Press Releases

MONTEREY, Calif. - March 20, 2009 - Nonviolence advocate Maya Soetoro-Ng, who serves on the International Advisory Board of Global Majority, conducted a presentation on "Conflict Resolution, Peacebuilding and Education" for students and faculty at the Monterey Institute of International Studies yesterday. Global Majority is a Monterey-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting nonviolent conflict resolution education, mediation and advocacy.

Afterwards, Soetoro-Ng met with Monterey Institute President Sunder Ramaswamy. "The Institute's longstanding interest in conflict resolution offered a natural bridge to start this conversation," noted Ramaswamy. "We share Maya's commitment to teaching and fostering nonviolent conflict resolution."

Soetoro-Ng has a long and rich background in cultures and education. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, she later moved with her family to Honolulu, Hawai'i. A graduate of Barnard College, she holds a Master's degree in Secondary Education from NYU's College of Education and a Ph.D. in International Comparative Education from the University of Hawaii. She is currently a high school teacher at La Pietra, a school for girls in Honolulu, where she teaches World Cultures, US History and the Constitution, as well as Peacemakers, a course she designed on the power of nonviolence. In August 2008, Soetoro-Ng spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in support of her half-brother Barack Obama's candidacy for president.

Global Majority was co-founded in 2004 by 27th District California Assemblymember Bill Monning, a former Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) professor, and a group of MIIS graduates who studied conflict resolution and related subjects. The organization consists of an internationally diverse group of individuals who share a common vision of promoting nonviolent conflict resolution, through shared cross-cultural experience, conflict resolution training, and respect for the fundamental principles in the International Declaration of Human Rights.

MIIS, located in Monterey, California, was founded as a language school in 1955 and became an affiliate of Middlebury College of Middlebury, Vermont in 2005. The campus is located in the heart of historic Monterey, and offers fully accredited degree programs in international business, translation and interpretation, international policy studies and language teaching.

For more information about MIIS please call 831-647-4100 or visit www.miis.edu.

### About Monterey Institute of International Studies
The Monterey Institute of International Studies is at the forefront of international professional education, preparing students for global careers in the private, public, nonprofit and educational sectors. A private graduate institution located in Monterey, California and affiliated with Middlebury College, the Institute offers fully accredited degree programs in international business, translation and interpretation, international policy studies and language teaching. The Institute's approximately 800 students come from more than 60 countries. For more information about Monterey Institute, visit www.miis.edu.