What Others Are Saying

Here are just a few examples of what others are saying about the Monterey Institute and our programs:

• In April 2013, Professor Jim Williams gave a talk on his energy and climate change research to a United Nations group chaired by Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Dr. Sachs called Professor Williams’ recent paper in Science (“The Technology Path to Deep Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions by 2050”) “the best single study” on the subject of the long-term transition to a sustainable, low-carbon economy, and urged that similar studies be conducted for “every country on the planet in the next two years.”
• The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance awarded MIIS student Lovely Umayam (MANPTS '13) the first prize of $5,000 in its Innovation in Arms Control Challenge on March 4, 2013. Members of the public were invited to submit innovative approaches to using commonly available technologies to support arms control policy efforts; Lovely, a student in the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program, developed "Bombshelltoe" (www.bombshelltoe.com), an online education platform that examines the intersection of popular culture and nuclear issues.
• The Institute’s unique Frontier Market Scouts® program won the Ashoka U - Cordes Innovation Award, given to innovative university programs focused on promoting social entrepreneurship. The award, one of six given by Ashoka U after a review of 130 nominations, was presented before 650 attendees of the annual Ashoka U Exchange conference at the University of San Diego on February 23, 2013. In partnership with the Cordes Foundation, Ashoka U recognizes globally relevant teaching, learning, and partnership practices, focusing on practices that may be adapted and replicated. The Frontier Market Scouts program was also a finalist in the MBA Roundtable’s 2012 Innovator Awards.
• In a January 18, 2013 speech to Monterey Institute students, faculty, staff and invited guests, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted the role played by the Institute and its James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in promoting nonproliferation education: “The world needs you skills and commitment, especially in advancing disarmament and nonproliferation," he said, encouraging the students in the room to take up what he called "great causes.” Underscoring the significance of nonproliferation education, Ban specifically cited the Institute’s “innovative teaching methods,” which rely heavily on simulations and role-playing.

• Following the June 18, 2012 meeting between President Obama and President Putin of Russia at the G-20 Summit in Mexico, the State Department issued a news release touting examples of U.S.-Russian cooperation, including a youth science program developed and implemented by the Monterey Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). The fact sheets accompanying the joint statement by Presidents Obama and Putin cite the U.S.-Russia Virtual Science Challenge for Youth as an example of U.S.-Russian Cooperation on People to People Contacts.
• The Spring 2012 issue of The Carnegie Reporter, a publication of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, features several students of the Monterey Institute’s Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program in its spring publication. The article is titled “Next Gen Nonproliferation” and says that of the next generation of nonproliferation specialists, "many of the most promising and best prepared are students at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), part of the Monterey Institute of International Studies."
• In October 27, 2011 remarks at Stanford University, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance Rose Gottemoeller explained how Monterey Institute student Tamara Patton (MANPTS'12) had taken open-source satellite images of Pakistan's Khushab Plutonium Production Complex and used freely available Google software tools and basic trigonometry to construct a three-dimensional model of the facility. Secretary Gottemoeller's mention of Patton's ground-breaking work was chronicled in a front-page story in the December 6, 2011 edition of the Monterey County Herald titled "MIIS student transforms nuclear intelligence."
• A $500,000 gift from the Milliken Foundation to support the Monterey Institute's recruiting efforts made in November 2011 was accompanied by these comments from a foundation trustee: "I believe that graduate-level international education is vital to the future of this country and am pleased to be able to support the Institute's continuing efforts to attract top students to its remarkable programs."
• At its October 2011 annual conference, the American Translators Association (ATA) awarded its highest honor to Professor Holly Mikkelson of the Monterey Institute. The Alexander Gode Medal, the ATA's most prestigious award, was presented to Professor Mikkelson at the annual meeting of membership with approximately 1,000 translation and interpretation professionals in attendance.
• Professor Jan Knippers Black of the Monterey Institute was elected to the Amnesty International USA Board of Directors in July 2011.
• In October 2010, The Austrian Foreign Ministry selected the Monterey Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) as its partner in the establishment of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Nonproliferation.  In a public announcement, the Austrian government said that it selected CNS from a large number of candidates to manage and operate the new center “because of its distinguished record of leadership in the field and its shared vision” for the new center.
• In August 2010, Net Impact published its annual Business UNusual, a guide for prospective MBA students who want to get the “inside scoop” on various graduate schools.  It is a combination of a qualitative description from Net Impact student leaders and results from an online student survey.  The words Fisher International MBA students at the Monterey Institute most often used to describe their program were “enterprising,” “innovative” and “active.”
• In a feature story on Radio Free Europe in March, 2010 about the unique and exciting careers of high level interpretation professionals, it is mentioned that a good number of UN interpretors and translators have graduated from the "highly respected Monterey Institute of International Studies."

• The Fisher International MBA program, winner of a top 15 ranking from Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review for four straight years, was also recognized in 2010 in The Princeton Review's 2nd annual "Student Opinion Honors for Business Schools" as one of the top 15 graduate schools of business in the category of Global Management.

• In December 2009, the Institute received numerous congratulatory messages in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Quotes from two of the letters follow:

  “In just two decades, the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Monterey Institute of International Studies has acquired a global reputation for training the next generation of nonproliferation specialists… The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has benefited from the expertise of CNS graduates who have served as interns, and several of its former staff and students are now serving in professional staff positions at the IAEA.” -- International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei

  “Each new generation of scholars and policymakers must determine how best to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and seek the goal of a world without them. Organizations like CNS that are dedicated to training nonproliferation specialists will be vital in achieving this goal and preparing these individuals to lead in the effort.” – U.S. President Barack Obama

• In November 2009, the United Nations recognized the Monterey Institute as one of the world’s leading trainers of professional translators and interpreters, signing an agreement to expand internship and employment opportunities for current and future Institute students and graduates. The Institute is one of nine partner institutions worldwide chosen by the U.N, and the only one in North or South America.
• ALTA Language Services, a major employer of translation and interpretation professionals in the United States, named the Institute’s translation and interpretation program as one of the top five graduate programs in the nation, citing its “close-knit, globally focused community” and praising the Institute’s emphasis on language and cultural proficiency in addition to translation skills.
• In 2007, the magazine Foreign Policy named the Institute one of the top 20 graduate schools in the nation for international relations.