MIIS, McCullough run trustee gauntlet

Author: Tom Brant

Sunder Ramaswamy, dean for Faculty Development and Research, was appointed President of the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) by the College's Board of Trustees at their annual meeting on Saturday. The trustees also approved the scheduled renovations of the McCullough Social Space and Proctor Hall, which will begin in August after the end of the Summer Language School sessions.

Ramaswamy's new post as president of the Monterey Institute is a sign of the increasing integration between the College and the Institute. The relationship, begun in 2005, is still officially called an affiliation, though in practice, many academic and administrative duties for both institutions are performed at the College. Current President of MIIS Clara Yu confirmed Tuesday that once the integration process is complete, Middlebury and Monterey will legally merge to become a single institution.

"We have been moving towards a full integration in 2010," at which time the Institute will no longer exist as an independent school under California law, Yu said.

President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz credited Yu for the increased enrollment during her three years as president in a statement Tuesday.

"Clara Yu has achieved remarkable results during her time as president of Monterey, and I am grateful to her for all her hard work during the Institute's first years as an affiliate of Middlebury," Liebowitz said.

The Monterey Institute's trustees unanimously recommended Ramaswamy to fill the presidency when Yu retires at the end of 2009. He currently serves as the director of the Middlebury-Monterey Integration Task Force.

"He has been the person to connect the tissues, if you will, of both campuses," Yu said. "He's really the ideal person to come out here. We're really glad that Middlebury is willing to let him go."

Yu, who has served as president since the affiliation was announced in 2005, is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Ramaswamy will become president Jan. 1, 2009.


Announced last month, the Proctor and McCullough renovations will begin this fall after receiving a go-ahead from the trustees on Saturday.

Updates to Proctor have been a top priority for the Liebowitz administration, though the availability of funds has been limited by the College's commitment to focus financial resources on professors' salaries and aid to students.

The Proctor dining rooms, while popular with students, are served by an outdated kitchen and bakery, which provide baked goods for all Dining Services operations, including catering events and other campus dining halls.

"Since 1992, we've realized we had kitchen issues with the servery in Proctor," Liebowitz said. He described the renovations as "a big project with a lot of issues that are not merely cosmetic," such as installing new climate control systems and replacing leaky ceilings on the first floor.

The commitment to focus the majority of the College's budget on academic uses and financial aid for students has meant the end of new construction and limited funds for renovating existing buildings.

The 2009 budget, approved by the Trustees on Saturday, includes a $9 million reserve fund for building renovations, which will be used to pay for the Proctor overhaul as well as several smaller projects.

Money for the McCullough renovation, also a top priority for the Liebowitz administration, will come from donors' gifts.

"Two big gifts will cover McCullough [renovations], and we were very fortunate to have those," Liebowitz said.

While The Grille is set to remain open through the fall, the adjacent social space will be gutted and rebuilt, in addition to the Student Mail Center and MiddXpress, the sundries store operated by Dining Services.

According to Director for the Center of Campus Activities and Leadership Doug Adams, the social space will "be more open and bright" once construction is completed.

"We are redoing the stage, removing and replacing the floor, installing a new sound and light system, installing new retractable seating and removing the balcony," Adams told The Campus when the project was announced in April. "It should be a much nicer space."

The renovations will also close part of the McCullough quad, which will be used for construction access and a temporary Student Mail Center set up in a modular building.

The exact cost of the Proctor renovations, the source of the two gifts for the McCullough overhaul and the size of the 2009 budget were not made available.

Responding to criticism that the renovations are unnecessarily rushed, Liebowitz said that they are in fact long overdue and are only occurring quickly because of recently available funds.

"We really need these renovations," he said. "You're welcome to go to Proctor and go take a look at the leaks down there."