To All MIIS Students:

I am excited to announce the new academic leadership team that will guide the Institute through the ongoing academic reorganization. In November, I provided the Institute community with job descriptions for these three critical positions within the transformed academic administration, and began the search for strong leaders and managers to fill these posts.

After an extensive and thorough review of the candidates with Provost Amy Sands and the Faculty Senate, we reached unanimous agreement on the following appointments:

Dean of Advising, Career, and Student Services

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Tate Miller as the Dean of Advising, Career, and Student Services, effective April 1, 2009. Tate brings to this position a range of experience and expertise that will be crucial to the success of this newly created post. Not only does he have direct experience with the Institute from the perspective of a former student, having received his MA from the Commercial Diplomacy program, but for several years he also taught in the Monterey Institute Trade Policy Program and served as an assistant dean in GSIPS, providing career and academic advice to students. Tate also has taught at Shandong University and lectured at Beijing University in China. While in China he engaged in numerous programs to train Chinese officials in Western business practices and in WTO dispute settlement procedures.

Tate, in collaboration with senior staff and the two other deans, will seek to deliver advising support to the entire student body as seamlessly and efficiently as possible, building upon the existing culture of service among staff and faculty so that students experience this new structure as a step toward fulfilling the Institute’s commitment to academic excellence.

Dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Renee Jourdenais as the dean of the new Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education (GSTILE) effective June 1, 2009. Renee’s administrative experience, educational expertise, and professional work make her an excellent candidate to lead what will be the only school in the country with sizable and strong programs in both T&I and language education.

Since receiving her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics and joining the faculty of the Institute’s TESOL/TFL program, Renee has broadened her academic reach so that she now can teach almost any class within the TESOL program, has strong credentials as a manager of academic programs, and has collaborated with T&I colleagues to develop testing and evaluation tools.

Renee will be able quickly to initiate efforts to enhance the new school’s theoretical expertise and research, professional education and training, and innovative approaches to learning a second language, teaching a second language, and becoming an effective translator and interpreter. Equally important, she has the leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills required to work with her faculty colleagues, fellow senior administrators, and other deans to attain the Institute’s goals.

Dean of the Graduate School of International Policy and Management

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Yuwei Shi as the dean of the new Graduate School of International Policy and Management (GSIPM) effective June 1, 2009. Before coming to the Monterey Institute, Yuwei taught at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where he was the deputy director of the MBA Management of Technology program and founding director of the Nanyang Executive Program.  He also taught MBA and doctoral courses and seminars in major universities in the U.S., China, and Singapore.

Yuwei specializes in corporate- and business-level strategic planning, organizational diagnosis and design, and strategic planning leveraging emerging business technologies. His consulting and executive management training clients range from high-tech startups to global Fortune 200 companies and governments in North America, Europe, and Asia. Yuwei’s strong commitment to academic excellence is reflected in his receiving the 2008 Excellence in Teaching Award and his substantial work on the Academic Excellence Task Force, the Institute’s Innovation Committee, and Scholar Ship pizza group. He also is now at the center of many of the Business School’s innovative activities and courses, working with its student task force to ensure a smooth transition to the new school structure. His compassion, creativity, and directness are characteristics of the strong leadership style that will support his ability to turn his vision into specific, effective, and relevant programs and courses.
Finally, I would like to thank our current deans — Chuanyun Bao, Renee Jourdenais, Ed Laurance, and Ernie Scalberg — for their hard work and enthusiastic efforts during the last few years. Their leadership has been crucial to the success of our strategic planning and academic excellence initiatives as they brought stability and experience to a very dynamic and innovative environment. Given the strong commitment of Ed, Ernie, and Chuanyun to the Monterey Institute and its future success, I am confident that they will provide the mentoring and insights to ensure a smooth transition as we move a new team of deans into place.

I look forward to working with Amy Sands and this dynamic team of deans to help guide MIIS through the exciting times ahead as the Institute continues its pursuit of academic excellence and formally integrates with Middlebury. The next step will be to fill in the structures below the deans. I expect to provide additional information about this sub-structure before the retreats on February 20th and 27th. I have also engaged the Student Council on how best to use student input as we move forward with the academic reorganization. I look forward to the active participation of MIIS students in the months to come as we begin to shape the future curriculum at the heart of the MIIS experience.