New Class, New Pathways, Familiar Dreams
Written by Eva Gudbergsdottir // October 3, 2012 // MIDD-MIIS Connection // No comments
One of the largest incoming classes in the 57-year history of the Monterey Institute arrived on campus this August to find a campus rich with familiar dreams of making a difference, but offering several new pathways to achieve them.
The new class includes 17 students enrolled in a brand-new degree program, the Master of Arts in International Education Management (MAIEM)—a shining example of the kind of cross-pollination and synergy envisioned when the Monterey Institute became a graduate school of Middlebury College in 2010. Combining Middlebury’s extensive experience as the operator of Schools Abroad in 37 cities in 16 countries with the Institute’s renowned expertise in cross-cultural communications, management and pedagogy was a natural innovation.
A similar thread of synergy was the fuel behind the creation of two new joint degree programs debuting this year. One, matching Business Administration with International Environmental Policy, formalizes an informal collaboration and dual degree track that had already developed between the two programs, focused on green business. The other new joint degree program combines International Education Management and Public Administration, offering the opportunity for students in each of these closely connected disciplines to deepen their skills in the other.
Synergy again: in past issues we’ve highlighted the strong relationship between the Monterey Institute and the Peace Corps, which includes the presence of the third-largest contingent of Peace Corps Master’s International students at any university in the nation. This fall, the long collaboration between MIIS and the Corps expanded further with the Institute’s debut as a participant in the Peace Corps Fellows program, a graduate fellowship that offers scholarships to returned Peace Corps volunteers and places them in degree-related, professional internships.
These new pathways are part of the landscape awaiting one of the largest entering classes in the history of the Monterey Institute: 419 students, from 35 countries, speaking 28 languages, who arrived in August to begin a graduate education that promises to change their lives. This fall’s class came from nations including Belarus and Burkina Faso, Korea and Kosovo, New Zealand and Norway, Peru and Pakistan. They came to learn development project management, or language teaching, or international business. They were greeted by world-renowned experts in nonproliferation and marine policy and conference interpretation.
The arrival of the new class was celebrated with a series of gatherings and community-building activities during orientation week, highlighted by Voices of the Class, a wonderful addition to orientation that is explored in greater detail in a story and photos here. An information fair featuring both on- and off-campus service providers also supported students in acclimating and settling into their new life in Monterey.
Evolution and adaptation are part of the natural order of any living thing, including an academic institution. The new pathways described above are manifestations of the natural cycle of innovation that ensures the Monterey Institute’s programs will remain exceptionally relevant and practical, and ensure that this class—and the ones to follow—will have every chance to achieve their dreams, and change the world.
