Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Former names	Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies (1955-1979), Monterey Institute of International Studies (1979-2015)
Type	Privategraduate institute
Established	1955
Parent institution	Middlebury College
Affiliation	TPC
Vice-president	Jeff Dayton-Johnson
Academic staff	70 full time; 70 adjunct
Postgraduates	750
Location	Monterey , California , U.S.
Campus	Urban
Colors	blueandwhite
Website	www.middlebury.edu/institute

TheMiddlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey(MIIS), formerly theMonterey Institute of International Studies,is agraduate instituteofMiddlebury College,a private college inMiddlebury, Vermont.Established in 1955, the school provides instruction on a campus inMonterey, California.The institute offers master's programs and certificates inenvironmental policy,international policy,language teaching,andtranslationandinterpretation.It is host to several related centers.

History

Flags of some home countries of students at Middlebury Institute

Founding and expansion

The Middlebury Institute was established in 1955 by Gaspard Weiss as the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies (MIFS).In 1961 the school moved to its current downtownMontereylocation, where it has since occupied 19 buildings that house multiple centers and numerous special programs.

In 1997 the institute became the first professional graduate school in the world to offer a master's degree in International Environmental Policy.

Middlebury connection

In December 2005,Middlebury Collegeand the Monterey Institute signed an affiliation agreement that established a formal relationship between the two institutions. Under that agreement, the Monterey Institute board of trustees was reconstituted to include 13 members, nine of them with Middlebury connections and four former members of the Monterey Institute board.

In June 2010, Middlebury formalized its acquisition of the institute, which was formally designatedAGraduate School of Middlebury College.The Monterey board of trustees was renamed the board of governors, and subsequently the board of overseers, with ultimate responsibility for the institute residing with the Middlebury Board of Trustees.

On January 7, 2015, Middlebury announced that the institute would become known as the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. The name change was part of a general rebranding of Middlebury-affiliated institutions.

Academics

The Middlebury Institute trains translators, interpreters (including conference interpreters), localization experts, and language teachers. It also offers degrees for language teachers who will teach English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and teach a foreign language.Certificate programs are additionally offered in these areas as well as Language Program Administration.

Short-term language programs

The Middlebury Institute of International Studies also offers several non-degree programs, including intensive ESL programs year round; summer intensive language programs, custom language services, English for diplomats programs, short term translation and interpretation courses, and international policy certificate programs. The institute is the only school in the Western Hemisphere offering graduate degrees in conference interpretation and in translation and interpretation between English-Chinese, English-Japanese and English-Korean.

Research centers and initiatives

Mission Revival architecture(originally,Monterey Public Librarybuilding) on the MIIS campus

Center for the Blue Economy

The Center for the Blue Economy (CBE) is a research center managed by MIIS. CBE was founded in year 2011 and focuses mainly on research related to the ocean and the coastal economy. The center also complements theInternational Environmental Policyprogram by offering specialization courses in Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.The center works in collaboration with various local and national organizations on a wide range of topics includingclimate adaptationin coastal areas, governing environmental issues and also finding solutions to problems that are affecting ocean and coastal economies. CBE is home to the National Ocean Economics Program, which compiles, analyzes, and publishes economic data about changes and trends along the U.S. coast and in coastal waters.

CBE also offers summer fellowships to the students to work on a wide range of projects related to ocean and coastal resource management. The Speakers Series (Sustainability Speaker Series and the Marine speaker series) organized by the center is a unique platform where experts working in different fields, mainly oceans and coastal issues, are invited to deliver lectures. This speaker series is organized every year and is open to students, researchers, faculty, and the public. The center has its own peer-reviewed journalJournal of Ocean and Coastal Economics(JOCE) that has published around 57 research articles.

Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism

Established in 2018, the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism (CTEC) conducts in-depth research on terrorism and other forms of extremism. CTEC's initial focus is on three crucial areas: threat finance and sanctions, extremist messaging and terrorist use of the internet, and special operations and countering the threat of terrorism.

James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) is an American research center located in Monterey, California. It was founded in 1989 byWilliam Potter,world-renowned expert on nuclear non-proliferation. It is the largest nongovernmental organization in the world dedicated to studying, researching and training specialists in combating the spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Its stated mission is "to train the next generation of nonproliferation specialists." CNS operates offices in Monterey, Calif., Washington, D.C., and Vienna, Austria. These offices offer a variety of programs.

In 2007 it was renamed from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in honor ofJames Martin.

Publications

CNS publishesThe Nonproliferation Review,adouble-blindpeer-reviewedjournal discussing the causes and consequences of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Weapons as well as their spread. It also focuses on different case studies, reports, and book reviews about many topics: weapons programs, treaties and export controls,CBRNterrorism,disarmament,and others. The Review dates from 1994 to the present, and is published in different months of the year.

The Inventory of International Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimesis a website that provides information related to disarmament, nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and arms control. It focuses on treaties, regimes and organizations from different parts of the world that deal with International Security topics.

CNS Analysis and Papersis an online website that provides experts' analyzes of Non-Proliferation, Disarmament and other related topics. Papers are divided according to the regions (Americas, Asia, East Asia, Eurasia/Russia, Europe, Middle East/Africa, South Asia) and are mostly based on current events.

Additionally, CNS provides the public with Tutorials and Videos where scholars and experts analyze current events related to Non-Proliferation. TheNukeTube Nonproliferation Multimedia Libraryprovides readers with open public online material.

Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies

The Graduate Initiative in Russian Studies (GIRS) is a program that offers its participants opportunities to exchange perspectives with Russian scholars, professionals, and students through its five pillars:The Visiting Experts program, Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia, Awards for Research and Travel to Russia, Russian-English Translation of Public Opinion Polls, and the US-Russia Dialogue Series.

Notable faculty

• Jan Knippers Black:a prolific writer and long-time educator in the field ofhuman rights.She sat on the board ofAmnesty InternationalUSA and has been honored by multiple domestic and international rights organizations for her commitment to advocacy.
• Avner Cohen:an Israeli-American writer, historian, and professor who is well known for his works on nuclear weapons in the Middle East. He authored the seminal work, Israel and the Bomb, which chronicled the Israeli nuclear program and was published in 1998.
• Geoffrey Dabelko:an expert on security and the environment and the director of theEnvironmental Change and Security Program(ECSP) at theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholarsin Washington, D.C.
• Beryl Levinger:a former senior official with CARE, Save the Children, Education Development Center, and AFS Intercultural Programs; founder of thePeace CorpsFellows program; co-founder ofInterAction;and, co-founder (with Vicky Colbert and Oscar Mogollón) of the internationally acclaimedEscuela Nueva(New School) movement.
• Jeffrey Lewis:adjunct professor, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and a widely quoted expert on North Korea's nuclear program.
• William Potter:expert onnuclear non-proliferation.

William Tell Coleman Library

Entrance to William Tell Coleman Library

The William Tell Coleman Libraryat the Middlebury Institute of International Studies opened in 1955. The library is named after the American pioneerWilliam Tell Coleman,whose family donated money in the early days of the institute. Since its opening, the library has served as a central research hub for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the local community.

The school's first librarian was World War II survivor and Polish Jew Eva Schroeder.The library provides access to a broad range of resources such as technology, collaborative and quiet study spaces, books in different languages, and online databases.

The Institute Library's collectionconsists of approximately 100,000 print volumes, more than 600 print periodical subscriptions, and 35 daily and weekly newspapers. The library is well known for its extensive collection of specialized dictionaries in fields such as trade, diplomacy, nonproliferation, and translation interpretation studies. More than one-third of the library's collection is in a language other than English. The most significant are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese. It also has a large collection of DVDs and streaming films.

The library subscribes to over 50 online databases and hundreds of online academic journals, including JSTOR, Taylor & Francis, and ScienceDirect. SinceMiddlebury Collegein Vermont and Middlebury Institute have been under the same umbrella, MIIS students have priority access to Middlebury College's collection through their Interlibrary Loan service.

Campus life

Samson Center at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies

Nationality

International students make up more than 30 percent of the institute's student body.

Student clubs

BUILD

Beyond yourself in Language Development (BUILD) is a student-run organization that provides free low-level language classes in thirteen languages to the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) community. Classes are taught by students enrolled in the TESOL and Teaching Foreign Language programs at MIIS.

Toastmasters International

MIIS Toastmasters is an on-campus chapter ofToastmasters International,a nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping members improve their communication, public speaking, and leadership skills. The club is run by MIIS students, and offers a forum for improving public speaking skills and mastering executive presence. The club is open to members of the Monterey community, and meets weekly.

Sustainable campus

In April 2002, the institute signed theTalloires Declaration,joining more than 600 universities internationally in committing to sustainable practices on campus.The institute aims to achievecarbon neutralitythrough a variety of practices, including the purchase of carbon offsets to reduce the institute's environmental impact.

The institute's Sustainability Councilwas established in 2007 and is composed of faculty, staff, and students. The council's goal is to promote and implement campus-wide sustainability projects and initiatives.

In the spring of 2009, the institute's organic garden was established by students, and subsequently became a student-led community organic garden. Current organic garden projects include a worm composting initiative and the introduction of 1,500 ladybugs and 150 praying mantises as natural pest control measures. Two insect houses have been added in an effort to attract local bees.

Current Sustainability Council projects include a Climate Action Plan, an annual Greenhouse Gas Emission Audit, a student-run organic garden, and planning for future solar panel and EV charging station installation. In May 2019, the institute hosted what some believe may have been the first 100 percent plant-based graduation reception by a graduate school in the U.S.Institute policy requires that all campus events offer at least 50 percent plant-based food options.

Notable alumni

• José Aybar,president ofRichard J. Daley College.
• Tim Ballard,American anti-human traffickingactivist and author. The filmSound of Freedomwas inspired by his work
• Sam Farr,theU.S. representativeforCalifornia's 17th congressional district,serving since 1993.
• Temie Giwa-Tubosun,founder and CEO of LifeBank; Africa's healthcare supply chain engine.
• Brendan Kyle Hatcher,U.S. Diplomat
• Christopher Kasparek,physician, writer, translator.
• Matthew Levin,Ambassador ofCanadatoSpainandAndorra.He was previously the Ambassador of Canada toCubaandColombia.
• Daggubati Venkatesh,a popular actor inTelugufilm industry.

External links

• Official website