Edward Kingston
Mental Health Activist
Edward Kingston is a student in Stevenson Highschool, CA. He has actively combated depression throughout his early life and seeks to help others face their own mental problems through his speech.
Assistant Professor; Summer Intensive Spanish Program Coordinator
Gabriel is a seasoned practitioner and researcher in the field of language learning and technology. He created the first community of blogs dedicated to the interchange of languages, back in 2007, and recently founded Team Tandem (Recicle.org), connecting Spanish and English learners in the county of Monterey. His own doctoral dissertation centered on online intercultural exchanges and the use of language learning social networks in the context of hybrid language education.
At MIIS Gabriel teaches content-based Spanish courses focusing on social entrepreneurship and the use of media in the Hispanic world. His teaching has been recognized with the Excellence in Teaching Year Award from the UC Davis Department of Spanish & Portuguese and the HOPE Award from the Southern Methodist University.
Marine Senior Education and Research Specialist
With an AB degree from UC Berkeley and a PhD from UCLA, George's research interest focus on Ctenophores but include other gelatinous organisms especially those that live in the deep-sea. He also coordinates the MBARI summer internship program, educator professional development workshops, and works with the Monterey Bay Aquarium both as a volunteer and as a reviewer of science content. George has served on the National Ocean Studies Board (2008-2013), the National Marine Educators Association Board (2010-2016), was awarded the QuickScience Ocean Science Leadership Commitment to Education Award, and is an ASLO Fellow. He has served on a number of review boards for NSF, NOAA, GoMRI, and NAS and does his best to spend more time in or on the Ocean than on travel.
Jacolyn Harmer
DEA, MA, AIIC MIIS/GSTILE/French and German Programs
Jacolyn Harmer, born and educated in the UK, earned her BA in French/German at the University of Bradford before training as a conference interpreter at the European Communities (now European Union) in Brussels where she served, initially as a staff interpreter and then as a freelancer, for international institutions and the private market. Professor Harmer joined the (then) Monterey Institute of International Studies’ Graduate School of Translation & Interpretation faculty as a full-time translation and interpretation professor in 1985, combining teaching with her freelance professional practice. Her clients have ranged from heads of state and government to medical missions in the global South. She earned her Master of Advanced Studies in interpreter Training from the University of Geneva in 2003 and has since designed and contributed to interpreter trainer programs worldwide.
Dean, Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education
Laura Burian is the Dean of the Graduate School of Translation, Interpretation, and Language Education, and Professor of Chinese/ English translation and interpretation.
After graduating from the Institute’s Chinese Translation and Interpretation program in the 1990s, Dean Burian moved to China where she first served as Assistant Director of the Duke Study in China Program, then became an in-house Chinese/English translator/interpreter/legal assistant in the Beijing office of a New York law firm, and then became a freelancer. She maintains a dynamic portfolio of high-profile translation and interpretation clients in both the public and private sector.
Dean Burian is also deeply engaged in school service, having served two terms as Faculty Senate President, and is a frequently invited guest speaker at conferences, workshops, and seminars worldwide.