Frontier Market Scouts participant Whitney Hales (MBA/MAIEP ’14, right) with cacao farmers in Belize, where she worked in summer 2013 as part of the Maya Mountain Cacao project.

On May 12, the Monterey Institute announced the establishment of a new Center for Social Impact Learning (CSIL), which will bring three existing programs together under a single umbrella:

• The Institute’s Frontier Market Scouts program, which provides graduate students from MIIS and other schools, as well as mid-career international professionals, with an intensive two-week training program followed by a six-month internship designed to prepare them for careers in impact investing and social venture management;
• The Ambassador Corps, which will provide undergraduate students at Middlebury College and other schools with ten-week in-field learning experiences in development and business in underdeveloped and emerging economies; and
• The Development Consulting Program, which will engage MIIS students as team members on projects initiated by some of the most reputable consulting firms to provide pro-bono consulting services to nonprofit organizations.

The latter two programs were created by the new center’s director, Jerry Hildebrand, who most recently headed the Global Center for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific. Hildebrand was previously the CEO for 17 years of Katalysis Bootstrap Fund, a microfinance organization that provides training, technical assistance, and credit to non-governmental microfinance institutions in Central America. His decades of work in grassroots economic development began in Peru, where he served as one of pioneering Peace Corps volunteers in the early 1960s.

“The opportunity to create a groundbreaking Center for Social Impact Learning at MIIS is truly an enviable task,” said Hildebrand. “The MIIS faculty have already laid the foundation of a rigorous academic program, to which we will add a compelling and innovative experiential learning component. Students will be equipped with a practical problem-solving skill set that will be field tested throughout the developing world.”

The new center plans to develop an active research program on management issues in social venture and impact investing, leveraging existing experiential and professional learning programs. Managing the research program and the academic programming for CSIL is Dr. Yuwei Shi, dean of Graduate School of International Policy and Management at MIIS, who also founded the Frontier Market Scouts program. CSIL also expects to collaborate closely with Middlebury College’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE), which integrates social entrepreneurship and liberal arts education. According to economics professor Jonathan Isham, the CSE’s faculty director, “MIIS and Middlebury College students should celebrate this grand news. Jerry Hildebrand is one of the true leaders in social entrepreneurship education. My CSE colleagues and I look forward to building opportunities with Jerry and Yuwei, on behalf of students on both coasts.”

“This new venture is unique among the many social entrepreneurship programs in existence today,” noted Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy, “in that it is designed to serve the full spectrum of budding social entrepreneurs, from undergraduates to graduate students to young professionals. CSIL will offer them not only valuable learning experiences but also seamless transitions from one stage of professional development to the next as they prepare for careers in the social impact investing field.”

The Center for Social Impact Learning will be supported by a generous grant from the Cordes Foundation. The Cordes Foundation was created in 2006 by Ron and Marty Cordes following the sale of Ron’s company, AssetMark Investment Services. One of the major focuses of the foundation’s philanthropy continues to be supporting social entrepreneurship education. The foundation also funds the Cordes Innovation Awards given each year by Ashoka U; the Monterey Institute’s Frontier Market Scouts program won a Cordes award in 2013, and Middlebury’s MiddCORE program was a winner in 2014.

“We are excited to be a seed funder of this groundbreaking new initiative, which aligns our mission with the commitment of MIIS and Middlebury to equip the next generation of leaders in social entrepreneurship,” said Ron Cordes.

The center will formally launch at MIIS effective July 1, with related academic programming beginning in fall 2014.

Speaker Christoph Dressel engages the crowd at TEDxMonterey.

In its fifth year, TEDxMonterey has become an established and cherished community event in Monterey County, with many people coming year after year to experience and participate in a day on the Monterey Institute campus dedicated to ideas worth spreading. This year over 300 people gathered to explore the theme of “Edges,” with topics ranging from what we know about life on other planets to how to find the sweet spot in a digital world.

The Irvine Auditorium and McCone Building atrium were transformed into kaleidoscopic wonder spaces and audience members were given ample opportunity for networking and conversations during breaks and at the after-party hosted at the Eco-Dome, a sustainable geodesic structure provided by the Eco-Infinity Group. The Eco-Dome served as the hub for activities at TEDxMonterey as well as during Earth Week on the Monterey Institute campus .

TEDxMonterey “Edges” and its presenters received considerable media coverage before the event including features in the Monterey Herald (“TEDxMonterey: Filmmaker seeks answers to Nepalese girl’s suicide”), the Monterey County Weekly (“A scientist-turned-writer battles scientific illiteracy and prepares a talk for TEDxMonterey”), and the Salinas Californian (“TEDx comes to Monterey”). Videos from the event will be posted on the TEDxMonterey.org site before the end of the May.

Winners of the Monterey Institute Community Innovation Challenge: Malcolm Johnson (MAIEP ’14), Nereyda Montaño (MAIEP ’14), Nate Maynard (MAIEP ’14), Emily Cluff (MAIEP ’14), and Matthew Nichols (MAIEP ’14).

The Monterey Institute Community Innovation Challenge is the brainchild of Professor Kent Glenzer of the Development, Practice and Policy program. “Complex social problems require interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches,” he says, adding that addressing these so-called “wicked problems” requires expertise from across many disciplines – in the case of MIIS, many degree programs – to tackle them.

Close to 40 students from the Monterey Institute and several from California State University Monterey Bay jumped at the opportunity to participate in the first challenge, “Nor Any Drop to Drink,” focused on finding innovative solutions to Monterey County’s water issues. Channeling Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, the challenge focused on Monterey County specifically, while providing insight into the broader issue of water challenges around the world. The students were invited to sessions with stakeholders from all over the county as well as a diverse group of experts. The final judging took place on Wednesday, April 23 as part of the Institute’s Earth Week celebrations.

The winning team consisted of five Monterey Institute students from the International Environmental Policy degree program: Matthew Nichols (MAIEP ’14), Emily Cluff (MAIEP ’14), Nereyda Montaño (MAIEP ’14), Nate Maynard (MAIEP ’14) and Malcolm Johnson (MAIEP ’14). In their view, Monterey County’s water problem, like most fresh water issues, amounts largely to a problem of communication.

The main goal of the group’s proposal is to achieve communication, collaboration, and coordination via the creation of a community-based organization called the Water Science Trust (WST). “By bringing all the stakeholders together and acting as a clearinghouse for sound science, WST tears down the lettuce curtain to create socially, environmentally, and economically sound projects without added government oversight,” says team member Malcolm Johnson. For more about the proposal, check out their presentation slides.

“I hope to make such ‘wicked challenges’ an annual feature here at MIIS,” says Professor Glenzer, “eventually opening up to participation from student teams from around the globe.”

The GeoDome takes shape behind the Admissions building on April 19, 2014.

TEDxMonterey “Edges” and Earth Week 2014 at the Monterey Institute both unofficially kicked off on Saturday with the construction of a GeoDome that will house numerous activities during the week ahead. Earth Week is a five-day long event featuring debates, presentations, workshops and activities focused on different environmental issues each day. TEDxMonterey, now in its fifth year at the Institute, is a full day celebration of ideas worth spreading with a diverse group of speakers addressing everything from life on other planets to the origins of creativity.

The GeoDome is a 30-foot diameter geodesic dome with 750 square feet of usable interior space, constructed entirely of sustainable materials. Created by The Eco-Infinity Group of Pacific Grove, the GeoDome features flooring made from recycled rubber tires, chandeliers created from recycled six-pack rings, inflatable sofas made from recycled materials, post-consumer recycled cardboard benches, bio-ethanol fireplaces and a 1500-watt solar energy system providing power. 

The GeoDome will function as the hub for activities associated with both Earth Week and TEDxMonterey during the week of April 21, transforming a parking lot into a learning space. 

The GeoDome takes shape behind the Admissions building on April 19, 2014.

TEDxMonterey “Edges” and Earth Week 2014 at the Monterey Institute both unofficially kicked off on Saturday with the construction of a GeoDome that will house numerous activities during the week ahead. Earth Week is a five-day long event featuring debates, presentations, workshops and activities focused on different environmental issues each day. TEDxMonterey, now in its fifth year at the Institute, is a full day celebration of ideas worth spreading with a diverse group of speakers addressing everything from life on other planets to the origins of creativity.

The GeoDome is a 30-foot diameter geodesic dome with 750 square feet of usable interior space, constructed entirely of sustainable materials. Created by The Eco-Infinity Group of Pacific Grove, the GeoDome features flooring made from recycled rubber tires, chandeliers created from recycled six-pack rings, inflatable sofas made from recycled materials, post-consumer recycled cardboard benches, bio-ethanol fireplaces and a 1500-watt solar energy system providing power. 

The GeoDome will function as the hub for activities associated with both Earth Week and TEDxMonterey during the week of April 21, transforming a parking lot into a learning space. 

Dr. Francis Fukuyama.

On Friday, April 18 the internationally renowned political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama will give a public lecture in the Monterey Institute’s Irvine Auditorium. Dr. Fukuyama is the latest in an exceptional line of highly respected and influential speakers to address some of the world’s most pressing and challenging issues as part of this semester’s Spring Colloquium dedicated to economic diplomacy and statecraft. 

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).  He has written widely on issues in development and international politics but is perhaps best known for his influential 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man declaring the triumph of liberal democracy and arrival of a post-ideological world. His most recent book, The Origins of Political Order was published in 2011 and the companion volume Political Order and Political Decay will be published later this year.

Dr. Fukuyama’s lecture at MIIS will be titled “Economic Diplomacy and Global Governance in a Multi-polar World,” and it will be followed with a session for questions and answers. The lecture begins at 6 p.m. in the Irvine Auditorium at 499 Pierce Street in Monterey, and is free and open to the public.

Dr. Francis Fukuyama.

On Friday, April 18 the internationally renowned political scientist and economist Francis Fukuyama will give a public lecture in the Monterey Institute’s Irvine Auditorium. Dr. Fukuyama is the latest in an exceptional line of highly respected and influential speakers to address some of the world’s most pressing and challenging issues as part of this semester’s Spring Colloquium dedicated to economic diplomacy and statecraft. 

Francis Fukuyama is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).  He has written widely on issues in development and international politics but is perhaps best known for his influential 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man declaring the triumph of liberal democracy and arrival of a post-ideological world. His most recent book, The Origins of Political Order was published in 2011 and the companion volume Political Order and Political Decay will be published later this year.

Dr. Fukuyama’s lecture at MIIS will be titled “Economic Diplomacy and Global Governance in a Multi-polar World,” and it will be followed with a session for questions and answers. The lecture begins at 6 p.m. in the Irvine Auditorium at 499 Pierce Street in Monterey, and is free and open to the public.