Communique Spring 2018

THE CHANGE AGENT 4 How Onaba Payab sees her native Afghanistan.

DISPATCH FROM EAST TIMOR 9 Reflections of a young government advisor.

Communiqué SPRING 2018

From Haiti, With Love

Wesley Laîné MAIPS ’14 has emerged as one of his country’s brightest stars—and he’s mapping his return. PAGE 10

FIVE MINUTES

THE VIEW FROM SEGAL

The Search for Truth

Rescue Aid Society

ducation has been characterized, at various times by various people, as the search for truth. I think most of us feel like that search has gotten harder in recent years. Truth derives from facts, and facts feel like they should be tangible, ever-present, and unchangeable things.

But it turns out that there are facts, and alternative facts, and perhaps even alternatives to the alternative facts.

Rooting out the truth is both more challenging and more important today than ever before. Research, data, language, and communication, how ideas and issues are framed—all of these things help to shape and define the truth even as they present it to an audience.

We aim to equip our students with the skills to root out and communicate the truth across all boundaries. While here in Monterey, they learn how to uncover and present the data and evidence to support conclusions that inform policy decisions, shape programs, and launch businesses.

They also connect and facilitate conversations between people from different cultural backgrounds and nations who want to express, or learn, or agree upon, or create new truths.

We’ve seen several high-profile examples of this recently. Every time North Korea tests a new missile or nuclear weapon, the experts from the Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies are prominently featured in the

Seongji Kim MATLM ’19 and Seo-Young Jun MATLM ’18 first met while working for a nonprofit organization—Liberty in North Korea—that seeks to aid North Korean refugees. Now students at the Middlebury Institute, the two have founded a local chapter of Liberty in North Korea in Monterey, where they continue to advocate for changing the narrative around this very contentious issue.

E Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Institute Jeff Dayton-Johnson.

ensuing media coverage. Their groundbreaking work using open-source materials to analyze developments in North Korea’s nuclear program has definitively aided the search for truth.

Another example came during President Trump’s trip to Asia last fall. One of the interpreters assisting the president during his meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was Lefteris Kafatos maci ’10. As the two leaders discussed critical issues like trade and security, Lefteris, as much as anyone else in the room, was responsible for safeguarding and upholding the truth of those conversations.

(Lefteris did the same again for Vice President Pence in February.)

Finally, we heard last fall from our friend and colleague Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature, founder of 350. org, and the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College. In his remarks here in Monterey, Bill shared important truths— based on empirical data—about global climate change. Truth telling isn’t always easy, but it’s vital to the health of our society and indeed of the planet itself.

These are just three examples in service of a broader charge that I gave to our December graduates: to never settle for the easy answer, and to be fearless and relentless in seeking out the underlying truth. I know they will go out into the world and make us proud. n

Truth telling isn’t always easy, but it’s vital to the health of our society and, indeed, of the planet itself.

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COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY EMMANUEL FRADIN | PHOTOGRAPH BY BRIDGET BESAW

Q: How did you get involved with Liberty in North Korea?

A:

seongji: My grandmother’s family is originally from North Korea—they escaped right before the Korean War. Growing up, she would tell me about her childhood and how the North Korean people were the smartest, brightest, and most adventurous, and that it was so sad that they were now oppressed by this government so they could not fulfill their potential as human beings. So I grew up hearing these stories. I majored in political science as an undergraduate, and as a freshman had the opportunity to interpret for a documentary filmmaker who was interviewing North Korean defectors. It was a turning point for me, and I felt that I needed to get involved. In the classroom, we talk a lot about the politics, security, and reunification but not much about the people. I then interned and later got a job with Liberty in North Korea at the office in Seoul. It completely changed my perspective. Before, I thought the high-politics approach was the best way to tackle this issue, but my work with the organization really changed that perspective into focusing more on people and giving more agency to the people of North Korea.

ILLUSTRATION BY YEVGENIA NAYBERG

Seo-Young: My story is very different. I found an internship with Liberty in North Korea in Long Beach that I felt was a good fit with the field of translation and localization management. When I was offered a position based on my filmmaking skills, I was not sure I should take it, but I am really happy I did. It was an eye-opening experience. I had the chance to interact with eight North Korean defectors during the two-month internship, and I extended my internship and worked with Charles, the defector who visited the Institute last fall.

selves, and we always think that they are brainwashed and helpless, and somehow outsiders need to go in and rescue them.

But we are trying to say that they are actually making so much more progress than the U.N., the U.S., and the South Korean government ever have, and that was what was so striking to me. I mean, I always thought the U.N. needed to up its game and do something about the situation, but then actually, no, the North Korean people are just organically doing so much more, and we just need to be the supporters. We need to stand by them and tell their stories so that people know that they are not just victims. There is a lot more to do to shift the narrative. seo-young: It is important to us that Liberty in North Korea is not a political organization. The mission is to help refugees and to promote human rights. By taking politics out of the equation, we can focus on the people. n

Q: What do you think peo-

ple are missing when the focus is on the latest threats?

A:

seongji: In the midst of all of the talk of security issues, people’s stories are not getting enough attention. And when they do get attention, it is in a very disempowering way. I mean, the same problem applies to many other communities. We always see the North Korean people as victims; they don’t have the means to really help them-

Spring 2018 3

WHAT I’VE LEARNED

The Change Agent

A

self-described “reserved Afghan,” Onaba Payab maipd ’18 is modest about her many achievements. Most of her classmates will not know that she is the first female valedictorian at the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul; that before coming to Monterey as a Fulbright Scholar she moderated a discussion between former First Lady Laura Bush and then First Lady Michelle Obama; that she is considered to be one of Afghanistan’s future leaders and was recently part of a delegation of Afghan women at the U.S. Capitol. Here, she shares some of her insights with us.

Focus on the positive. I was only a few months old when our family fled the civil war and settled as refugees in Pakistan.

Like so many Afghan refugees, my family instilled in me a strong work ethic, a positive outlook, and optimism that constantly reminded me that besides the difficulties, there were opportunities available for Afghan refugees in Pakistan. While Pakistan was never home, living there for 16 years meant my siblings and I had access to a pretty good education system.

I always say, if I will not bring about change, then who will?

ONABA PAYAB

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM EWING

Change happens slowly, especially in nations with centuries of history. Sixteen years ago, no girls in Afghanistan went to school, and the only education available to boys was religious. Now, 3.6 million girls are being educated, and women are taking roles in the government in greater numbers. We still have much to do of course, but inclusivity is seeing great progress and is perhaps the single greatest defining feature and leap since 2001. To sustain these gains and build on them further, the continued moral and financial support of the international community is vital.

Afghanistan is still a fragile country.

Gains can be undone. What gives me hope is the younger generation. We have a very young population: 50 percent of Afghans are under the age of 18. When I had the opportunity to speak with members of the U.S. Congress as part of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, I encouraged them to focus on education. Young people want a purpose in life. Only if we can ensure that opportunities are available for every young woman and man to realize her or his full potential can we hope to realize the potential of the country as a whole.

The willingness of these young Afghans to see a peaceful and stable country will definitely lead to peace and prosperity.

You have to engage men to change things for women. I am very lucky to have a supportive family. My father has always supported my education, and all of my siblings are well educated. In the context of a society like Afghanistan, we must have the support of men. They have a critical role to play when it comes to inclusion and eliminating gender bias. Women who are breaking new territories need strong networks that will help them be successful.

I always say, if I will not bring about change, then who will? Things are changing. There is respect for educated people in Afghanistan, especially among the younger generation. I have learned a lot here and believe I have a lot to share when I return home this summer. Already I know I am a role model for young girls, and I intend to show them that there are many options for them in the future if they stay in school and believe in themselves. I want to show that Afghan women are equal to Afghan men in humanity, dignity, and ability, and that they are able to play an equal role in rebuilding

Afghanistan. I believe the best way to bring “change” is to lead from the front, and to lead by example. I know that it is not going to be an easy task to achieve my goals, but as Rahman Baba, one of the greatest poets of Afghanistan, says, “If you dive you will definitely acquire it, who says there is no pearl in the sea.”

Self-confidence is key. Before going on stage with Mrs. Bush and Mrs. Obama, I was stressed. I was actually stressed from the moment this opportunity to go to Dallas and moderate their discussion was offered to me. But once there, I reminded myself of my abilities and strengths. I kept telling myself, “You can do it.” After it was over, I realized that I can totally do this sort of thing and that positive thinking is key to self-confidence.

I have learned that looking people in the eye, smiling, and talking to them is really rewarding. In Afghan culture a woman looks down and does not smile much, which really makes you scared of people.

I was warned against smiling too much or talking to new people. But as I started meeting people from diverse backgrounds in the U.S., I realized that it is good to be social and have a network of people.

Friends make life better. All my life I have lived with extended family, and when I moved to Monterey, my parents were concerned about the living situation. I was homesick for a year, except for last semester when I had my roommate, Kate Fisher mba/maips ’18. She respected my culture and I respected her culture, and we supported each other. When I hosted my farewell party before going to Washington, D.C., for my last semester, I suddenly realized I could fill the room with friends I was going to miss. n

Spring 2018 5

Q&A WITH WILLIAM ARROCHA

A Conversation with William Arrocha Professor William Arrocha has been teaching courses on international development, migration, and human rights at the Institute since 2008. This spring we talked with him about the impact the immigration policy debate is having on the campus, the region, the nation, and the world—an impact he is intimately familiar with as an immigrant himself.

Q: How has the increased focus on im-

migration policy that began during the presidential campaign affected the conversations happening in your classroom?

A: We are an institution with a large in-

ternational body of students, and today we are living in a climate of open hostility from the executive branch of the federal government toward certain immigrants, particularly non-European immigrants. It is therefore difficult to avoid such conversations on campus and in the classroom.

There is definitely an increase in fear; it permeates the discussions in class and also the work that faculty and students do with the community at large.

Q: You’ve

done a great deal of work in the Monterey area on issues related to immigration. How has that regional conversation changed over the past two years?

A: There

is fear among the at-large community in this county that is targeted by today’s openly anti-immigrant policies. You have students in the community who have been protected under the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program who are now living in limbo. Their future depends on the actions of a very divided Congress and administration who are using them as a political chip. For individuals who did not choose to come to this country the

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way they came, and yet have lived here most of their lives, this is devastating.

Then you have workers in the agricultural sector who are also in limbo. Those who have working permits don’t know if they will be renewed, while those who don’t, fear an increase in harsh and often-violent raids. We also have many citizens from El Salvador in this area who have been living under Temporary Protected Status, which has now been cancelled. All of this obviously has an impact on the collective well-being of this county.

certain immigrants represent a threat to the public safety or the national security based on their religious beliefs or countries of origin. Most immigrants just want a better life, and studies by the Pew Research Center have shown that the more immigrants there are in a community, the less crime—because an immigrant wants to be embraced as part of the community.

In times of economic uncertainty, there is a tendency to scapegoat immigrants, yet people forget that in the U.S. there is a structural dependency on migrant labor.

Q: How do you see the current national Q: What are the basic foundations of a conversation on immigration affecting other countries’ perceptions of the U.S.?

sound, responsible, morally defensible immigration policy?

William Arrocha

A:

A:

Job Title Assistant Professor

There is a generalized shock among many leaders and people to hear such divisive, nativist discourse coming from the U.S. government. For some it was hard to even imagine that someone who called immigrants from Mexico rapists and murderers could become president. Historically, the immigration debate has been about how best to include migrants. Today, it is about who to exclude, and how.

Q: What economic, social, and political

factors do you think are driving these developments?

A:

There is a perception that wages go down due to immigration, and that

First, it’s one that accepts the fact that human beings are always looking to move from one place to another. Migration is a natural phenomenon that should be regulated with the utmost respect for those who choose for whatever reason to leave their home and country to go and forge a new future. The most responsible immigration policies are based on respecting the most fundamental human rights and dignity of migrants. In the United States, we’ve always needed immigrants to be the country that we are. n

areas of research Immigration, international development, and human rights

There is fear among the at-large community in this county that is targeted by today’s openly anti-immigrant policies.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELENA ZHUKOVA

Spring 2018 7

ESSAY BY CLAIRE POTDEVIN

SCENE

Dispatch from East Timor

An alumna ruminates on life as a government advisor.

T

The Local Landscape

he first time a government minister asked for my opinion, I felt a surge of excitement—followed by a tinge of apprehension. When you work for a government, the opportunity to advise the senior staff is immensely gratifying, if not a bit intimidating. It was only later that day, as I reflected on the meeting, that I realized there had been several older, more experienced, and, in my mind, better-informed people in the room. Yet I was the one he had asked for an opinion, and I wondered why.

I arrived about a year and a half ago in Dili, Timor-Leste, a small nation in Southeast Asia, where I have been working as an advisor in the local Ministry of Finance.

My fellowship program sends young economists to work for two years in the public service of a developing country. Timor only gained its independence 15 years ago, after fighting for decades against successive Portuguese and Indonesian occupations.

Being such a young state, with a population that had had little or no access to education in the last decades, meant that there was—there still is—a lot to do. Following independence in 2006, the nation was administered by the United Nations until the local capacity was built. The government of Timor-Leste took over at the end of 2012.

In a nation where everything had to be built or rebuilt from scratch after longstanding violent conflict, and yet with few trained people to do it, a strong reliance on foreign staff is understandable and expected. Technical assistance is needed in many areas, both to fill the knowledge gap and to build local capacity. But, without denying that external actors can provide a useful addition, there seems to be a belief that the foreigner always knows best.

The Whalers Cabin in Point Lobos State Reserve is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a potent reminder of the rich whaling history in that area.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ELENA ZHUKOVA

ILLUSTRATION BY CHANTAL BENNETT

Being part of the category of international advisors opens access to a strange but powerful form of privilege. It goes beyond the multiple work benefits and a salary not offered to your local counterpart and could be defined as the right to have a voice that resonates above others.

My experience in Timor is that the status of foreigner—malae in Tetum, one of the main local languages—often provides an immediate legitimacy in the workplace, in a way that sometimes goes beyond the actual added value of the skills we, as outsiders, bring.

By making this statement I do not mean to place blame on or devalue any of the work of the people who came before me and laid the groundwork for institutions and systems. I truly believe that Timor greatly benefited from a decade of experience sharing and capacity building.

But the reality is that we often underestimate the potential impact of our presence.

It is easy to forget that one day we will depart and leave behind a community, a project, or a country that will deal with the consequences of our decisions, whether these are beneficial or hurtful. The transient nature of our position often contrasts with the long-term impact of our decisions and their potentially damaging legacy.

It is even more important to realize the impact of “soft” knowledge. My Timorese colleagues have an understanding of their country and its institutions that I will never possess. Any economic policy decision is often less the simple application of an economic analysis and more the result of a series of intricate historical, political, and cultural factors. As months have gone by, I have gradually become aware that a lot of the systems I at first considered dysfunctional or inefficient actually exist

for perfectly rational reasons. They are a result of a pragmatic and informed approach, which my outsider’s perspective was at first unable to understand.

This is a humbling experience. To have your voice heard so easily, it can become tempting to ignore what our counterparts have to contribute. While an idea might make sense technically and academically, it can still be absolutely inappropriate for a particular context. There is no shortage of ideas and recommendations; the same cannot be said for capacity and space to apply those ideas. To fix this, we need to work alongside our local colleagues and take the time to understand each situation more thoroughly. More than anything, this requires going beyond this assumption we, as foreign experts, are too readily granted—that our theories and experience are “right”—and instead work to earn the trust placed in us. When you are not the most knowledgeable person in the room, it is a good idea to step back. So when a minister recently asked me my opinion on a topic I knew too little about, I simply told him so. After that meeting, one of his staff came to me.

“Mana,” he said, using the familiar term one uses to address a woman, “Mana, if you want, I can explain to you a bit more about this.” n

Spring 2018 9

FEATURE

From Haiti, With Love

“Like most parents in Haiti, my parents dreamed their kids would have it better than they did.”

Wesley Laîné maips ’14 has spoken at the Clinton Global Initiative, delivered the graduation speech at the Sciences Po Law School in Paris, and appeared on the front page of the New York Times with his classmates when he participated in Harvard’s first commencement for black graduate students. But if you are to ask him what place or moment in his life matters most, he will always return to his native Haiti.

I

n the fall of 2012, a student turned a class exercise about a love triangle and alligators into a passionate but playful debate on the morals of intervention and neutrality. The student was Wesley Laîné, and it was his very first day at the Institute; the exercise was a part of new student orientation. Despite the weighty direction of the conversation, the debate never got hostile or contentious, but felt meaningful and open.

Laîné lived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, until he was 12 years old and his family moved to Oklahoma City. His father, a minister who had put himself through law school in the evenings, had deep ties in the community, and the family decision to leave was not an easy one. “He bet on us,” Laîné says. “Like most parents in Haiti, my parents dreamed their kids would have it better than they did.” He says that his family had “crawled” its way to the middle class by the time they left, but violence was increasing, and going to school was a daily struggle, if there was school at all, because of frequent strikes. In many ways, he says, it was the typical immigrant story once they got to the United States: his dad worked lots of odd jobs to make ends meet and made ambitious plans for the children to get quality educations and make better lives for themselves. “My dad worked so much I used to hide his shoes so he wouldn’t have to go.”

Returning to Haiti after the devastating earthquake in 2010, Laîné worked there

WESLEY LAÎNÉ

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PHOTOGRAPH BY EMMANUEL FRADIN

for two years before enrolling at the Institute. His foundation, Haiti Philanthropy, became heavily involved with clean water projects in the Southeast Department of Haiti as a response to the outbreak of cholera brought by UN peacekeepers from Nepal. The foundation has expanded to include a rainwater harvesting reservoir and projects to help women and children. Last summer he visited many villages where the foundation serves beneficiaries and spent time “bearing witness to the daily struggles.” He adds: “Anyone who aspires to political work has to be aware of what life is really like. It is so easy to get out of touch with what is happening on the ground.”

He credits his love of history, politics, and historical figures such as James Baldwin for inspiring him to go to Paris through Middlebury Schools Abroad while he was a student at the Institute. Like the author, he felt the City of Light offered him the chance to “just be a person, anonymous. There is a degree of liberation in anonymity that I craved during this part of my journey.” In the U.S. most of the time, he says, the daily injustices that American society levies on black citizens does not allow for that. “The U.S. is also my home, and I love it, which is why I have strong feelings about the current state of American society. The sad fact is that many of the things Baldwin talked about are still true today.” He particularly hates when people use him as an example in order to turn a blind eye to the systemic injustice

that exists today. “In many ways, I am the exception. I feel very fortunate. America’s promises are not available to everyone. If two or three things had gone differently, I would not be here. Many of my friends are stalked by the justice system.”

Laîné lives in Paris now, where he is a lawyer with a top firm. The distance between his home and Oklahoma City, where his family still lives, can seem great, both literally (4,820 miles) and figuratively, the distance traveled reflected in his achievements. Laîné earned two law degrees; his classmates at Sciences Po elected him to give the commencement address, and he was part of the inaugural black commencement at Harvard.

“It was truly an affirmation of everything we and our families had gone through to help us get there.” He feels strongly that the only way forward is to face the past.

He says that every action, degree, career choice he takes is to lay the groundwork for a political career in Haiti, where he wants to shepherd transformative change for the impoverished country. All of the character traits that served him well that first day at the Institute—a quick wit, nimble intellect, and warm demeanor— are sure to be an asset to him as a politician promoting progress. “Like all Haitian parents, mine are strict and hard to please,” Laîné says with a chuckle, “but this visit my dad told me that I would probably accomplish what I want to do in Haiti.” n

Spring 2018 11

Q&A WITH MOYARA RUEHSEN

A Conversation with Moyara Ruehsen Professor Moyara Ruehsen has been teaching courses on financial crime—including money laundering, trade-based financial crime, corruption, proliferation financing, and terrorist financing—at the Institute since 1994. She also oversees the Institute’s Financial Crime Management program, which offers a specialization for master’s degree candidates as well as a stand-alone certificate for midcareer professionals.

Q: How did you become interested in fi-

nancial crime as a topic for research and teaching?

A: After I received my doctorate, UC Berkeley invited me to apply to teach in their political economy program and asked what courses I could offer. I said I’d love to put together a course on illicit markets, and they offered to make me a visiting scholar so I could do that. My career took a pretty big turn right there, and I haven’t looked back. Initially I was looking at the political economy of international organized crime, examining sex trafficking, arms trafficking, and drug

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trafficking, but it was the money laundering piece that really captured my interest.

It was the one common thread, and it seemed like the area of high vulnerability for these criminal groups, and therefore a logical target.

Q: Last

year the Institute formally established a specialization and certificate program in Financial Crime Management.

How did that come about?

A:

The specialization and certificate program came in reaction to a market need.

The employment opportunities in the area of financial crime management and compliance have been expanding rapidly since 9/11 because of pressure on the private sector—particularly financial institutions— to do a better job of policing all the transactions they handle. Regulators ratcheted up the fines issued against financial institutions from tens of millions in the ’90s to hundreds of millions, and more recently billions.

As a result, financial institutions have been building up staffing in their compliance departments. They especially need investigators who can conduct investigations in foreign languages and who have curiosity and general knowledge on topics like geography, politics, and economics.

They want an investigator who sees trade documentation that shows a shipment of electronics going from Vladivostok to

Q: A:

Johannesburg to Kuala Lumpur to recognize that this doesn’t make geographic sense and dig deeper. Does the description of the shipment match its weight? Did the shipment originate not from Vladivostok but from North Korea? Why does another document say “Korea” and not “South Korea”? These are examples of the types of red flags we look for.

The specialization complements the nonproliferation and terrorism studies degree curriculum by adding a critical piece to both counterterrorism studies and counterproliferation studies. One of the key ways you track and stop both weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation and terrorism is by following the money.

Moyara Ruehsen Job Title Associate Professor areas of research Money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions compliance

Q: What sorts of jobs and career tracks

do students who study financial crime management move into?

A:

Students are going into both public-sector and private-sector jobs where they’re using these skills. In the public sector, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control manages our sanctions regime. This includes not just sanctions against North Korea and Iran, but also sanctions against thousands of individuals and business entities involved in terrorism, high-level drug trafficking, and WMD proliferation. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network collects financial intelligence reports from financial ILLUSTRATION BY YEVGENIA NAYBERG

institutions about suspicious activity, and the Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Unit watches out for evidence of terrorism and proliferation financing. We have had alumni working in all of these units, plus all of the three-letter agencies—the FBI, DEA, DIA, CIA, and DOJ—as well as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Still, the majority of students in this area end up going into the private sector.

Quite a few of the jobs are at large banks, but we’re starting to see more students go into the area of “fintech,” meaning mobile payment platforms like PayPal, Square, Stripe, and Ripple; these companies need PHOTOGRAPH BY ELENA ZHUKOVA

financial crime compliance professionals.

They also find jobs with business threat intelligence companies like Kroll, Thompson Reuters, and Mintz Group, to which companies outsource the advanced due diligence they are now required to do on all their foreign partners.

Q: What’s the cleverest or most bizarre

beach balls or real diamonds valued at $13 a carat. It’s clever because it’s hard to catch. The most bizarre? Large-denomination bills stuffed in the heels of shoes or in hollowed-out bananas, or the flight attendant who thought that wrapping large piles of cash in aluminum foil would “foil” airport screening machines. n

example of financial crime you’ve ever come across?

A:

More and more criminal money is moving by way of falsely invoiced trade transactions, whether it’s $4,700 inflatable

Spring 2018 13

WHAT I’VE LEARNED JEFF LANGHOLZ

Life According to Langholz

H

e doesn’t have a campus parking pass even though he certainly could. Why? Because that way he is forced to park way up the hill and then climb it at the end of the day. A fixture in the International Environmental Policy program, professor Jeff Langholz is nothing if not systematic in his approaches to life’s challenges. He generously shares his systems with students and colleagues, and is tireless in his efforts to inspire others.

Jeff Langholz Job Title Professor Courses Taught Environmental Conflict Management; Applied Conservation Science

When I play out the deathbed scenario, wondering if I managed to do anything good in life, I want to know I leveraged life for the greatest good.

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PHOTOGRAPH BY ELENA ZHUKOVA

publishing, getting a Fulbright, landing your dream job, working in teams, getting accepted into a top PhD program, and many other topics. Then I wrote the results as short “best practices” guides. I try to be a curator of excellence. Life’s too short, and the world’s challenges are too great, to waste time reinventing the wheel or settling for mediocrity.

Career gut checks are good. Every now and then, an opportunity arises to join the faculty at a big research university or jump to a for-profit business. The higher salary, lower housing costs, great sports teams, and other perks can be tempting.

Such opportunities force me to look deep within, asking if I’m in the right place.

The Institute always comes out on top, and I feel it each time with greater conviction. Ironically, the more chances I get to leave, the greater my commitment to stay.

Learn to give great speeches. An example of unlocking the keys to excellence is number seven in my series of Graduate School of International Policy and Management tip sheets: “How to Give a Superb Oral Presentation in GSIPM or Anywhere Else.” Social scientists have identified several keys to a great speech, one that audiences will remember for months or years to come. When a student delivers a 10-minute presentation in one of my classes, he or she must implement an entire list of 38 empirically based best practices. Instead of falling asleep, the audiences are enthralled.

Play out the deathbed scenario. When I play out the deathbed scenario, wondering if I managed to do anything good in life, I want to know I leveraged life for the greatest good. For me, at least, maximizing my career lifetime impact entails three things: working internationally instead of just domestically, focusing on policies that affect millions of people rather than just on individual projects, and training thousands of students to go out and do international policy instead of doing it myself. No place offers this “triple leverage” better than MIIS.

I can’t believe they pay me to do this!

I found my dream job the hard way. It took many years and much trial and error. To speed things up for our students, I researched and wrote “Careers by Design,” the proven methodology for MIIS students to identify and land their dream jobs. We don’t want our students to struggle after graduation or settle for mediocre careers. We want them in jobs that offer their ideal location, compensation, lifestyle, and more. Based on examples from our most successful students, it really boils down to just a few key things.

Unlock the keys to peak performance. I’m known for, or notorious for, my collection of tip sheets. I researched keys to peak performance in public speaking, writing,

Learn the secrets to innovation. The world needs innovators, and we love to produce them at MIIS. The first step is to emphasize that innovation is a learned

skill, not an innate ability. Most innovations tend to follow seven main pathways, or techniques. My personal favorite is a technique called “exaptation.” One student used exaptation to predict the location of Osama bin Laden two years before the U.S. military found him. Another used exaptation to launch a market-based solution to California’s water crisis. Bottom line: If you want to create game-changing innovations, start by mastering “exaptation” and other best practices.

It is not about being an expert. I am not an expert in any of this. All I do is study.

I do the diagnostics and look at the evidence and then create a guide by working backward from the ultimate goal.

The heart stuff is important. Like a lot of professors, I focus most of my time and effort on students; they are the reason I’m here. Much of what I do emphasizes academic pursuits, equipping my students with concrete skills and knowledge for success. When our graduates go out and do great things in the world, we share in that success. But I’ve found that it’s the personal relationships that provide the most joy. I love hearing from our alumni, especially when they express gratitude.

These human connections count most.

Keep trying and learning. I’m an expert at failure. In fact, a few years ago I made a conscious decision to increase not only the rate of my failures, but also the size.

I would take more risks and bigger risks.

Failing now and then means I’m living boldly, pushing the envelope in personal and professional areas. Failure has also been a stupendous teacher. In fact, I follow Ray Dalio’s practice of developing a guiding principle learned from each failure. n

Spring 2018 15

FACULTY ADVICE

IN BRIEF

The Immigration Debate The Middlebury Institute is known for the international character of its campus community, with students from other countries typically composing about a third of the student body. How has the national debate over immigration policy in the United States affected the conversations you are having with your students, both inside and outside the classroom?

In translation and interpretation, we work with texts on major global issues of today and tomorrow. Migration has become one of those themes, always tangled up with immigration policy. For MIIS students, the consequences of immigration policy can be intensely personal, determining whether or not they can even study here, and dictating where they can and can’t work and live upon graduating. With the uncertainties swirling around U.S. immigration policy, these conversations have become increasingly poignant, illustrating that politics and policy are ultimately always personal. —Julie Johnson mati ’89, Associate Professor of Translation and Interpretation The immigration debate has provided an opportunity to discuss an issue that heretofore would only salt conversations.

Now it can dominate them. Until now, when immigration arose, it was a glancing point of pride—America, a land of immigrants. Now cynicism has crept in among both American and foreign students. Beyond frustration about visas and job prospects, the conversation seems a weird mix of passion and fragility. Sensitivities have been heightened, like nerves rubbed raw. —Robert Rogowsky, Professor and Program Co-chair, International Trade and Economic Diplomacy I’ve been revealing more about my own identity to my students and colleagues in the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages/Teaching Foreign Language program as one who could be targeted and become a potential victim of a policy change.

The debate is personally very sensitive to me as I’m

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an immigrant and used to frequently cross the border in order to renew my short-term visa status. Each time was a rather anxious moment. This is an issue that concerns all of us, not just “others.”

—Heekyeong Lee, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics Immigration has become a hot topic in my Spanish courses as coverage in the Spanish-speaking media has focused attention on U.S. immigration policy, including DACA and the family-sponsoring visa programs. These topics have made their presence felt in my courses and have led to reflection and sharing of ideas in and outside my classes. Speaking among ourselves is not only liberating but also helps to dispel the statements from our current administration. —Pablo Oliva, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Hispanic Studies in the Language Studies Department The immigration issue has affected the Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies program in two specific ways. First, there is considerable debate, including among program faculty and students, about whether the administration’s ban on visitors from several Muslim-majority countries is actually helpful in countering terrorism. Second, we are seeing fewer student applicants from certain regions where terrorism is a major concern, which might reflect a perception that students from these countries either will not be able to get visas or will not be welcome in the United States. —Jeff Knopf, Professor and Program Chair, Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies The debate over immigration policies in the U.S. has affected many of our students and created a fear of the unknown. Not surprisingly, our students show a sincere desire for global social change and are keen to make our campus more inclusive and equitable, to cherish the multiplicity of identities here, and to lead by example. We realize we must know ourselves to help others, so we explore our own biases, values, and ethics to understand the politics of identity. My mantra: less arrogance, more humility, and lots of courage. —Pushpa Iyer, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Conflict Studies ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT NEUBECKER

recent news from members of the institute community in monterey and around the world.

SIGHTINGS ›› Professor Ed Laurance retired in January after 25 years at the Institute, during which he specialized in small-arms control while collaborating with alumni, students, and fellow activists around the world. In December he gave an in-depth interview published on the Institute website and shared news of five of his former students—Manu Miralles MPA ’13, Jonah Leff MPA ’07, Rachel Stohl MAIPS ’97, Himayu Shiotani MAIPS ’11, and Maria Olavarria bais/MAIPS ’12— who met up at a conference on implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland. ›› Women in Foreign Relations (womeninforeignrelations. org) profiled Andrea Berger, senior research associate with the Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), noting her strong interest in North Korea export controls and sanctions policy issues. “The Center for Nonproliferation Studies has always excelled in these areas,” Berger told them, “so it is a wonderful opportunity to learn more.”

published by the Institute’s Center for the Blue Economy to illustrate the economic value of coastal tourism and the resulting dangers to the economy posed by offshore oil drilling. ›› The remarkable work done by the team of geolocation and nuclear technology experts at CNS led by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, East Asia Nonproliferation Program director, to analyze and detail the progress of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs was spotlighted by multiple major media outlets over the past several months, including the Wall Street Journal (10/5/17), Washington Post (11/20/17), Bloomberg News (12/4/17), PBS Newshour (2/21/18), and MSNBC (3/2/18). ›› A pair of recent podcasts featured Institute faculty sharing their expertise. First, Professor Barry Slaughter Olsen MACI ’99 was featured on the Globally Speaking podcast from language services giant Moravia, and then Professor Moyara Ruehsen spoke to the Scholar’s Circle podcast on the topic of money laundering.

›› In a January 16 op-ed piece in

›› Navindra Gunawardena

the New York Times, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra cited data from a study

MANPTS ’14 and Rae Sterrett MATESOL ’14 were married last October in Portland, Oregon,

in a ceremony attended by Charlie Thorsen MANPTS ’14, Marc Quint MANPTS ’14, and nonproliferation professor Philipp Bleek.

Council’s Committee on Education on the importance of bilingual education.

PRESENTATIONS

›› For the second year in a row,

›› Professor Wei Liang, co-chair

a team of Institute students won the Business for a Better World international case competition. Team members Ameen Beydoun MBA/MAIPD ’18, Alexandra Cohen MBA/ MAIPD ’19, Arti Dhar MBA ’19, and Dan Swinyard MBA ’18 presented what one of the judges called a “stunning” idea and comprehensive approach to this year’s challenge “to deliver an actionable idea that will enable meaningful investment in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while creating new growth opportunities for BNP Paribas CIB division.” The competition is held each year in Davos, Switzerland, alongside the annual World Economic Forum.

of the Trade and Economic Diplomacy program, spoke at a Council of Foreign Relations symposium in Washington, D.C., in October, serving on a panel titled “China and the United States: Governing a Contentious Bilateral Trade and Investment Relationship.”

Institute students also had the opportunity to attend parts of the symposium and meet the keynote speaker, Roberto Azevêdo, director general of the World Trade Organization. ›› Students in the Institute’s Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies (NPTS) program had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of current issues with Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov at a November 30 event hosted by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). Antonov replaced Sergey Kislyak—who spoke with NPTS students the previous November—as the Russian Federation’s top diplomat in the United States in August. Both men were invited to speak with students by CNS Director Dr. William Potter. ›› Grace Earley MAIEM ’16 had a practicum experience in Washington, D.C., that included the opportunity to testify before the District of Columbia

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

›› Another team of Institute students—Jillian Flavin MAIEP/ MBA ’18, Ruth Lai MBA ’18, Celina Lima MAIPD/MBA ’18 and Khadija Hafiz MAIPD/MBA ’18—traveled to Thailand to compete in the finals of the Bangkok Business Challenge, Asia’s only global intercollegiate postgraduate start-up competition. They finished as one of four runners-up. ›› The 2018 Danica Seleskovitch Prize was awarded to alumnus Luigi Luccarelli MAICC ’79.

The prize was created in 1991 to honor Danica Seleskovitch,

Spring 2018 17

Communiqué

IN BRIEF

“ Nuclear taboo’ has kept nations from nuking each other for decades, but with this plan, the U.S. is willing to break that over something like a cyberattack.”

—Professor Jeffrey Knopf, speaking about the Pentagon’s 2018 draft Nuclear Posture Review, in an interview with Mashable

former director of the School of Interpreters and Translators (ESIT) at the University of Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle and former executive secretary of the International Association of Conference Interpreters. ›› Congratulations to Professor Jason Martel, who, along with two colleagues, won the Freeman Award for Best Published Article from the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages—recognition made even more special by the fact that the award is named in honor of Stephen A. Freeman, who taught at Middlebury College for 45 years and served for many years as director of the Middlebury Language Schools. Martel himself is a Middlebury alumnus, having earned his MA in French from Middlebury College in 2003. ›› Tangut Degfay MAIPD ’18 won the 44th annual Japanese Speech Contest, sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, while her colleague Jingyu (Ellen) Zhong MAIPD ’19 was awarded third prize in the same contest. ›› Alumna Dr. Lora Saalman MAIPS ’04 joined the EastWest

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Institute in January as vice president of its Asia-Pacific program, where she leads its strategic direction and continued facilitation of dialogues involving political, military, government, academic, and business leaders addressing key issues in the region. ›› Alumna Christina Irvine MAIEM ’15 was recently appointed director of the Community College of Denver’s Intercultural Center. “I’ll be accompanying students and faculty on our first study abroad trip to Cuba in May and making an inaugural recruiting trip to Japan in the fall,” she said. “I know that I wouldn’t be here so shortly after graduation without the opportunities presented to me in the IEM program,” she told Program Chair Katherine Punteney. “I use knowledge and experience gained from every single course and seminar on a daily basis.” ›› Kelly Donovan MATESOL ’17 wrote to Grace O’Dell MPA ’12 of the Center for Advising and Career Services to share the news that she has accepted a position with the English Language Fellow (ELF) Program in China.

›› Four Middlebury Institute graduates, including Kyle Pilutti MANPTS ’17 and Thais Ramo MANPTS ’17, received the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Graduate Fellowship Program award this year, which includes the offer of full-time, one-year salaried positions with the NNSA beginning this summer.

“The fellowship is the perfect springboard for what I want to do in my career,” said Pilutti. ›› Three Middlebury Institute students—Erin Lannon MAIEP ’19, Karl Larsen MBA/MAIEP ’18, and Iris Nolasco MAIEP ’17— were offered the opportunity to spend summer 2018 as paid fellows with nonprofit Think Beyond Plastic’s Mesoamerican Reef Project, living and working on the Bay Islands off the northern coast of Honduras. ›› William Toerpe MPA ’10 touched base to tell us that, after founding the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Angola last August, he went on to serve as the senior foreign commercial service officer in Luanda, Angola, for two months.

COLLABORATIONS ›› We can now add “chair

of the board” to Professor Constantin Gurdgiev’s résumé, as the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation (IMHO)—a nonprofit he cofounded several years ago that offers support to distressed mortgage holders— recently elected him chair of its board. Gurdgiev’s activities have also created opportunities for students: last year a group of Institute students compiled a comprehensive methodological framework for a social impact assessment of IMHO, and Gurdgiev expects students’ involvement to continue into 2019.

learning, and language rights to be valued, protected, and promoted. ›› The annual student conference of the Critical Issues Forum (CIF) drew high school students from Russia, Japan, and all over the United States to the Institute’s Monterey campus March 30–31 for a conference focused on the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The CIF, one of CNS’s key nonproliferation education initiatives, is managed by Masako Toki MAIPS ’00. Keynote speakers at the conference included Jon Wolfsthal, former deputy director of CNS, former senior director for nonproliferation and arms control at the National Security Council, and currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center; and Susan Southard, author of Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War.

›› On February 28— International Mother Language Day—an international group of language scholars from around the world released the Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World, coauthored by (among others) the Institute’s own Gabriel Guillen, a professor of Spanish whose innovative work on tandem learning in Monterey County has been covered previously in Communiqué. The statement, which can be found on the Salzburg Global website (education.salzburgglobal. org), has been translated into at least 38 languages and calls for multilingualism, language

›› In October, the Institute hosted 15 secondary school teachers from nine countries for a two-week professional development program sponsored by the U.S. State Department. The program, Classroom Management Strategies for International English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Classrooms Exchange, brought in teachers from all over the world—Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Honduras, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, Panama, and South Africa—and most of them were visiting the United

States for the first time. “It’s such a privilege to work with these amazing teachers,” said Patricia Szasz MATESOL ’06, assistant dean for language and professional programs.

Stephen Spanos MATESOL ’17 PCMI, Vanessa Hoffman MATESOL ’15, Lucy Crouppen MATESOL ’16, and Ruth Castillo MATESOL ’15.

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Matt Jennings SENIOR EDITORS

Jason Warburg Eva Guðbergsdóttir

PUBLICATIONS ›› Even though Middlebury Institute graduate Natalia Weinberger MATLM ’15 was a recipient of the scholarship Linda Childs Hothem BAPS ’85 created to support women from Latin and South America, the two had never met before spring Commencement 2015, when Weinberger graduated and Hothem was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award. Hothem told Weinberger about her dream to create a foundation to provide arts education for underserved children and youth in the San Francisco Bay Area. Weinberger now serves as the foundation’s CEO for localization, managing projects and handling most of the translating, while also working with donors and prospective partners. ›› Alumni from the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Teaching Foreign Language (TFL) degree programs have trained more than 80 teachers in Haiti since 2015, with 24 of the 80 trainees carrying on to train another 226 teachers in their communities, illustrating the “multiplier effect” in action, and marking a major milestone for the program known as Team EFL Haiti. The team is led

by Lisa Donohoe Luscombe MATESOL ’09, with support over the last three years from

›› Professor Jeffrey M. Bale celebrated the publication of his two-volume series The Darkest Sides of Politics by Routledge Press. The first volume focuses on the history of underground neofascist networks around the world since World War II, while the second volume looks at religious extremists, the threat of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear) terrorism, and the nexus between organized criminal and extremist groups. ›› Biosecurity in Putin’s Russia, a new book from Professor Raymond A. Zilinskas and his colleague Philippe Mauger, documents and analyzes the buildup and modernization of Russia’s biodefense establishment under the Putin administration. Zilinskas also recently authored an article titled “Biological threat reduction” for the International Animal Health Organization Journal, Scientific and Technical Review.

DESIGNER

Paul Dahm VICE PRESIDENT FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Bill Burger ABOUT COMMUNIQUÉ

Communiqué is published two times a year by the Middlebury Office of Communications.

CALL FOR CLASS NOTES:

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We want to hear from you.

Send your update via the alumni website at alumni.miis.edu or email it to alumni@miis.edu.

›› CNS Senior Research Associate Sarah Bidgood MANPTS ’16 and Sylvia Mishra MANPTS ’18 reach out to China, India, and Pakistan in an article titled “Join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty’s International Monitoring System,” published by the Stimson Center. n

Spring 2018 19

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