The Office of Student Services wishes you Happy Holidays and good luck with your finals!
Also, please stop by our office for a piece of candy or a brownie bite while supplies last! 🙂
Happy Holidays from Student Services!
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Coffee Chats: A chance to tell future students about MIIS
The Recruiting Office would like your participation in expanding awareness about the Monterey Institute and reaching out to prospective students in other parts of the country and throughout the world by hosting a Coffee Chat.
Who can help? Continuing students and new graduates who plan to travel or return home during the winter break. The Coffee Chats may take place from January 6 until the beginning of the spring term.
How can you help? We are looking for students who would like to meet and host a small group of prospective students (usually 3-8) at a coffee shop or similar establishment and share their experiences about what it is like to be a student here at the Monterey Institute. We are calling these meetings “Coffee Chats.” Arrangements will be made by and expenses covered by the Recruiting Department.
Why is this important? Prospective students exploring graduate schools want to heave directly from current students; who better to help them understand the Monterey Institute experience than you!? This is any informal and meaningful way to increase the visibility of the Monterey Institute, show your school pride and encourage another person to make the same decision you did!
Have these been successful in the past? Those who have hosted the chats have report that they had a great time and the prospective students had good questions. The hosts have felt that the chat was worthwhile and they would like to host again.
Please indicate your interest in learning more by emailing Alice.villemaire@miis.edu. Alice will send you specific details and answer any questions you have.
Open Study Rooms Announced!
Monterey Institute Students:
Just a reminder that we are keeping several additional rooms unlocked and available for open studying through the remainder of this semester. The following rooms will be open from 6PM – midnight, Sunday through Thursday through Tuesday, December 16, for anyone who needs additional individual or group study space.
Morse Room A202
Morse Room A205
McGowan Room 101 (except Mondays from 6 – 9PM, when there is already a study group scheduled) McCone Room 127 (except Thursdays from 6 – 8PM, when there is already a study group scheduled)
A few things to keep in mind:
1) Please turn the lights off when you leave a room.
2) Please be ameniable to sharing a room with others.
3) Please be courteous of the few times that the rooms are already officially reserved for a study group.
4) Study groups can continue to officially reserve rooms for specific days and times by e-mailing Room.Reserve@miis.edu.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let me know.
Barbara Burke
Executive Assistant to the President
Financial Aid Refund Checks for Spring 2009
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
~ 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.
Excellence in Teaching Award
Dr. Yuwei Shi of the Business School has been chosen, after a very rigorous and competitive process, for the Excellence in Teaching Award. Dr. Shi will be the keynote speaker at the December Commencement.
Student Commencement Speaker Chosen!
Congratulations to Joyce Laker, MAIPS, for being selected by her fellow December graduates as their student Commencement speaker! This was a very competitive process with qualified candidates. We look forward to hearing Joyce’s speech on December 14th.
Panel Discussion – “Leadership in a Time of War”
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.
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.
Volunteers needed to carry flags at December Commencement
Volunteers Needed! This could be you…
The Student Affairs Office is still looking for Flag Carriers for the upcoming December 2008 Commencement on Sunday, December 14th.
First year students, staff, and friends – this is a GREAT opportunity to cheer our graduates on! Volunteer Flag Carriers will have prime seating at the Commencement!
If you are interested in carrying one of the flags listed below to honor our graduates, please stop by the Student Affairs Office or email “Student Affairs” on First Class to sign-up for your flag of choice. The sign-ups will be on a first-come, first served basis. If your flag of choice is taken, PLEASE be willing to carry another flag. There are 19 different countries being represented in the December Commencement. Right now there are 7 countries for which we still need carriers and we will also need 3 – 5 alternates. Please read below for the countries that are still available.
The individuals who volunteer as flag carriers will need to be available for a 1 hour rehersal the morning of Commencement (Sunday, December 14th). Exact time will be confirmed as we move closer to that date. More details on the process, rehersal, etc. will be sent to all Volunteers in early December.
Volunteers are still needed for the following countries:
Argentina
India
Kazakhstan
Romania
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Syria
MIIS Reorganization Planning Meetings
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.