be genuine pioneers, testing out a creative new approach to delivering a portion of the DPP curriculum. In another sense, however, they will simply be the newest beneficiaries of a method that has proven very effective in other contexts. The concept behind Sprintensive dates back 12 years to the introduction of the Institute’s development and social change certificate program known as DPMI (Design, Partnering, Management & Innovation, founded by Levinger in 2003). The pilot program essentially applies DPMI’s modular curriculum design and intensive three-week schedule to a set of four courses that will be taught consecutively rather than concurrently.

Given the very high evaluation scores that DPMI routinely receives from participants, it might have seemed inevitable that its unusual approach to teaching and learning would be given a broader application. But the concept proved stubbornly challenging to apply to a regular graduate school curriculum until two things happened—the project team decided to confine the initial pilot project to just one of the Institute’s 13 master’s degree programs, and the team’s proposal to Middlebury’s Fund for Innovation was approved. That funding has enabled the project team to provide “dedicated management support, a strong evaluation component, and opportunities for faculty to develop specific pedagogical skills for teaching in an intensive mode,” according to Sprintensive co-director Amy McGill, associate provost for integration strategies.

For Anderson, the pilot project doubles as a uniquely valuable practicum-slash-professional development opportunity. “It’s a wonderful challenge,” says Anderson, who is working with faculty, staff, and students across campus to provide the programmatic and administrative support necessary for the project to succeed. She and the team welcome feedback at sprintensive@miis.edu. 

Middlebury president Laurie Patton met with the Sprintensive team during one of her recent visits to Monterey, intrigued by their efforts to develop innovative learning approaches that can enhance the student experience. Levinger believes the intensive approach “will make a difference, and that people will eventually come here to participate in this program.” Time will tell; for now, the 27 students in the pilot project can look forward to experiencing a unique approach to teaching and learning, and having their feedback play a key role in its future at the Institute.

From its inception in 1945, the Fulbright Program has fostered bilateral relationships by offering scholarships and training for students from other countries to study in the U.S., as well as for scholars from this country to work and study in partner countries. At the Middlebury Institute, the relationships formed often last a lifetime as students from different countries become graduates working in the same field, maintaining their professional and personal connections.

This fall the Middlebury Institute welcomed nine new Fulbright students who were immediately embraced by the larger group of Fulbrighters on campus. They come from as far away as Spain, Benin, and Indonesia, but all share the desire to use the skills and knowledge they are gaining at the Institute to make a positive impact on their communities when they return home.

When asked about the “best part” of her experience in Monterey so far, Luisa Roemer MANPTS ’17 says that is an impossible question because “the whole experience is amazing, tremendously interesting and totally overwhelming.” The Frankfurt, Germany native says she wakes up some mornings and still can’t believe she is here. “It is everything I always wanted – and sometimes even more!”  Genevieve Yehounme MAIEP ’17 shares a great experience she had when she was invited to a dinner with nine fellow Middlebury Institute students, all from different countries. “I enjoyed getting to know about our cultural differences and similarities. To me, MIIS is like the UN but on a smaller scale.” Genevieve would like to increase environmental consciousness in her home country of Benin through ecotourism.

Chang Hong MAIEM ’16 came to the Institute from Shanxi Province, China. She says she is now studying at her “dream institute,” and she hopes to use her education “to help build more mutual understanding between China and the US.” Hailing from West Papua in Indonesia, Jouhannes Faidiban MAIPD ’17 came to the Institute after a recommendation from a friend and says it gives him great satisfaction to know that he is “in the right school” that allows him to “have hands on experience” in his chosen field. The resources offered by the Institute “to turn knowledge into practical application,” were also a draw for William Holness MAIEP ‘17 from Panama. “Our classmates, professors and staff are all really nice people and are always willing to help with a smile,” he adds.

Naweed Nayib MAIPD ’17 would like to return to back home to Afghanistan and work in the development sector with an international organization. Minh Nguyen MATESOL ’17 chose the Institute for its renowned Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages program and hopes to work as a teacher of English at a university or an institution when she returns to Vietnam. “I would like to design curricula for different English teaching settings as well as conduct meaningful research in the field.” Hesham Ahmed Alsaati MAIEP ’17 would like to integrate green tech sustainable solutions in resilient city development in his native Bahrain.

Laura Adela Garrido Olarte MACI ’16 and Ana Carmen Ramirez Fernandez MACI ’16 are both from Andalusia in Spain and both picked the Institute because it is “the top school for translation and interpretation.” Laura says: “I hope to bring something back to my country and my community by helping people break linguistic barriers.” Ana feels the same way and says she can’t wait to put in practice all the skills and knowledge that she is learning here. In the same program is Jazmin Benitez MATI ’17 from Paraguay, who would like to increase the standards of interpretation in her home country. For her the best part about her time here is that “Since day one I have been learning a lot.”

The future goal of Oumar Amar MAIPD ’17 is to return to Mauritania, utilizing the knowledge and skills he will gain while at the Institute to “fight for human rights and the abolishment of slavery.” He says the friendships he has developed are the best part of his experience so far, adding that “these friendships will last forever and can be utilized in the future in the professional sphere – you can look at them as convertible currency.” We can think of no better medium of exchange.