Every seat was taken on Tuesday, September 24 for the ceremony awarding Dr. Kathleen Bailey the Leslie Eliason Excellence in Teaching Award

This award recognizes outstanding teaching and promotes the professional development of a teacher at the Monterey Institute. The award is made possible by a grant from Karen Leshner and the Intrepid Foundation through the Community Foundation for Monterey County.

Provost Amy Sands and Karen Leshner shared stories of MIIS faculty member Leslie Eliason, in whose memory the award is given, and Kathi spoke about the “six degrees of separation,” that connected her with new stories about Leslie just as she was preparing her speech.

A message from Patrick Norton, Vice President for Finance and Treasurer at Middlebury:

As members of Middlebury, all of us, regardless of position, share the responsibility to promote a culture of integrity. To help accomplish this goal, we have recently installed a new phone and Internet-based ethics reporting system managed by EthicsPoint.  Serving more than 2,000 organizations world-wide, EthicsPoint is committed to helping organizations like ours by facilitating the reporting and identification of issues that are inconsistent with our policies.

We hope you feel comfortable bringing potential ethical issues or concerns to your supervisor. But we understand that this is not always the case. This new system provides an alternative channel for you to communicate your concerns confidentially and anonymously. We have partnered with EthicsPoint to manage the reporting system for us. They have gone to great lengths to ensure that reports entered in the system are completely confidential.

You can access EthicsPoint from the Quick Links menu located at the Middlebury or Monterey Institute of International Studies homepages.

When you use the EthicsPoint Reporting System, you can report misconduct that you observe, or gain clarity on whether or not something is cause for concern. You have my commitment that all reports will be reviewed and responded to in a timely and appropriate manner.

Please refer to the this FAQ for details regarding the EthicsPoint Reporting System and for instructions on submitting concerns or questions via the phone or the Web. The EthicsPoint Reporting System is designed for reporting matters of a financial nature, Human Resources related incidents, and issues related to workplace safety. Please note that harassment and discrimination should be reported using the existing policies and procedures outlined in the College Handbook. Middlebury values your opinions. I encourage you to use this system to report any issues or concerns you feel are appropriate.  If you have any questions about the EthicsPoint Reporting System, please contact Laura Carotenuto, Manager of Employee Relations, at 802-443-2012 or via e-mail at lcaroten@middlebury.edu.

Dr. Roza Otunbayeva will speak on September 19, 12:15 PM – 1:50 PM, in Irvine Auditorium  on the topic,“Obstacles to and Opportunities for Modernization in Central Asia.”

Dr. Otunbayeva served as President of the Kyrgyz Republic from July 2010 until December 2011, leading the first peaceful transition from an authoritarian to a parliamentary democracy in Central Asia. In 2007 she was elected to the Kyrgyz Parliament and led the opposition faction until April 2010. She then became the head of the Interim Government of the Kyrgyz Republic. During 2002-2004 she served as Deputy Head of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in peacekeeping mission to Georgia before returning to Kyrgyzstan to take an active role in democratic changes of the country. She served as the Deputy Head of Government and Foreign Minister of the Soviet Kyrgyz Republic before moving to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR in Moscow and later working as President of the Soviet National Commission of UNESCO. After 1991, Roza Otunbayeva served as Vice-Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. She was the first Kyrgyz Ambassador to the United States and Canada, and later to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. During 2002-2004 she worked as Deputy Head of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in peacekeeping mission to Georgia before returning to Kyrgyzstan to take an active role in democratic changes of the country. Roza Otunbayeva currently heads «The Initiative of Roza Otunbayeva” International Foundation. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Moscow State University.

Lecture sponsored by: MIIS RUSSIAN STUDIES PROGRAM AND

THE JAMES MARTIN CENTER FOR NONPROLIFERATION STUDIES

On September 20, the Middlebury International Politics and Economics program will live stream its annual symposium entitled “Global Inequalities in Gender, Public Health, and the Environment: What Can We Do?”  The three main panels with their featured speakers are:

• Valentine Moghadam, “Globalization, Women, and Work in the Middle East: Toward Economic Citizenship”
• Michael Kremer, “Health Behavior: Puzzles and Policies”
• Clayton Thomas-Muller, “Native Rights Based Approach: Canada’s Last Best Effort to Save our Water, Land and Air from the Tar Sands”

You will find a complete schedule here (remember that all times are Eastern time)

View the live stream here on the day of the conference.

Brigadier General (RET) Russ Howard recently returned from Beirut where he spent a week teaching in the “Responses to WMD Terrorism” Bilateral Seminar from 19-23 August. The course was part of the Naval Post Graduate School’s Center for Civil-Military Relations (CCMR) military education program, which presents programs throughout the world. General Howard specifically taught “Opportunities and Limitations for WMD Attacks,” “The Three Pillars of Countering WMD Terrorism,” and “Prevention of WMD Terrorism Attacks–a Preemptive Approach.” The course was attended by more than thirty military officers, half of whomwere general officers. Additionally, civil defense and other first responders also attended the course.

Brigadier General (RET) Russ Howard was the graduation speaker at a US Special Operations Command Combating Terrorism Course (SOCbT) in Mexico City on August 15, 2013. Additionally, General Howard taught classes in the course on topics such as “Future Terrorism Trends” and “Countering Terrorism: Strategic and Operational Considerations.” The students were senior and mid-level Mexican military officers with specific counter-terror duties and responsibilities. The SOCbT course is sponsored by the U.S. Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP), which focuses on developing international partnership networks that will strengthen and enhance US efforts in combating terrorism. The course is designed to build individual, country, and regional capabilities to combat terrorism. General Howard was instrumental in establishing the CTFP after the tragedy of 9/11.

GSIPM Professor Nukhet Kardam participated in the renowned Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference in Vermont this summer. The conference provided her with space and time to work on her next book, in the peaceful setting of the Bread Loaf campus in the Green Mountains, as well as an opportunity to have her writing “workshopped” by peers and well-known writers.

Training for the new Polycom system in the 499 Van Buren videoconferencing room will take place on Thursday, September 19.  Training for our IT and Media Services staff is scheduled for the morning, followed by two sessions in the afternoon that are open to interested faculty and staff.

• 1 pm – 2:30 pm – Level 2: A mid–level training for staff who are interested and sufficiently proficient with technology, so that they could operate the equipment independently if needed.
• 2:30 pm – 4 pm – Level 3: A session for other interested faculty and staff that focuses on best practices to optimize the quality of the experience, including pedagogical considerations.

The training will be conducted by a trainer provided by Carousel, the company that installed the equipment.

Faculty and staff may self-select level 2 or 3, on a space-available basis.  SIGN UP HERE.

GSIPM professor Moyara Ruehsen co-authored an article in the current issue of Perspectives on Terrorism.  This is a special  on the financial activities of terrorists, with a particular emphasis on one of the world’s most powerful and well-financed groups-the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah. The first article, Terrorism Financing Methods: an Overview, by Michael Freeman and Moyara Ruehsen, looks at how terrorists move money.