2010/11 - Bechtel International Center - Stanford University

RESOURCE CENTER FOR
INTERNATIONAL FAMILIES
The Resource Center for International Families was
pleased to welcome 327 visitors from approximately
42 countries during the 2010-2011 academic year. This
represented increases of nearly 14 percent in the number
of visitors and 27 percent in the number of countries.
While the number of visitors from Japan remained stable,
the number from China and South Korea increased
significantly.
Our visitors were warmly welcomed by 9
international spouse advisors from 6 countries who
collectively spoke 7 languages in addition to English.
Once they had been through the training sessions,
the spouse advisors became adept at guiding visitors
through their adaptation to life at Stanford.
Our Resource Center flier, with information
on the Resource Center and directions to our website,
is available in 17 languages. It is one way in which we
let our visitors know, even when they are comfortable
speaking English, that we care about them and their
countries. Those whose English is limited are pleased
when they are able to speak with an advisor who shares
their native language.
We continue to provide a wide array of
resources to visitors who have just arrived at Stanford
as well as to those who have been at Stanford for some
time. Although the international spouses most often
visit the Resource Center for the first time with an
international student, scholar, or post-doc, we focus
on the international spouse. We give her/him a spouse
calendar and point out the highlights, and then give
out other resources as needed: campus maps, DMV
handbooks, driver license application forms, shopping
guides, and information on the I-Center, spouse
programs, and English classes. For those spouses with
children, we offer the WorkLife Office brochure as well
as information on schools and activities for children.
Spouses with J-2 visas are given information on applying
for work authorization as well as a copy of the Career
Development Center handbook. We encourage them to
visit the CDC and to take advantage of the counseling
appointment to which they are entitled. Depending
on the personal interests of the spouse, we also draw
on information from our many shelves of notebooks
and make note of helpful websites. Our lending library
is particularly popular with spouses from Japan and
Korea, who are delighted to find numerous books in
their languages. Once they are settled into their lives
at Stanford, spouses most often return to the Resource
Center for guidance on educational opportunities,
options for volunteering, ideas for recreation and travel,
and resources on pregnancy and childbirth.
The numbers of spouses who have left
educations or careers behind when coming to Stanford
28 Bechtel International Center Annual Report 2010/11
continues to increase. Depending on their visa status,
many of them choose to continue their education or
seek employment in their professional fields. A particular
challenge this year has been to suggest appropriate
possibilities for the spouses who have left behind careers
in medicine and who are unable to practice medicine
while here. There are opportunities available to them if
they wish to pursue them.
I am grateful to the international spouses who
have volunteered their time and their talents as advisors
in the Resource Center. Having themselves gone through
the transition to life at Stanford, they have enabled
newly-arrived spouses to successfully work their ways
through similar transitions.
As we look back on our ten years of serving the
International Community, all of us in the Resource Center
are also looking forward to the new academic year and
to the privilege of warmly welcoming and generously
assisting the many international spouses and children
who will come our way!
Mary Schuelke
Resource Center Coordinator