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Kelly Quackenbush

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Thursday, March 26th, 2015

A Student’s Reflection on the 2015 Regional Hult Competition

– Blog contributed by Kelly Quackenbush, MPA ’15 On Friday, March 13th, my team and I piled into Tim’s van for the drive up to San Francisco, and I’d be lying if I said we didn’t have butterflies in our stomachs. We were on our way to compete against nearly 50 other schools in the […]

Saturday, February 14th, 2015

DPMI Monterey Participants Engage Local Organizations

  This year, the Design, Partnering, Management & Innovation (DPMI) Program in Monterey tried something brand new. Instead of just talking about community engagement, DPMI participants got the opportunity to visit local organizations as part of the Week 2 curriculum. The social issue under investigation was homelessness in Monterey County, and there was no shortage of important questions […]

Friday, February 6th, 2015

News From Abroad: DPMI Rwanda

Last month, 15 MIIS students and 4 Middlebury students joined staff members from Partners in Health Rwanda and current development practitioners to participate in DPMI Rwanda. The intensive 10 day program focused on project design, strategic partnerships, and social marketing. Rwandan media was quick to pick up the story: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2015-01-11/184850/ Middlebury student Armel Nibasuma, chronicled his […]

Friday, November 7th, 2014

New Workshop: Rwanda: 20 Years Since the Genocide

We know the thought of adding something else to your schedule at this point in the semester may make you feel a little crazy! But this is going to be a great workshop. It is required for people participating in DPMI Rwanda but open to all MIIS students. Here is the course description: “2014 marked 20 […]

Wednesday, October 8th, 2014

East Africa Forum at MIIS!

Last Friday, October 3rd, marked the first East Africa Forum organized by the Monterey Institute. Nearly 50 participants came to enjoy the theme “Personal Transformation” through storytelling presented by two panels – a student panel and a faculty panel.  After the panels, the MIIS Africa Club treated participants to drumming and dancing, as well as […]

Monday, October 6th, 2014

Human Centered Design Course

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/68659872″>Human-Centered Design for Social Innovation</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/ideoorg”>IDEO.org</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p> For two years now, IDEO.org has partnered with Acumen to offer a course for those interested in learning about and practicing human-centered design. Join the over 25,000 individuals from 148 countries who have taken the course with us in the past two rounds, and become […]

Wednesday, September 24th, 2014

MIIS students meet President Obama’s paternal grandmother in Kenya!

Over the summer, students participating in DPMI Kenya had the opportunity to visit President Barack Obama’s paternal grandmother! She lives in the province of Nyanza, on the eastern edge of Lake Victoria. Nyanza is a Bantu word which means “a large mass of water.” The provincial capital is Kisumu, where the DPMI training is centered in partnership […]

Friday, September 12th, 2014

What if your DPMI Plus Assignment was the PEACE CORPS?

  Michelle Zaragoza, IEP, left the United States to begin her Peace Corps service as an Environmental Education Promoter in Nicaragua last month. What follows is an excerpt from her blog: “My Journey as a Peace Corps Master’s International Volunteer” How it all began (152 days til departure):   March 5th: Just another regular Wednesday morning. I […]

Monday, September 8th, 2014

DPMI Kenya – Reflections from Abroad

– Blog contributed by Maritza Munzon, MPA/IEM ‘15  I was in Kenya a total of two months; at the time it felt longer, maybe because it’s a slower pace of life in Kisumu, or maybe because compared to a year at MIIS anything else seems to go at a snail’s pace. Whichever the case, slow […]

Thursday, August 21st, 2014

GSIPM Welcomes New Interim Dean – Jeff Dayton-Johnson

  As a GA in the GSIPM office, I like to try and stay in-the-know about what’s going on in my department and around campus. As it turns out, fall 2014 will usher in some changes. Yuwei Shi will begin to turn his attention to the new Center for Social Impact Learning (CSIL), and teaching in […]

Monday, August 18th, 2014

Celebrating its First Decade, DPMI Goes through Renewal, Reinvention!

At its core a cutting-edge institution, the unique, intensive, development-focused three-week Development Project Management Institute (DPMI) program seems ageless. Nonetheless, as “nae man can tether time or tide” (in the words of Robert Burns), 10 years have passed since its inception, and that is worth celebrating. “A decade of DPMI has produced over 1,000 alumni […]

Sunday, June 15th, 2014

DPMI in DC – Cultivating Innovative Agents of Social Change!

* This post contributed by Kelly Quackenbush, MPA candidate ‘15 I find myself in a very familiar place: An airport. As a current MIIS student and former Peace Corps volunteer, the fact that airports are familiar to me is surely no shocker. The airport I am in today happens to be Reagan International, just a quick […]

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

DPMI 10th Anniversary Celebrations

Come out and help celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Development Project Management Institute! This summer’s cohort will bring the total participants trained to over 1000! There are two events happening this month to commemorate the occasion: In Monterey: When: Thursday, May 22 from 6:00 -9:00pm Where: Monterey Institute, Digital Learning Commons Who: DPMI alumni, current participants, […]

Thursday, May 1st, 2014

Room to Dream: A Reflection on Rwanda

Earlier this year, the Development Project Management Institute took approximately 25 MIIS students to Rwanda for an intensive, culturally immersive training. They were joined by 9 Rwandans, as well as participants from places like Russia, Germany, and Haiti. The trip was co-facilitated by Dr. Beryl Levinger and Marie Kagaju Laugharn, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide.  […]

Thursday, March 27th, 2014

Nicholas Tomb (MAIPS, 2002) participates in VIKING 14

MIIS alum Nicholas Tomb is participating in the Viking 14 exercise, a multinational exercise that simulates an integrated UN Peacekeeping Operation in the fictional country of Bogaland.  VIKING 14 is a Command Post Exercise/Computer Assisted Exercise in the “Spirit of Partnership for Peace.” Previous VIKING-exercises have been stated as the premier Multinational and Comprehensive Approach exercise […]

Friday, March 21st, 2014

Congratulations to Hult Prize Finalists!

MIIS students Maria Kovell (MPA ‘14), Amitay Flores (MAIPS ‘14), Amanda Boyek (MAIPS ‘14), Natalie Cox (MPA ‘14), and Amy Ross (MPA ‘14) — made their mark at the Hult Prize regional competition in San Francisco. The team first beat hundreds of competitors to win a place in the 2014 Hult Prize Regional Finals in San Francisco, then […]

Friday, March 21st, 2014

Development Project Management Institute gears up for summer

The Development Project Management Institute is going strong in its 10th year. We are currently accepting applications for the next training, offered both in Monterey, CA (May 19 – June 6) and Washington, D.C. (May 26 – June 13)!  Apply here DPMI Academic Director and Module One instructor Beryl Levinger has been on sabbatical during […]

Friday, March 14th, 2014

Immersive learning students are off to a great start this spring!

This semester nearly 40 of our students are currently interning at a diverse range of domestic and international organizations through our IPSS and DPMI Plus programs. They are gaining professional experience and putting their MIIS education to good use by tackling many of today’s most pressing issues at organizations such as the United Nations, the Nature Conservancy, the […]

Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014

Development Project Management Institute Goes to Rwanda

From the 10th to the 24th of January, the Development Project Management Institute (DPMI) conducted a leadership training in Rwanda. DPMI is run through the Monterey Institute of International Studies and collaborated with Partners in Health to provide this extraordinary opportunity. In this two week training program, thirty students and professionals from countries ranging from the United […]