Oregon State Intercultural Student Services

By Jyl Wheaton-Abraham

The front of the NAL

On May 17, 2013 the Native American Longhouse Eena Haws of Oregon State University celebrated its official Grand Opening. Hundreds of people, including Tribal government leaders, University administrators, faculty, staff, community members and students both past and present were in attendance. Among them was University President Edward Ray, Vice Provost for Student Affairs Dr. Larry Roper, and Director of Intercultural Student Services Allison Davis White-Eyes; all of whom gave wonderful speeches about how much the new building means to them, and to the entire OSU community. Highlighted within these speeches were the stories of the many students and faculty who came together, worked tirelessly and fought diligently to ensure the construction of this new building. As they remembered the sweat, tears and long hours that went in to this building they were met with the warm smiles of hope and accomplishment by those in attendance who had worked on the project since 2009.

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Contributions by DJ Zissen, Elba Moise, and Sophie Wilson

The Transatlantic Student Symposium is a student organized global conference hosted by partnered higher education institutions. The purpose of the symposium is to learn, present, and gain new perspectives on current topics from cross-cultural lenses. By engaging with students form other institutions, global networks are created and widened.

The 2013 Transatlantic Student Symposium was held in Warsaw, Poland and hosted by the University of Warsaw. The theme of this year’s conference was, “Boarders in Transit: Rural & Urban Liminalities in the U.S. and Poland”. Participants consisted of students, student peer mentors, and faculty. Students had to undergo an application process, and draft a proposal to present at the symposium as a requirement of admittance. Three institutions partnered for this symposium: (1) the University of Warsaw, (2) Humboldt University in Berlin, and (3) Oregon State University.

Three Oregon State University students share their personal journeys through the 2013 Transatlantic Student Symposium here.

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Greetings!  My name is Charlene Martinez, program director for Project Social Justice (PSJ), formerly known as the Cross-Cultural Mentoring Program (CCMP).  This has certainly been a busy and wonderful year both professionally and personally.  When I took the position in December of 2012 my first charge was to assess and review the program.  Our findings revealed that while there were many positive outcomes of CCMP, the program was stretched in multiple directions.  To support the redesign process I met with many stakeholders and created a small brainstorming group.  I am grateful to many folks who had input in the process, and to Nicolas Daily, Caitlin Kerrigan, and Allison Davis-White Eyes, for co-creating and supporting the vision for Project Social Justice.

“Our ultimate objective in learning about anything is to try to create and develop a more just society.” – Yuri Kochiyama

Using social justice education theories and texts to guide our framework — PSJ is a nine-month mentoring program for individuals interested in becoming effective positive social change agents.  The symbol of a ripple effect is powerful.  And the ripple effect for change and transformation must come from within first.   Participants of PSJ will attend quarterly institutes and engage in developing mentoring relationships that will support the self-of-the-social-change-agent.  While the “project” piece is an important component for mentees to put their vision into action, it is really the process of the program that is the ultimate journey for both mentees and mentors to learn from one another and grow.

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by Caitlin Kerrigen

When I first stepped foot into Intercultural Student Services I didn’t know that this is not only where I would work but also where I called home during my time at Oregon State University. When I look back at when I applied to the College Student Services Administration program for my master degree, I was in a different state of mind figuratively and a different country literally. I was living and teaching English in Ecuador to adults and was absolutely in love with my life. I reluctantly chose to leave Ecuador and return to Oregon for grad school and study student affairs. Turns out, it was the right decision.

Caitlin at her desk at ISS

When I interviewed for the GTA position in ISS back in August 2011, I knew this place was special. I immediately gravitated to ISS and the people who worked there. I knew this was where I was meant to be as I looked around the office that was full of active and vibrant students. At first I was anxious but couldn’t pin point why. I would look around and finally it clicked, I was one of two white people in the office. This made me weary at first but I quickly learned that ISS was an Read the rest of this entry »

by Mirabelle Fernandes-Paul, Director – OSU Women’s Center

Since 1981, the OWHE (Oregon Women in Higher Education) has provided Oregon women the opportunity to gather, connect and share professional knowledge and skills.

The OWHE conference had been held for 32 years in Portland, Oregon. However for the first time since its inception, the conference was held outside of Portland, at Oregon State University, Corvallis in 2013. When OWHE decided to consider other Oregon University campuses, the OSU Women’s Center submitted a bid and was chosen to host the conference in 2013. Mirabelle Fernandes Paul, the Director of the Women’s Center served on the conference planning committee and was elected to serve as the Director of Conference planning in 2014, also to be held at OSU, Corvallis.

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The Ettihad Cultural Community is an umbrella organization which aims to represent the people and cultures of the countries from South West Asia through North West Africa. It caters to the specific and unique needs of the international and domestic students of Oregon State University who identify with the region. The need for the organization came about from the growing populations of the people from this region and the lack of representation thereof. The term ‘ettihad’ means unity or alliance and its root word has a place in the Farsi, Urdu, Hebrew and Arabic languages. ECC does not affiliate itself with any particular religion, rather it represents all belief systems embraced by these cultures.

For more information about the organization, Ettihad Cultural Community invites you to please visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ECC.OSU

The OSU Women’s Center honored several women for their contributions to OSU.

Winners included:

• Sandy Tsuneyoshi
• Janet Nishihara
• Stephanie Duckett

Student HerStory Award Recipients:

• Cheryl Truong
• Courtney Everson

Find out more details about the event there in this Gazette Times article: http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/phenomenal-women-honored-by-women-s-center/article_94651514-9a32-11e1-9287-001a4bcf887a.html

Dear Colleagues,

It is with pleasure and great pride we would like to announce the Director of LGBTQ Student Services and Outreach, Jeffrey Kenney!

Jeffrey will be joining our team of colleagues on May 21. Upon his arrival we will provide a more formal time to meet with the new Director

And to welcome him to the home of “the Beav”

Thank you all for your support and patience through this process, we are very pleased to have such a wonderful person coming to join us.

We anticipate that he will bring richness and joy to all that we do.

Sincerely,

Allison Davis-White Eyes

Interim Director, Intercultural Student Services
Intercultural Student Services
150 Kerr Administration Building
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR  97330
(541) 737-4383
Fax: (541) 737-7874

Graduating Seniors Michelle Lee, from the Asian & Pacific Cultural Center, and Leah Houtman, from the Women’s Center, share their experiences as OSU students, and staff members in ISS units. They also share some advice to incoming OSU students and ISS staff members.

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Victoria Nguyen
Director, OSU Diversity Development

It is such a statement of support centered around inclusion and diversity that our institution and students at OSU have approved $10 million to rebuild the existing four cultural centers.

The first center to undergo construction is the Native American Longhouse, it was originally established in 1971 and the condition of the center is quickly deteriorating. Thus, a unanimous decision was made to start with the Native American Longhouse first.  Ground breaking took placed May of 2011 and we anticipate a move in date during winter break of 2012.

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