Author Archives: aarrocha

New And Improved Samson Center Dining Room!

Leave a reply

Announcing Your New and Improved Samson Center Dining Room!Over the semester break, the Samson Center Dining Room has undergone renovations designed to provide students with a more comfortable and efficient environment for both dining and study. The newly revamped Dining Room will re-open on February 2nd, with expanded seating and an exciting new food service vendor, “The World Cafe”.

“The World Cafe” will initially be open Monday – Friday from 7:30AM to 7:00PM, serving a variety of menu options, including breakfast cereals, grilled items, roasted chicken, fish, vegetarian options, and Mexican and Asian cuisine, among others. “The World Cafe” will also feature cappuccinos and espressos. Stop by and try them out soon and keep your eye out for additional postings of their menu and other features.

***Please note that the two rows of tables closest to the food service area will be reserved for “dining only” from 11AM – 2PM Monday through Friday.***

New renovations in the Dining Room include:

• Three newly installed countertop workstations and accompanied new seating, with additional electrical outlets for laptops.
• Four new cafe-style tables and new seating.
• New, comfortable four-inch seat cushions on all chairs in the Dining Room.

More Space to “Plug In” and Get Straight to Work
(without taking up tables!)

Renovations of Apartment Building Complete

Leave a reply

Renovations of Apartment Building at Corner of Van Buren and Franklin Completed

Renovations have been completed on the Monterey Institute apartment building located at the corner of Van Buren and Franklin Streets. This project, headed by Controller Steve Marino, has resulted in a completely remodeled building that will provide market-rate housing for Institute faculty and staff and a guesthouse unit for VIPs and other Institute visitors. The apartment’s landscaping was designed and completed by Classroom and Grounds Supervisor Marty Goss and Classroom and Grounds Assistant Kirk Eckhardt and incorporates drought-resistant plants and drip irrigation.

This building has incorporated the following green improvements in order to comply with new Monterey Green Building Codes, emphasize our commitment to sustainability, and provide a comfortable, healthy environment for those occupying the house.

• Plumbing: Installation of high-performance, low-flow showerheads, low-flow faucets, insulated plumbing and pipes (to keep heat from escaping), and low-flow toilets.

• Energy: The building will have 95% efficient furnaces, a high-efficiency water heater, and a vent kitchen range hood to the outside (in order to keep pollutions and odors from contaminating the house).
• Flooring: 
–  Recycled-content tile and low volatile organic compound (VOC), water-based wood finishes.
 – Recycled-content, non-toxic, tack-down carpet, padding and underlayment (Recycled content: PET plastic bottles, recycled wool, nylon, or recycled cotton. Tack-down installation is easier to remove than glue-down, eliminates toxic glue chemicals, and allows the carpeting to be partially recycled at the “end” of its life.).

• Paint: The paint used in this building is low VOC.
• Reuse/Recycling: Construction and deconstruction waste was reused and job site waste was recycled to the extent possible.

 

The Pathfinder: A Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies!

Leave a reply

Dear Colleagues

 

I am excited to announce the first issue of The Pathfinder: A Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies!  The url is: www.thepathfinderjournal.com

 

All comments and suggestions are welcome!

  

Pushpa

 

Pushpa Iyer

Assistant Professor & Program Coordinator – Conflict Resolution Graduate School for International Policy Studies Monterey Institute for International Studies 460 Pierce Street, Monterey, CA 93940

Contact: 831-647-7104, pushpa.iyer@miis.edu

 

Financial Aid Refund Checks for Spring 2009

Leave a reply

Dear Students,Please be aware that classes begin one week later this year than in years past. This means that classes won’t begin until February 2, and as a result, financial aid refund checks will not be released to you until on or after February 2. Federal regulations prohibit us from releasing any financial aid to you until after the first official day of classes.

We understand that this may present a hardship for you as you plan to pay your expenses for January and February. We wanted to notify you of this now, so you can plan accordingly.

Some things for you to be aware of as you budget yourself in the coming
months:

1. If you take a winter (J-Term ) class, your funds will be released to you at the beginning of your J-Term course, not in February. Because we do not have a formal Winter semester, the J-Term courses are considered, for financial aid purposes, as an early start to the Spring semester. Therefore, provided that you register for all of your Spring courses, as well as the J-term course, we are able to release all of your spring aid to you in early January. In most cases, you will not be billed additional tuition for a J-Term course, unless there are additional program fees (i.e. flights, room deposits, etc.) If for any reason, you do not want your Spring aid disbursed early, please notify us in writing
(finaid@miis.edu) if you have not already done so.

2. If you do not take a J-Term class and you are worried about paying rent for January and/or February, please come see us in the financial aid office. We can review your file with you to see if any additional aid can be released for you during the Fall semester. We also have a “Landlord Letter” that we can write for you to give to your landlord, which explains the availability of your financial aid, as well as the date your refund check will be made available to you.

We are happy to work with you so that you do not need to worry about money. Please come see us so we can review your options with you.

Sincerely,
Regina, Rafael, and Jennifer
Office of Student Financial Planning

MIIS Fall Carnival

Leave a reply

~ YOU ARE INVITED ~
MIIS Fall Carnival Saturday, Nov. 22 12:00-5:00 @ Samson Patio & Lot* Games
* Bake-Off/Auction
* Music
* Clothes Swap
* Wining & Dining
* Proceeds benefit The Food Bank of Monterey

Student Council has organized this event and would like to request your participation in the following:

* Charity Bake-Off Auction: Baked items will be donated, displayed and auctioned. COSTS REIMBURSED so keep your receipts! Sign-up ASAP. Contact- David Reichbaum

* Dunking Booth: Student Council and Faculty will take turns in the dunk booth. Contact- Chris Hucke
All proceeds will benefit The Food Bank of Monterey County

*Games: Inflatable obstacle course and bungee run, sumo suits, gladiator battles

Wining & Dining: Beer, mulled wine, BBQ and cotton candy

Student Council and The Food Bank of Monterey County greatly appreciate your participation.

Please contact David Reichbaum, Chris Hucke, Seda Sevas or Student Affairs for details.

Panel Discussion – “Leadership in a Time of War”

Leave a reply

The Monterey Institute of International Studies and the Defense Language Institute cordially invites you to attend a panel discussion, titled “Leadership in a Time of War”, on Wednesday, November 19 from 6:30PM – 8:00PM in the Irvine Auditorium, featuring:

* LTC Danial Pick, former Army Attaché, U.S. Embassy, Amman, Jordan and Iraq Policy Officer, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

* Bill Murphy Jr., author of In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point’s Class of 2002 and a former Army JAG office who reported from Iraq for The Washington Post.

* Mike Cerre, an Emmy-award winning journlits for ABC News in Iraq who served as an USMC officer in Vietnam.

* CPT Fergal O’Reilly, a former platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan and Iraq, and is now assigned to the Defense Language Institute.

The discussion will be moderated by Capt DJ. Skelton, who was wounded during U.S. combat operations in Fallujah, Iraq in Nov 2004. He is one of the leading U.S. Army advocates for Wounded Warriors, playing a key role in strategic policy development and analysis regarding care for wounded servicemen and who currently serves at the Defense Language Institute.

Bios for all of the participants (except O’Reilly) are listed below.

pick-cv

bill-murphy-jr-backgrounder

skeltons-biography

mike-cerre-backgrounder

Join these Iraq war veterans and the author of an important new book on the sacrifices of young American Army officers for a discussion about country, service, and leadership in a time of war.

There will be a light reception in the McCone Atrium immediately following the panel discussion.

MIIS Reorganization Planning Meetings

Leave a reply

To: MIIS Faculty, Staff, and Students
Fr: Office of the President
Re: MIIS Reorganization Planning MeetingsMonterey 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.

Student Commencement Speaker Nominees

Leave a reply

The December graduating students have nominated the following five students to compete for Student Commencement Speaker:

Joyce Laker- MAIPS
Danielle Barbeau – MAIPS
Jeffrey Swartz – MAIEP
Jon Axtell – MBA
Mason Roberts – MBA

The nominees will present their speech summaries at the Graduating Students Meeting on Thursday, November 6th, in MG102.  The meeting begins at 12:15 and will also be streaming live for those students who cannot make it to the meeting.