Student speaker Adnan Adel Al-Hammody (MATESOL ’13) had a request for the crowd gathered for spring commencement on Saturday: “If you would like to know more about where I am from, please don’t Google it.” Adnan’s hometown is Mosul, Iraq, and he was referring to the images of a war-torn city that would pop up in your search in place of the beautiful, ancient city that he knows well, a city where people of diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds have lived in harmony for centuries.

Adnan was one of the first students to receive a scholarship from the Higher Committee for Education Development in the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office, allowing him and two other Iraqi students to attend the Monterey Institute beginning in fall 2010. “When I learned that I had received the scholarship and been accepted to the Monterey Institute, I shouted ‘YESSSS’ into the phone and thanked Allah that my dream had come true,” said Adnan.

He said that during his nearly three years in Monterey (including an English language preparation course before he matriculated into the TESOL program), he has learned so much, not only about the field of language teaching, but also about other cultures and how important it is to share your own. “I learned that stereotypes are misleading and can ruin relationships, between people and between nations,” he says, adding that his perception of the United States has changed a lot and for the better.

He is now looking forward to returning home to Iraq, where he will start teaching English at a university as part of his scholarship agreement. “I really miss my family—my father and my four older sisters and one brother and thirteen nieces and nephews!” Professionally, he plans to seek out like-minded people in the university and be an agent of positive change: “I really believe that MIIS graduates have all the right skills and experience to ‘be the solution’ and I want to do my part.”

Adnan Al-Hammody addresses his classmates at spring commencement.

Student speaker Adnan Adel Al-Hammody (MATESOL ’13) had a request for the crowd gathered for spring commencement on Saturday: “If you would like to know more about where I am from, please don’t Google it.” Adnan’s hometown is Mosul, Iraq, and he was referring to the images of a war-torn city that would pop up in your search in place of the beautiful, ancient city that he knows well, a city where people of diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds have lived in harmony for centuries.

Adnan was one of the first students to receive a scholarship from the Higher Committee for Education Development in the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office, allowing him and two other Iraqi students to attend the Monterey Institute beginning in fall 2010. “When I learned that I had received the scholarship and been accepted to the Monterey Institute, I shouted ‘YESSSS’ into the phone and thanked Allah that my dream had come true,” said Adnan.

He said that during his nearly three years in Monterey (including an English language preparation course before he matriculated into the TESOL program), he has learned so much, not only about the field of language teaching, but also about other cultures and how important it is to share your own. “I learned that stereotypes are misleading and can ruin relationships, between people and between nations,” he says, adding that his perception of the United States has changed a lot and for the better.

He is now looking forward to returning home to Iraq, where he will start teaching English at a university as part of his scholarship agreement. “I really miss my family—my father and my four older sisters and one brother and thirteen nieces and nephews!” Professionally, he plans to seek out like-minded people in the university and be an agent of positive change: “I really believe that MIIS graduates have all the right skills and experience to ‘be the solution’ and I want to do my part.”

The new CNS Building at 499 Van Buren Street on the Monterey Institute campus.

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) formally celebrated the opening of its new headquarters at 499 Van Buren Street in Monterey at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 14. The 10,500 square-foot building was acquired by Middlebury College on behalf of the Monterey Institute from the law firm of Horan, Lloyd, Karachale, Dyer, Schwartz, Law and Cook, and has undergone significant renovations. It occupies the northeast corner of Van Buren and Jefferson Streets, just down the block from the Samson Student Center at the center of the campus.

CNS is the largest nongovernmental organization in the United States devoted exclusively to research and training on nonproliferation issues. Its reputation and operations have grown steadily since 1989 when MIIS professor Dr. William Potter founded CNS with a handful of students. Today CNS has offices in Monterey, Washington D.C. and Vienna, Austria, and had long since outgrown its old offices at 400 Pacific Street. Happy CNS staff members showed guests at the opening around the new headquarters, including spacious offices, a large seminar room, and a dedicated videoconference facility.

The new CNS Building at 499 Van Buren Street on the Monterey Institute campus.

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) formally celebrated the opening of its new headquarters at 499 Van Buren Street in Monterey at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 14. The 10,500 square-foot building was acquired by Middlebury College on behalf of the Monterey Institute from the law firm of Horan, Lloyd, Karachale, Dyer, Schwartz, Law and Cook, and has undergone significant renovations. It occupies the northeast corner of Van Buren and Jefferson Streets, just down the block from the Samson Student Center at the center of the campus.

CNS is the largest nongovernmental organization in the United States devoted exclusively to research and training on nonproliferation issues. Its reputation and operations have grown steadily since 1989 when MIIS professor Dr. William Potter founded CNS with a handful of students. Today CNS has offices in Monterey, Washington D.C. and Vienna, Austria, and had long since outgrown its old offices at 400 Pacific Street. Happy CNS staff members showed guests at the opening around the new headquarters, including spacious offices, a large seminar room, and a dedicated videoconference facility.

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the NAACP

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), will deliver the keynote address May 10 for the Monterey Institute’s third annual Human Rights Fair, sponsored by the Amnesty International Club on campus.

Jealous is the 17th president of the NAACP, and upon his appointment at age 35 in 2008, became the youngest person to lead the 104-year-old organization. In recent years he has led successful efforts to build the NAACP's online presence and voter registration capacity, and opened national programs on education, health, and environmental justice. A Rhodes Scholar, he is a graduate of Columbia and Oxford University, the past president of the Rosenberg Foundation, and was the founding director of Amnesty International's U.S. Human Rights Program.

Jealous was invited to speak at the Institute by Professor Jan Black, whose lifelong work on human rights led to her being elected to the board of directors of Amnesty International USA in 2011.

The May 10 event begins at 7:30 p.m., in the Irvine Auditorium at 499 Pierce Street, and is free and open to the public. The keynote address will be followed by a reception with live entertainment.