The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is a graduate institute of Middlebury College, a private college in Middlebury, Vermont. Established in 1955, the school provides instruction on a campus in Monterey, California. The institute offers master's programs and certificates in environmental policy, international policy, language teaching, and translation and interpretation.
MIIS has two graduate professional schools, the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education (GSTILE) and the Graduate School of International Policy and Management (GSIPM), and several related centers.
History
Founding and expansion
The Middlebury Institute was established in 1955 by Gaspard Weiss as the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies (MIFS). In 1961 the school moved to its current downtown Monterey location, where it has since occupied 19 buildings that house two graduate schools, multiple centers, and numerous special programs.
In 1997 the institute became the first professional graduate school in the world to offer a master's degree in International Environmental Policy.
Middlebury connection
In December 2005, Middlebury College and the Monterey Institute signed an affiliation agreement that established a formal relationship between the two institutions. Under that agreement, the Monterey Institute board of trustees was reconstituted to include 13 members, nine of them with Middlebury connections and four former members of the Monterey Institute board.
In June 2010, Middlebury formalized its acquisition of the institute, which was formally designated A Graduate School of Middlebury College. The Monterey board of trustees was renamed the board of governors, and subsequently the board of overseers, with ultimate responsibility for the institute residing with the Middlebury Board of Trustees.
On January 7, 2015, Middlebury announced that the institute would become known as the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. The name change was part of a general rebranding of Middlebury-affiliated institutions.
Academics
Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education
The Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education (GSTILE) trains translators, interpreters (including conference interpreters), localization experts, and language teachers.
GSTILE also offers degrees for language teachers who will teach English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) and teach a foreign language. Certificate programs are additionally offered in these areas as well as Language Program Administration.
Short-term language programs
The Middlebury Institute of International Studies also offers several non-degree programs, including intensive ESL programs year round; summer intensive language programs, custom language services, English for diplomats programs, short term translation and interpretation courses, and international policy certificate programs. The institute is the only school in the Western Hemisphere offering graduate degrees in conference interpretation and in translation and interpretation between English-Chinese, English-Japanese and English-Korean.
Translation and Localization Management Program
History
A unique academic program at the Middlebury Institute is the Translation and Localization Management (TLM) program. It is the only program in the United States, and one of the few programs in the world, that offers a master's degree in this field. It was launched in 2005, bringing together strengths from the then Translation and Interpretation and International Business Schools. The program is featured among the top localization programs recommended by the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) and American Translators Association (ATA), and it has been attracting an increasing number of students every year.
Immersive learning programs
Frontier Market Scouts Program
The Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in partnership with Village Capital has founded and developed this program. The FMS program aims to train compassionate and capable young professionals into talent scouts and investment managers to serve as local entrepreneurs and social-minded investors in low-income and weak-capital regions of the world.