College considers CA acquisition

Author: Caroline S. Stauffer

Members of the Program Coordination Group investigating Middlebury's acquisition of the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) gave a presentation and answered questions Tuesday afternoon in Warner Hemicycle. President Ronald D. Liebowitz was also on hand.

In a report to the faculty, the Coordination Group, which is in charge of considering implications of the College's acquisition of the program wrote, "The opportunity presented by MIIS is significant and should be fully investigated by the College." The committee found "many potential programmatic benefits to acquiring an institution whose strengths seem to complement our own in a variety of ways."

The College would not make a purchase of the graduate institute, but instead would absorb the facilities and responsibilities for its programs and finances. It would function as an entity separate from the College, like the Breadloaf School of English and the graduate programs in languages.

The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) has placed MIIS on probation, and the institute is looking for a stronger educational partner "to ensure its long term survival." Vice President for Administration and Treasurer Bob Huth is in charge of assessing financial issues related to the institute.

The Coordination group reported, "While MIIS's current financial resource difficulties are a concern, it seems likely that they could be improved through more advantageous financing of current debt, increasing enrollment in selected programs, professionalizing the MIIS advancement area and focusing on programmatic offerings."

The 700 students at MIIS are enrolled in one of four graduate schools - the Graduate School of International Policy Studies, the Graduate School of Translation and Interpretation, the Fisher Graduate School of International Business and the Graduate School of Language and Educational Linguistics. Two research institutes - the Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Center for East Asian Studies are also connected with the Institute. Together, the programs offer Master's degrees in International Policy Studies, International Trade Policy, Conference Interpretation, Business Administration, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, Public Administration in International Management, Translation and Translation and Interpretation.

"While the individual MIIS schools offer varying benefits to specific aspects of our academic program, we need to feel that the overall fit is consistent with our position as a liberal arts institution," reported the Coordination group.

So far, "The strategic fit between Middlebury College and MIIS seems to be excellent," the report says.