While some campuses in colder climates virtually shut down during the month of January, the Middlebury Institute has a history of offering a range of fascinating short-course and “in the field” immersive learning opportunities during the January winter term (affectionately nicknamed “J-term”).

Kelly Bohan MAIEM ’18 was part of a group of International Education Management students who traveled to France to visit the Middlebury Schools Abroad site Centre Madeleine in Paris. “This trip was such an incredible opportunity academically, professionally, and personally,” says Bohan. “I was able to connect the knowledge and skills I gained in my first semester at MIIS to the observations, projects, and conversations we had on-site, while making connections with great people in the field. Now that I’m back on campus, I feel that I have a wealth of new understanding of the real-world applications of what I am learning in the classroom, and I feel better equipped for my professional career.”

More than two dozen course offerings over J-term 2018 included a seminar in international marine law, a short course on language teacher education, and the two-week Frontier Market Scouts impact investing certificate course. In addition to the Paris course Bohan participated in, immersive learning offerings included opportunities to visit Cuba to study the history of U.S.-Cuban relations and revolutionary politics, and to visit the Czech Republic to conduct experiments with at a nuclear research reactor. The Institute also offered its well-regarded DPMI Certificate in International Development and Social Change in both Monterey and Rwanda.

“Our approach to immersive learning at MIIS is designed to provide students with hands-on experience and to provide opportunities where students can have an impact even before graduation,” said Carolyn Taylor Meyer MAIPS ’05, director of professional immersive learning and special programs for the Institute’s Graduate School of International Policy and Management. “January on-site courses provide students with unique co-learning experiences across cultures, experience working with organizations in their field, and the opportunity to better understand the reality on the ground around complex global issues.”

J-term opportunities aren’t limited to regular course offerings either; directed study under the supervision of a faculty member is another option. “Since last Spring, I have been working with the Raechel & Jackie Foundation (RJF), an organization that partners with local community leaders in rural Nicaragua to bring access, quality, and relevance to education,” says Miranda Meyer MPA/MAIEM ’18. “This past fall, I took Program Evaluation with Dr. Beryl Levinger in which we needed to work with a real-world client. My team chose to work with RJF to develop a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) design for their Teacher Training Program. This led to RJF offering me the opportunity to go down to Nicaragua for 10 days [during J-term] to work with the country director and guide him through the M&E plan we had developed, while also collecting impact stories from community members.”

Meyer is grateful for the opportunity J-term offered to expand her skills and put them to use in a real-world setting. “This experience it exposed me to a lot in a short amount of time. I gained more fieldwork experience and was able to see first-hand what community and partner development looks like. Working in Nicaragua reminded me that context and culture is so important to keep in mind when doing this work! Having hands-on experience is always a benefit in any career.”

Three Middlebury Institute students have been offered the opportunity to spend summer 2018 as paid fellows with non-profit Think Beyond Plastic’s Mesoamerican Reef Project, living and working on the Bay Islands off the northern coast of Honduras. Erin Lannon MAIEP ’19, Karl Larsen MBA/MAIEP ’18, and Iris Nolasco MAIEP ’17 were each awarded the fellowship.

“Participating in this fellowship will be an excellent encapsulation of my academic experience at MIIS,” says Larsen. “The combination of environmental, economic, and social components of the fellowship is directly linked to the courses I’ve taken at the Institute for the MBA and International Environmental Policy programs.”  

The trio have been offered positions as fellows for Education (Nolasco), Policy (Lannon) and Entrepreneurship (Larsen) on the Mesoamerican Reef Project, described by Think Beyond Plastic as “a flagship project… demonstrating the transformative power of innovation and entrepreneurship as applied towards key environmental problems.” The fellowships are funded through the Institute’s Center for the Blue Economy, with funding covering 100 hours at the Think Beyond Plastics office in Carmel and a stipend of $5,000 to cover travel and living expenses.

Larsen anticipates the fellowship experience will help to advance his career. “I plan on pursuing a career in the impact investing field with a focus on sustainable resource management in Latin America & the Caribbean,” he said. “This opportunity will provide me with practical experience in the field working with entrepreneurs in the Bay Islands.”

Think Beyond Plastic’s goal is to “lead a global multi-disciplinary effort to accelerate commercialization of research and innovation with focus on plastic pollution.” Since 2013, the organization has offered financial and strategic support to 35 startups and the $2 million New Plastics Economy Grand Innovation Challenge Prize competition. According to Think Beyond Plastic, startups in the field of plastics alternatives typically collaborate using interdisciplinary teams representing science, business and consumer advocacy, testing out alternatives in terms of commercial scalability, toxicity, biodegradability, compostability and design.

Think Beyond Plastic recently announced a partnership with California State University at Monterey Bay to launch the Sam Farr Innovation Center, designed to bring together “innovators, entrepreneurs, industry, scientists, engineers and consumer advocates” to tackle the problem of ocean plastic pollution. (Farr, a former longtime Congressman representing the Monterey region, is a graduate of the Institute’s Summer Intensive Language Program.) 

“The Innovation Center will be the core of a Central Coast entrepreneurial ecosystem leveraging science for both sustainable businesses and a sustainable planet Earth,” said Kent Glenzer, dean of the Institute’s Graduate School of International Policy & Management. “The Institute’s collaboration with the center is another example of our commitment to channeling market forces toward goals that benefit the common good.”

Lannon and Larsen are students in the Institute’s Master of Arts in International Environmental Policy program—Larsen is a joint degree student also earning an MBA—and Nolasco graduated in December 2017 from the environmental policy program. Follow the Mesoamerican Reef Project this spring and summer on their Facebook page.  

Middlebury Institute alumni from the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Teaching Foreign Language (TFL) degree programs have trained more than 80 teachers in Haiti since 2015. As a testament to the value these teachers place on the program, 24 of the 80 trainees have carried on to train another 226 teachers in their communities just in the past year, illustrating the “multiplier effect” in action, and marking a major milestone for the program known as Team EFL Haiti.

Thanks to a Rotary Global Grant, Institute alumni have able to share their expertise in communicative language teaching (CLT) and content-based instruction (CBI) with language teachers in Haiti. Early this year, team leader Lisa Donohoe Luscombe MATESOL ’09 and recent graduate Stephen Spanos MATESOL/PCMI ’17 conducted the third train-the-trainer session for 36 teachers from all parts of Haiti. Alumnae Vanessa Hoffman MATESOL ‘15, Lucy Crouppen MATESOL ’16, and Ruth Castillo MATESOL ’15 were trainers in the 2015 and 2016 sessions.

The program is the fruit of a longstanding collaboration between the Middlebury Institute and Pere Noe Bernier of St. Andre’s School. Through this partnership the alumni teams are able to travel to the town of Hinche, the capital of Haiti’s Central Plateau, and live at the school where they provide the training. They conduct a 30-hour teacher training workshop in which local English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers receive a crash course in applying Institute TESOL teaching methods in Haitian classrooms.

English is an important second language in Haiti as it increases chances of finding economic opportunities at both the personal and organizational levels. Although students do well on national exams, the methods shared in the training workshops aim to help students to be more communicative as English speakers, enabling them to find better jobs, partner with outside organizations for development projects in Haiti, or attract outside business to support the struggling economy, among other incentives.

The training is also an important professional development opportunity for Haitian teachers. Alberte Eveillard, a teacher from Mirebalais, shared, “It’s the first time we have seen this sort of thing in our country. Certainly, you’ll see the outcomes for Haitian learners quickly because your methods are very adaptable to our Haitian problem.” 

Because of the growing reputation of the program among teacher communities, the program received more applications than they could accommodate. “It’s heartbreaking when you have to turn away someone who clearly sees the benefits of a level of training unavailable anywhere else,” says Donohoe. Many of the teachers who were accepted had to travel an hour or more by moto (small motorcycles) on a daily basis, and some others stayed in rustic conditions.

In the coming year, five top Haitian teachers will be selected from the 24 who conducted train-the-trainer sessions. A panel of Institute alumni trainers will rate the training reports of the Haitian teacher trainers based on a rubric for reporting. The grant allows for these five teachers to travel to Monterey for further training, classroom observation, and cultural exchange with local teachers. The project vision is for these five teachers to be ambassadors for communicative language teaching and content-based instruction in their teaching communities, carrying on their expertise beyond the grant period.

The Rotary Global Grant has been possible through cooperation with Rotary Club of Monterey Pacific and Rotary Club of Hinche, Haiti, with financial support from Rotary Clubs of Monterey, Carmel Valley, Visalia County Center, King City, Pacific Grove, Visalia Breakfast Rotary, in addition to IOOF Saratoga and Team EFL Haiti benefactor Bill Rand.

“We were meant to cross paths,” says recent Middlebury Institute graduate Natalia Weinberger MATLM ’15 of her relationship with her scholarship donor and mentor Linda Childs Hothem BAPS ’85. Despite Natalia being a recipient of the scholarship Linda created to support women from Latin and South America, the two did not meet until the day before Natalia was to graduate, in spring of 2015. That same Commencement, Hothem was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award and delivered the alumni address. “I will never forget this day,” Natalia recounts. “I had long wanted to meet the person who had been so kind and generous with her scholarship, without even knowing me.”

The two connected immediately as they quickly discovered a mutual passion for youth development and the arts. Hothem, the very busy founder and CEO of the commercial real estate Pacific American Group LLC, told Weinberger about her long-held dream: to create a foundation, inspired by her friend, renowned Panamanian artist Olga Sinclair, to provide art education for underserved children and youth in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sinclair’s foundation, Fundación Olga Sinclair (FOS), had been successfully doing this throughout Panama for five years.

Weinberger embraced the vision and Hothem realized she had found someone who could help move her vision forward. With Weinberger’s South American roots, her fluency in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, and most of all, her newly minted degree in translation and localization management, Hothem could think of no better person to manage that aspect of the foundation.

Along with a group of friends, Hothem created FOSART, which provides art education services to low-income children in the San Francisco Bay Area. Linda adapted the FOS acronym, which stands for Friends of Olga Sinclair. The goal of FOSART is “to serve as a bilingual non-profit that enhances the culture and talent of children and youth with the help of artistic expression; by promoting the social, cultural, and racial union through the love for art.”

As FOSART’s CEO for localization, Weinberger manages a variety of projects and handles most of the translating. She also works with donors and prospective partners. One recent project she is especially proud of is a collaborative effort with the Getty Museum called Art Beyond Borders through Pacific Standard Time. The program included 1,000 children from The Partnership for Los Angeles Schools who participated in a series of painting sessions led by Olga Sinclair.

“The Institute provided me with numerous resources for project management, taught me how to handle stressful situations and tight deadlines, and provided me a network of support,” Weinberger says. “Part of the reason I moved to the United States and chose the Institute was to acquire more tools to make a difference, not just work for a profit-driven corporation. When Linda shared her dream and her longtime friendship with Olga, I realized it wasn’t a coincidence. It was meant to be.”

For the second year in a row, a team from the Middlebury Institute has taken the top spot in the Business for a Better World international case competition. Team members Ameen Beydoun MBA/MAIPD ’18, Alexandra Cohen MBA/MAIPD ’19, Arti Dhar MBA ’19, and Dan Swinyard MBA ’18 presented what one of the judges called a “stunning” idea and comprehensive approach to this year’s challenge “to deliver an actionable idea that will enable meaningful investment in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) while creating new growth opportunities for BNP Paribas CIB division.” 

Three teams, from the University of Laval, McGill University and the Institute, advanced to the final round of the competition which is hosted by CK Schulich and Corporate Knights and held each year in Davos, Switzerland to coincide with the World Economic Forum. “Everyone did great, and we left nothing on the table,” says team leader Swinyard. “Absolutely amazing!” added Cohen.

“Middlebury won over the judges with their idea for financing smart roads with a comprehensive approach to address sustainable infrastructure which has spill over benefits for a plethora of sustainable development goals.” said Dirk Matten, Professor of Strategy; Hewlett-Packard Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility at Schulich School of Business, York University. “The idea is a stunning one as they combine solar technology, wireless technology and complex financial engineering.”

“The fact that we had this incredibly talented and diverse team and were able to brainstorm and develop a viable product and then present it in Davos is amazing,” says Cohen, and adds that it was really rewarding to work in a team where people brought different perspectives and experiences and “appreciated each others ideas and contritubtions.” The team says the support of faculty members Yuwei Shi and Sandra Dow was invaluable. Says Cohen: “They basically gave us master classes along the way!” Professor Shi who traveled with the team to Davos said their “dedication, chemistry, and brilliance are remarkable to observe.”

Maria Luisa Olavarria BA/MAIPS ’12 wrote an essay for the Middlebury Institute Fall Communiqué about her native Venezuela and the difficult choice many young professionals make whether to risk their lives to fight for the future of their beloved nation, or to leave and seek security and a better life elsewhere.

—

In 2010 I left Venezuela to come to MIIS. I packed two bags, kissed my mom and dogs goodbye and embarked on what I thought would be a three-year adventure in California to get my BA/MA in international policy studies. The plan was to return triumphant, a “master,” fully prepared to take on the troubles that had plagued my country and to rejoin my friends and family in our fight for democracy, free speech, and security. 

I’ll cut to the chase and admit that it didn’t work out that way. In the three years that I was in Monterey, the situation in Venezuela deteriorated considerably. Violent crime rates kept rising, political leaders were imprisoned, television stations were closed, inflation was up the roof, and many of my friends and family members also started leaving. And meanwhile life in California was…it was bliss. I wasn’t afraid of getting mugged or kidnapped on the way to class in Monterey. Everything was easier: odd jobs allowed you to save a little bit of money and with the friends I had made I was able to travel and experience the student life in the U.S.

And then the day came. I was graduating and had to decide whether to follow my plan and return to Caracas or accept a job offer from an international organization. The thought of going back home to face the insecurity, the shortages, the corruption, the constant everyday struggle to simply survive brought with it a sinking feeling. Let me make this clear though, there is nowhere I’d rather be at any given time than home. But the idea I had of “home” in reality just existed in my head.

I’m not alone. In fact, about 1.5 million Venezuelans have emigrated in the past 15 years. This accounts for about 5% of the population who have left, willingly or not, in search of better opportunities. Early on (in the early 2000s) those who left were mostly medical professionals, IT experts, oil and gas engineers and students. More recently we’re seeing young entrepreneurs, journalists, artists, and families hoping for a better future for their families leave. Surveys indicate that 90% of expatriates are university graduates, 40% hold master’s degree and 12% hold a PhD. Their reasons for leaving are very similar to mine. 

Studies have found that a full half of those who have left, have done so as a direct result of a robbery or assault, or due to the violent death of a family member. These are not unfounded reasons: Venezuela’s murder rate is among the highest in the world. The country’s inflation rate by the end of 2016 was 800% and expected to double that in 2017. In May this year it was lacking 80% of medical supplies. 28% of the population is unemployed and spends most of their time waiting in line at supermarkets in the hopes to access goods at affordable prices. The sarcastically named “Maduro Diet” has to many people battling malnutrition. Media outlets have been censored or shut down, and hundreds people have been murdered during protests or arbitrarily arrested.

The flight of some of the best and the brightest seems so matter-of-fact now that most of the conversations I have with family and friends are about who is leaving and when. Those of us who have been away for some years, like me, come back as tourists, outsiders, alarmed by the conditions of our people and the deterioration of the social fabric. Those living in Venezuela struggle to survive each day, and those living outside are burdened with a heavy sense of guilt for not doing more. It’s selfish to pick your own happiness and well-being over that of the entire country.

How are Venezuelans supposed to rebuild a country when a large portion of its society has left? Will we unite and conquer, or will we divide and fall? I hope my fellow countrymen back home trust that those who have left are gathering strength and knowledge and waiting for the right time to return, to invest, to rebuild. I miss Venezuela. I think about it every day. I wish I could wake up to have a cafecito with my mamá, have an arepa for breakfast and share my dreams and goals with my childhood friends. I know Venezuela will not be the same whenever I return, but then again, neither will I be. I dream of raising my children in Venezuela; that they can enjoy the same wonders the country gave me during my childhood.  I hope they can be as proud of Venezuela as I am. One day I hope my idea of home will exist in reality rather than just my head.

A team of four Middlebury Institute students—Ameen Beydoun MBA/MAIPD ’18, Alexandra Cohen MBA/MAIPD ’19, Arti Dhar MBA ’19, and Dan Swinyard MBA ’18—will travel to Davos, Switzerland for the final stage of the Business for a Better World international case competition hosted by CK Shulich and Corporate Knights on January 25. Teams from three universities will present their projects to a panel of judges at an event that coincides with the World Economic Forum. 

The challenge presented to teams from universities from across the world was “to develop a new and actionable idea that will enable meaningful investment in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) while creating new growth opportunities for BNP Paribas CIB division.” The Institute team beat out scores of other teams to advance to the final three. Faculty advisor Yuwei Shi will travel with them to Switzerland.

Dhar says she was excited at the opportunity to do some real-world problem solving for a real-world client, while working on an issue she is extremely passionate about, sustainability. “To now be able to present our ideas in front of industry leaders at the World Economic Forum is beyond thrilling.” 

After surveying current financial products offered by the client, and what, if any, impact those products had on UN SDGs, the team decided to delve deeper into infrastructure investment. “That is where we got really interested,” shares team leader Swinyard. “The approach to infrastructure construction and investment is still stuck on technology and processes from the 1980s, and this is true world-wide. We figured if we could create a higher revenue stream and ROI on infrastructure that included updated technology and tech which enabled innovation in transport and commerce, then we would have the most impact on progressing towards the SDGs.” 

The team is very excited about the opportunity to present their findings in Davos and follow in the footsteps of the winning team from last year’s competition, also from the Institute. Says Swinyard: “You can't have clean water without smart treatment and catchment systems.  Clean energy is great but you need smart grids and smart storage methods. Reducing inequalities requires providing the historically disenfranchised with the great equalizer: education and access to information. All these and more require infrastructure of the future and we'd like to think that we figured out a way make that happen.”

A team of four Middlebury Institute students—Ameen Beydoun MBA/MAIPD ’18, Alexandra Cohen MBA/MAIPD ’19, Arti Dhar MBA ’19, and Dan Swinyard MBA ’18—will travel to Davos, Switzerland for the final stage of the Business for a Better World international case competition hosted by CK Shulich and Corporate Knights on January 25. Teams from three universities will present their projects to a panel of judges at an event that coincides with the World Economic Forum. 

The challenge presented to teams from universities from across the world was “to develop a new and actionable idea that will enable meaningful investment in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) while creating new growth opportunities for BNP Paribas CIB division.” The Institute team beat out scores of other teams to advance to the final three. Faculty advisor Yuwei Shi will travel with them to Switzerland.

Dhar says she was excited at the opportunity to do some real-world problem solving for a real-world client, while working on an issue she is extremely passionate about, sustainability. “To now be able to present our ideas in front of industry leaders at the World Economic Forum is beyond thrilling.” 

After surveying current financial products offered by the client, and what, if any, impact those products had on UN SDGs, the team decided to delve deeper into infrastructure investment. “That is where we got really interested,” shares team leader Swinyard. “The approach to infrastructure construction and investment is still stuck on technology and processes from the 1980s, and this is true world-wide. We figured if we could create a higher revenue stream and ROI on infrastructure that included updated technology and tech which enabled innovation in transport and commerce, then we would have the most impact on progressing towards the SDGs.” 

The team is very excited about the opportunity to present their findings in Davos and follow in the footsteps of the winning team from last year’s competition, also from the Institute. Says Swinyard: “You can't have clean water without smart treatment and catchment systems.  Clean energy is great but you need smart grids and smart storage methods. Reducing inequalities requires providing the historically disenfranchised with the great equalizer: education and access to information. All these and more require infrastructure of the future and we'd like to think that we figured out a way make that happen.”

Faculty development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies received a huge boost thanks to the newly endowed Robert and Betty Lundeen Fund for Junior Faculty Development.  The fund is the legacy gift of Bob Lundeen, an 18-year member of the Institute Board of Trustees and one of the Institute’s most loyal supporters. 

Lundeen, who died in April 2016 at the age of 94, had a long and distinguished career with Dow Chemical, retiring in 1986 as executive vice president and chairman. Lundeen and his wife Betty enjoyed traveling and living in Orcas Island, Washington. Bob remained active in supporting the Institute, often making trips to attend Institute board meetings. As an international corporate leader with substantial experience as a trustee in the field of higher education, Lundeen was board chairman from 1988-96.  During his tenure, student enrollment grew considerably, along with a higher proportional increase in resident faculty.  The campus was renovated and expanded, and curriculum innovations were introduced. 

Providing financial support for emerging, junior faculty members was a cause near to both the Lundeens’ hearts. In 1998, shortly before Betty’s death, the couple established the Robert and Betty Lundeen Faculty Development Fund at the Institute which provided much-needed resources for new faculty to expand their professional experience through myriad activities. 

“It’s an ongoing challenge for an educational enterprise to provide resources for junior faculty who are in the early years of their careers, those faculty members who haven’t yet established themselves in their fields and lack a track record to support grants from government or foundations. Betty and I both shared the importance of having a program to attract and retain bright young people to the faculty so there is a continuing process of improving.  It’s not good to have a static organization–you always need to have some yeast in the bread,” said Bob when asked about his giving.

Among the Institute’s now-senior faculty, many noted the importance of professional development support early in their careers. “For a new, young faculty member, it was invaluable to have support to get that dissertation transformed into publishable papers,” noted Renee Jourdenais, a Lundeen award recipient in 2002 who now serves as dean for the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education. Jason Scorse, associate professor and director of the Center for the Blue Economy, who received three Lundeen awards, said, “The bottom line is support for new faculty is critical to helping fund research at the beginning of one's career when it is so crucial to make a mark and develop a body of work. I am hugely grateful to Mr. Lundeen.” 

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Institute Jeff Dayton-Johnson, added, “We are honored to be part of Betty and Bob’s legacy. Through this gift, our faculty, particularly the newer ones, will feel well supported and inspired, which surely will mean more engaged, happier students.”

Faculty development at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies received a huge boost thanks to the newly endowed Robert and Betty Lundeen Fund for Junior Faculty Development.  The fund is the legacy gift of Bob Lundeen, an 18-year member of the Institute Board of Trustees and one of the Institute’s most loyal supporters. 

Lundeen, who died in April 2016 at the age of 94, had a long and distinguished career with Dow Chemical, retiring in 1986 as executive vice president and chairman. Lundeen and his wife Betty enjoyed traveling and living in Orcas Island, Washington. Bob remained active in supporting the Institute, often making trips to attend Institute board meetings. As an international corporate leader with substantial experience as a trustee in the field of higher education, Lundeen was board chairman from 1988-96.  During his tenure, student enrollment grew considerably, along with a higher proportional increase in resident faculty.  The campus was renovated and expanded, and curriculum innovations were introduced. 

Providing financial support for emerging, junior faculty members was a cause near to both the Lundeens’ hearts. In 1998, shortly before Betty’s death, the couple established the Robert and Betty Lundeen Faculty Development Fund at the Institute which provided much-needed resources for new faculty to expand their professional experience through myriad activities. 

“It’s an ongoing challenge for an educational enterprise to provide resources for junior faculty who are in the early years of their careers, those faculty members who haven’t yet established themselves in their fields and lack a track record to support grants from government or foundations. Betty and I both shared the importance of having a program to attract and retain bright young people to the faculty so there is a continuing process of improving.  It’s not good to have a static organization–you always need to have some yeast in the bread,” said Bob when asked about his giving.

Among the Institute’s now-senior faculty, many noted the importance of professional development support early in their careers. “For a new, young faculty member, it was invaluable to have support to get that dissertation transformed into publishable papers,” noted Renee Jourdenais, a Lundeen award recipient in 2002 who now serves as dean for the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education. Jason Scorse, associate professor and director of the Center for the Blue Economy, who received three Lundeen awards, said, “The bottom line is support for new faculty is critical to helping fund research at the beginning of one's career when it is so crucial to make a mark and develop a body of work. I am hugely grateful to Mr. Lundeen.” 

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Institute Jeff Dayton-Johnson, added, “We are honored to be part of Betty and Bob’s legacy. Through this gift, our faculty, particularly the newer ones, will feel well supported and inspired, which surely will mean more engaged, happier students.”