Thank you for visiting our page from the Model Practices in International Student and Scholar Services poster presentation at the NAFSA’s Annual Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C.

Welcome to one of the many resources we would like to provide you to inspire you to create other programs or to have a compilation of resources that we have used for our projects. We understand how challenging creating a program can be from scratch, so we wanted to give building blocks to help in creating or revamping what you are currently working on. Please visit our Linktr.ee for important links to learn more about our community, intercultural Resources, Cultural Centers, and community events.

You are more than welcome to reach out to us to learn more about our programs:

• Stephanie Bowers, Intercultural Programs Specialist at smbowers@purdue.edu
• Aaron Watson, Senior Administrative Assistant at watson79@purdue.edu
• Want general information about ISSProgramming? Email us ISSProgramming@purdue.edu
• Interested in learning more about the International Friendship Program or Host-a-Boiler? Reach us at IFP@purdue.edu

You can navigate using the links below to take you to the specific program you are interesting in learning more about:

Academic Advising Presentation

International Friendship Program (IFP) and Host-A-Boiler Information

Graduate Student Intercultural Adaptation Program

Ambassador Program

In Fall 2019 and early Spring 2020, we started creating this as a Lunch & Learn series that would take place in person where the academic advising community (academic advisors for undergraduate and academic contacts for graduate students) would come together during lunch to have presentations. However, we switched to having it online when we officially launched it because of COVID and now we have a further reach with it being online, so we continued to use it. We moved it from lunch time to the morning and called it “Coffee Conversations with ISS.”

Keys to success: Consistency and relevant information

Time: First Tuesday of every month 9:00 – 10:00 AM

• Provide a survey to get feedback on which days and times work best for your community and plan according to that

Mode: One person’s personal room link through WebEx. The key is to make it the same link for each presentation, otherwise you lose people because they get confused about which link to use.

Other tips: We have a survey at the end of each presentation that asks them which department they are from, rate their level of satisfaction, and provide any suggestions for future presentation topics. We record the sessions and share it with those who attended and those who could not attend the session live.

Previous Topics Presented

Basic Immigration

Career Planning

• Collaborated with Center for Career Opportunities (CCO), Office of Professional Practice, and International Student Services (ISS)

Class Enrollment

• Collaborated with the following offices: Admissions, International Student Services (ISS), Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS), and Registrar’s Office

Cultural Adaptation

• Representative from Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) provided information on common stressors and ways academic advisors can help students adapt inside the US

Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

• International Student Services (ISS) presented on a deep-dive into

Curricular Practical Training (CPT), Optional Practical Training (OPT), and Academic Training (AT)

• International Student Services (ISS) provides information about the overall legal and compliance portion of each of the trainings available to F and J visas. Also, ISS discusses the role that academic advising communities have with their attestation to questions we ask them about students based on their academic progress, how employment is related to a specific major, etc.

East Asian and Pacific Culture Part 1: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and information about our Asian and Asian American Resource Cultural Center

• Students presented on their country to learn more about their culture, challenges they have inside the US, and where to connect students to available resources and support

East Asia and Pacific Culture Part 2: China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam

• Students presented on their country to learn more about their culture, challenges they have inside the US, and where to connect students to available resources and support

Employment on and off campus

• International Student Services (ISS) presents information about on-campus employment, and off-campus employment (Curricular Practical Training (CPT), Optional Practical Training (OPT), and Academic Training (AT)).

Graduate Admissions Process

International Programs Unit Part 1: Office of International Students & Scholars

• Student and Scholar representatives explained the roles of each office

International Programs Unit Part 2: Study Abroad & Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment, and Research (CILMAR)

• Other offices in our overall unit provided information about their office, resources, and ways to support students and staff

Internship Connections

• Collaboration between Center for Career Opportunities (CCO), Office of Professional Practice (OPP), and International Student Services (ISS)

Mental Health & International Students

• Collaboration between Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) and International Student Services (ISS) to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the students, general mental health problems, recognizing a student who is struggling, how an academic advisor can talk to a student, and information about services they provide.

Mental Health General Information & Resources

• Collaboration between Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS), Office of the Dean of Students (ODOS), and International Student Services (ISS)

Name Pronunciation

• Representatives (students, staff, and faculty) from the various areas explained the basics of name pronunciation for the following languages:
  • Arabic
  • Hindi
  • Mandarin
  • Portuguese & Spanish
  • Turkish

Round Table Discussion and Open Conversation

• Academic Advisors can bring questions they have and we will answer them without it being recorded or having a specific presentation

Registration Requirements

• Collaboration with International Student Services (ISS), Undergraduate admissions, and Graduate Admissions. Primary focus was spent on the enrollment requirements for both undergraduate and graduate students each semester, information on how students can defer admissions, and any updates to the areas that the academic advising community needs to be aware of.

Student Ambassadors: Current Events & Challenges of International Students

• Undergraduate and Graduate students from our International Student Services Ambassador Program (ISSAP) presented on global issues, challenges international students face inside the US, and overcoming challenges.

Supporting International Students

• International Student Services (ISS) presented on the student needs for both undergraduate and graduate students, upcoming programming for international students, how academic advising community can support international students, and how ISS can support the academic advising community.

Southwest Asia (Middle East) and North Africa

• Students volunteered to talk about their culture. We had a representative for the Gulf Region, North Africa, the Levant, and Iran.

Undergraduate & Graduate Admissions Processes

• Collaboration with Undergraduate Admissions, Graduate Admissions, and International Student Services (ISS) to explain the admission through arriving on campus process for the undergraduate students.

Presentations for International Students

Due to our great success with the monthly presentations for the academic advising community, we launched a similar program that is for our student population since Spring 2022.

Academic Training (AT) for J-1 Students

• We pulled a list from SEVIS of all J-1 students and provided information about the Academic Training Process

Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

Optional Practical Training (OPT)

Optional Practical Training (OPT) 24-month STEM Extension Application

• We pull a list of all students who have applied or are on OPT through SEVIS and send the email to them.
• We provide information on the whole process of requesting STEM OPT extension.

End of Semester Reminders

• Program extensions, CPT, OPT, Change of Education Levels, Transfer Out, Travel Signatures, etc.

International Student Services Ambassador Program (ISSAP)

• Advertised our ambassador program by discussing the benefits of the program, how to apply, and expectations of the program

Scam & Fraud Prevention

• Collaborated with campus/local police department

Searching for Employment

• Collaborated with Center for Career Opportunities to navigate through CCO resources for searching for employment, where to find information on on-campus employment, and then International Student Services (ISS) provided information about on-campus employment and off-campus employment: Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT)

Tax Resources

• Collaborated with tax office at the university and professor of accounting who oversees the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program on campus
• No tax advice was provided rather we explained resources available to students

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The International Friendship Program (IFP) is a friendship program connecting new international Boilermakers with local community hosts for friendship and support. All international students new to Purdue-West Lafayette are invited to join the International Friendship Program.

Application 

Student Application

We collect the following information from students when they sign up for the International Friendship Program. This information is used to identify and communicate with the student as well as learn about any allergies or restrictions so that the student can be matched up with an appropriate host for them.

• Student’s Full name 
• Date of Birth
  
• Phone number 
• University email 
• Field of study 
• Academic classification (UG/GR) 
• Country of citizenship 
• Expected graduation 
• Student ID number 
• Marital status 
• Number of kids 
• Local address 
• If they have transportation 
• Allergies 
• Food restrictions 

After student submits application they attend an orientation which is an interview to explain program and get to know the student to see who they would work well with. We then match a host with students that would be compatable.

Host Application

We collect similar information from the community hosts to ensure th best match possible. We collect the following information from them for contact, security, and matching purposes.

• Organization they belong to (if they do) 
• Home address 
• Phone number 
• Email address 
• Name of everyone over age of 18 in the home (first and last name) 
• Number of children under the age of 18 (do not need name, just #) 
• Comment section 
• Input 
• We want x amount of students 
• Who has spouse/child 
• Priority of group, if available 
• Animals (in case student has allergies) 

We also perform security checks on our community hosts to ensure the safty of our students. These checks are valid for one year and consist of a background check for any federal crimes and running the hosts through the secual offender database.

The information from hosts and students is collected in a database hosted on Purdue servers. We recommend using whatever approved data collection application is approved through your institution. Examples: Qualtrics, SQL Database, Access, etc.

Events

IFP aims to host monthly events for students and hosts to meet up over the semester. These events can act as the monthly meet up for the host and student or serve as an additional times for them to get together over the semester to build their friendship.

• Events on data base to sign up for 
  • Location/time to hosts and students 
• Once a month events for IFP all together 
• Events to meet at:
  
  • One mixer 
    • Host/students/nametags to help find eachother
  • One social event 
    • Example: Pumpkin painting in October 
      
• Hosts/student expectations 
  • Meet once a month at least   
    
  • Practice English 
  • Learn about American culture 
  • Participate in local cultural activities  
• IFP bowling party end of semester send off 

Challenges 

• Not enough hosts to meet number of students 
• Explicit explanation of the expectation and rules to follow as hosts. Such as no proselytization and no physical relationship.
  

Host-A-Boiler 

Host-A-Boiler is a seasonal IFP event that takes place over Thanksgiving and Winter Recess. Each of these time periods has its own host and student sign up records and runs independent of IFP. Hosts and students are encouraged to meet up once for a meal during each event. Hosts and students matched during the Fall are welcome to get together over the breaks without our direct matching. Host-A-Boiler serves all international students, both new and returning.

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Graduate students are commonly underrepresented within programming and engagement efforts. To combat this, we decided to create a program for graduate students that will allow them to have a safe space to share their experiences and to debrief and process their challenges and successes within a new culture.

This will be hybrid non-credit bearing course. Graduate students will sign up for the course, then the person who is overseeing it will add the student to the course (assuming you’re using Brightspace or other similar tool).

We would like to create a similar program for undergraduate students that is for credit.

Frequency & Mode:

There are a few ways you could implement this.

• First, decide if you want it entirely online, entirely in-person, or in a hybrid format.
  • In-Person: you could have in-person sessions, but give students pre-work for the class to read or do, so you can spend the live session processing, discussing, and practicing the information
  • Synchronous online: meet weekly (or your desired frequency) online as a group
  • Hybrid: You could alternate the class meeting location between online and in-person how much you want (example: every other week where you alternate between live and in-person)
  • Hybrid 4 Live sessions: For this, you could implement “live sessions” every 2-3 weeks to debrief and process material they are learning online
• Then, decide how you will get the information to students. Would it be emailed out weekly? Which learning management system does your school use (example: Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace, etc.). Work with a team to assist with creating a course if you have never done one before
• You could decide to make it credit-bearing, but it may be better to have it credit bearing for undergraduate students and not graduate students
• Finally, decide the frequency and mode that will best work for you and/or the bandwidth of your office

Intercultural Learning Hub (HubICL): You can find many activities, worksheets, videos, etc. at the Intercultural Learning Hub (HubICL). It is free to join and has amazing resources! It is owned and run by the Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment, and Research (CILMAR) at Purdue University.

Week Order & Content

The order can be rearranged to better work for you, but make sure they are built up on on-another. You would not want to select one of the ending ones to have in the beginning or middle as you need that foundation to better understand the content.

Table of Contents

Week 0 Introduction to the course

This takes place either the week before classes starting or the week of classes starting. The participants will see the pre-work for the course and a glance into the overall content of the course, such as obtaining local information and resources, and pre-assessment work.

• Autobiography
• Loneliness/Belongingness Survey
• Acclimation to local resources and amenities on and off-campus
• Pre-Assessment ASKS2 Survey
• Optional: Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)

Week 1 Introduction to you & Intercultural Learning

This week is an introduction to the cohort and the foundation for the intercultural discovery and growth. You will explore your motivations, connections to your discipline, and what it means to engage with difference.

• Introductions
• Motivations & Discipline
  • Personal: Exploring your motivations for Intercultural Competency
  • Professional: Connecting Intercultural Competency to your discipline
• Walking Tour of Campus
• Interacting Across Difference
• Optional: Schedule IDI Debrief with Qualified Administrator (QA)

Week 2 Inward Reflection of Own Culture

This week focuses on self-discovery. You will discover more about yourself through goal setting and through activities that support self-awareness in general and cultural self-awareness.

• Self-Discovery
  • My Personal Iceberg (social and personal identities)
• Goal setting
  • Use the AAAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric
    • Set at least 2 intercultural goals, using SMART goals.
• Getting to know yourself.
• Cultural groups, sense of belonging, and critical self-discovery

Week 3 Emotional Resilience

The focus of this week is an introduction on emotional resilience and discuss challenges participants may have had or are currently having. This week will continue to add to the foundation of the upcoming weeks. Finally, it is an opportunity to connect participants to campus and local community resources.

• How to deal with Loneliness when living abroad
• Challenges and Support
• Understanding Privilege
• Campus & Local Resources

Week 4 Cultural Discovery Skills

During this week, participants will begin to explore the ways in which they process experiences with and information about difference. They will practice developing their awareness of difference while examining assumptions and testing hypotheses about the people they engage with

• Cultural Discovery
• Cultivating Mindfulness
• Checking Assumptions

Week 5 Cultural Savvy

This week, the participants begin to form more complex view of culture in general as well as the various specific aspects that make up their own worldview and the worldview of others

• Cultural Savvy
• Defining culture
• Exploring ways of viewing the world
• Week Openness, Stereotypes, Generalizations, Hypotheses (in-person)
  • Invitations and Permissions
  • Nosy Questions
  • Human Values Continuum
  • Changing stereotypes to generalizations
  • Hofstede

Week 6 Empathy

The focus for this week is on gaining a better understanding of how our perspectives, personalities, and frames of reference shape who we are and how we experience the world. With this, comes the ability to shift perspectives, actively listen, and begin to empathize with those who are different from us.

• Finding Common Ground
  • Verbal & Nonverbal Communication
    • Language & Culture
    • Communication & Culture
• Empathy Core Qualities of a Successful Graduate Student
• Empathizing across difference
• Examining what shapes us

Week 7: Different Lenses

This week, participants will examine the way in which they view the world and practice new and more intentional perspective-taking. They will develop their intercultural empathy by demonstrating an understanding of multiple worldviews

• Taking different perspectives
• Applying the Platinum rule

Week 8: Adaptive Communication

Participants will explore the ways uncertainty and ambiguity, including differences in the ways we communicate, impact our ability to engage and learn. Additionally, participants will reflect on recent experiences and how what they have learned in this course may help them to reframe those experiences and begin to plan a course of action for engaging in difficult experiences

• Getting comfortable with discomfort
• Shifting communication styles

Week 9: Life-Long Learning

Participants will consider the impact of their experiences in this curriculum on their intercultural development and make connections between the value of intercultural competence and their future personal and professional lives. They will practice ways of communicating their newly developed value to others and develop a plan for continued learning and steps toward making a more socially just, equitable, and peaceful world.

• Checking in on goals
  • Review goals established in week 2
• Exploring your profession
• Measuring your growth
• Planning for continued learning
• Emotional Resilience
• Assessment
  • Reflection & Self-Assessment

Note: The curriculum used for the Graduate Student Intercultural adaptation Program is a combination of two curricula developed by Dr. Dan Jones in Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment, and Research (CILMAR). The curriculum is a combination of the iLEAD (created for incoming visiting scholars) and GLUE (Growing, Learning, & Understanding Everyone; it is used for undergraduate students going abroad)

We are so proud of the success we have had with our International Student Services Ambassador Program (ISSAP). It is a voluntary program where we are able to connect with and develop our ambassadors. It is open to all: undergraduate/ graduate students and domestic/international. Because it is unpaid, we provide students with personal and professional development opportunities, such as the taking and learning about Clifton StrengthsFinder, having guest speaker leaders on and off-campus, meeting with the Center for Career Opportunities (CCO) to learn how they can use their experience as an ambassador on a resume, cover letter, and job interview.

We plan to have a focus on each semester and/or year on ways to continue to provide opportunities to our students. For Fall 2023, we will do the following:

• All ambassadors will take the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI)
  • Have a group debrief and optional personal debrief
• Create an optional ISSAP Book Club where we can read books about specific areas students want to grow, such as further developing leadership or mentoring skills, intercultural communication, emotional intelligence, personal leadership, etc.

 

Below, you will find the information that we provide in a “ISS Ambassador Program Overview.” We include a QR code that takes them to a Qualtrics survey where we have the students complete the application questions (you can see the data we collect in the demographic and open-ended questions). In the survey, we provide all the content from ISS Ambassador Program Overview" before the questions. 

International Student Services Ambassador Program Overview

Qualifications for Candidate

• Current Purdue University graduate or undergraduate student
• Have studied at least one semester at Purdue University
• Be open minded and willing to assist everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, immigration status, religion, or disability.
• Have interest in intercultural experiences
• Commit to one semester as an ambassador (Fall: August to December or Spring: January to May)

Ambassador Responsibilities

• Assist incoming international students with academic, cultural, and social transitions
• Introduce new international students to campus and community resources
• Connect incoming and new students to the larger Purdue University community
• Involve new students in campus activities, organizations, and programs
• Participate in ISS sponsored activities and events (minimum of 3 per semester)
• Communicate regularly and effectively with the ISS Programming team and other ambassadors
• Recommend programs or activities for further student involvement
• Complete the Clifton StrengthsFinder
• Attend 3 of the ISS sponsored leadership seminars
• Attend the CCO resume building workshop to enhance the ambassador’s experience

Benefits

• Develop leadership and mentoring skills that are transferrable to future careers
• Strengthen cross-cultural/intercultural communication skills
• Develop long lasting friendships with peers from all around the world
• Contribute to internationalizing and diversifying Purdue University’s community
• Letter of Reference for active mentors

 

Application Questions

Demographic Questions

• First and Last Name
• Middle Initial
• Preferred Name
• Preferred Pronouns
• Country of Citizenship
• Home Country
• School Email
• Phone Number
• Enrollment Duration (at least 1 semester)
• Major(s)
• Academic Year
• Current or past activities, internships, or voulenteer experiences.

Open-ended Questions

• Why are they interested in the Ambassador role?
• What do they hope to gain personally and professionally?
• How do they plan to support incoming international students?
• Provide an example of a low-cost activity or program they would like to organize for new international students and how the event will help them socially, personally, or academically.

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