Middlebury, MIIS Open Office in DC

In collaboration with the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), the College has opened an office in Washington, D.C. According to a College press release, the office will provide students, faculty and staff from the College and MIIS with “increased access to the many academic, government, international, research and philanthropic organizations in the Washington, D.C. area.”

The 6,500-square foot space, located at 1400 K Street, has two conference rooms, a large videoconferencing room and several personal offices. The office also houses the East Coast branch of the MIIS Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

“What makes this new office so exciting is how many different aspects of the institution can take advantage of it and consequently all that Washington has to offer,” President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz said in the press release. “It will allow our institution to bring together students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends from all of our degree programs to enrich a particular course, a continuing education program and much more.”

The videoconferencing facility will prove to be the center’s most vibrant element — allowing students at the College, MIIS or C. V. Starr Schools Abroad to connect with government and policy experts without the time or cost spent on travel.

Fariha Haque, a former analyst in the District of Columbia Public Schools’ Office of Early Childhood Education, has been named the director of Middlebury in DC. Haque noted that the facility could also be used by career and internship offices at the College and MIIS for networking or recruiting purposes, either in person or by videoconference.

The office hosted its first lecture on Nov. 20, in which Associate Professor of American Studies Susan Burch presented her research on Junius Wilson, a man who spent 76 years in a North Carolina mental hospital during the Jim Crow era, yet had never been declared insane by a medical professional.