Princeton Weekly Bulletin May 25, 1998
International Center: "A Place for Us All"
By Caroline Moseley
They used to be called "foreign students." Now they are "international students," and this year there are almost 900 of them, undergraduates and graduate students, studying at Princeton. Add to that approximately 200 visiting scholars -- many with spouses -- and you have a sizable international community.
The focus of their social, and often intellectual, life on campus is the International Center, now headquartered in Stevenson Hall at 91 Prospect St. Established in 1974, the IC operates under the aegis of the Dean of Student Life. The center has two purposes, according to director and cofounder Paula Chow: "to serve the special needs of international undergraduates, graduate students and visiting scholars, and to make the cultural resources these people represent available to the campus and the larger community."
The center's motto, "A Place for Us All," can now be taken more literally than when the IC inhabited a minuscule office 14 feet square in Murray- Dodge Hall (where Chow still works in the afternoons). Spacious quarters in Stevenson Hall, shared with the Women's Center, are a stepping stone to eventual permanent space in the new campus center now under construction.
In any case, most IC programs are held elsewhere on campus, cosponsored with an academic department, a residential college or another campus organization -- an arrangement that reflects communitarian spirit, economic realities and Chow's energetic networking.
Scarcely a day passes without some IC-sponsored or cosponsored activity: a presentation on "Feng Shui, the Chinese Art of Placement"; an exhibition of paintings by Indian artist M.F. Husain; WPRB's programs of South Asian music "Sangeet" and the Greek "Musical Odyssey." In the residential college dining halls there are regular "IC Let's Talk Over Dinner" tables, at which international students, faculty or visitors make presentations and initiate discussion. Another popular event is the Chinese lunch served at Murray- Dodge every Thursday, even during the summer.
Then there's the International Festival every April. And the monthly TRACE (Thinking about Race, Attitudes, Cultures and Ethnicity) meetings, which address such topics as affirmative action and "The University and Diversity."
Consortium of organizations
The International Center is also home to the Consortium of International Student Organizations, which includes the International Students Association of Princeton; Council of International Graduate Students; and many national and ethnic student organizations (Asian-American Students, Princeton Canadians, Korean Graduate Students and Turkish Students are a few examples).
There are orientation programs for the newly arrived, an English language tutoring service and many celebratory gatherings. Whether it's Chinese New Year or the Thai Loy Krathong, such events are attended by Americans as well as non-Americans -- as are the meals served during University breaks to the many foreign students who must remain on campus. A Host Family Program introduces foreign students into local homes, and a Writer's Workshop helps graduate students and visiting scholars. An associated new program of which Chow is particularly proud is the Master Class series, in which the likes of Paul Muldoon, director of the Program in Creative Writing, and Jaws author Peter Benchley discuss their work.
A strong presence in the community as well as on campus, the IC also hosts three programs on local cable TV.
Totally tongue-tied
It is impossible to talk about the International Center without talking about Paula Chow herself. A native of Shanghai and now a U.S. citizen, she came to this country at the age of 17 to study at a small Catholic two-year college, Edgewood College in Madison, Wis. "I was so homesick," she recalls, "I cried every night and every day."
Nevertheless, Chow went on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin and earn a master's degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago. She moved to Princeton in 1970 with her husband, Professor of Economics Gregory Chow, whom she had met at Chicago; four years later she cofounded the International Center. Ever since, she has served as IC director (initially as a volunteer, later on salary).
Now Chow is aided in this enterprise by office assistants Marnia Davis, Hanna Hand and Lisa Linn, who also support the work of the Women's Center in 91 Prospect. The IC's work is further supported by the volunteer Friends of the International Center ("without whom we couldn't survive," says Chow), IC faculty fellows and Princeton students of many nationalities.
Urdu-speaking baby-sitter
At the International Center, Chow's attention to the needs of individuals is near-legendary. A Chinese graduate student's wife needs a driver's license; Chow arranges for a translation of the state driving manual. A student with marital problems comes to Chow for advice; she listens and arranges counseling for the couple. A visiting scholar wants a baby-sitter who speaks Urdu; no problem.
Yet with all her concentration on personal details, she holds and fosters a vision of a truly international Princeton. In 1989 she was instrumental in founding the International Alumni of Princeton. Following a 250th Anniversary conference in Hong Kong in 1996, she and her husband coedited Asia in the 21st Century: Economic, Sociopolitical and Diplomatic Issues.
Chow's life work has been determined by her own experience as a foreigner in this country. "The sisters at Edgewood were very kind to me when I came," she says, "and I have since done whatever I could to help other foreigners feel at home." She also hopes her work at Princeton "gives something back to my adopted country, which has been so good to me."