International House Berkeley

A s we review our past and consider how we will move into the future, International House is constantly self- assessing its activities and operations to ensure that we are in tune with our historical mission but also adapting our offerings to new student service paradigms. We are not only assessing our program needs, but also the preservation of the architectural heritage and physical infrastructure needs of our historic home, a highlight of this issue of the newsletter. We are on a perpetual drive to evaluate our historic identity and to translate this assessment into meaningful action strategies that we can implement to improve our offerings even more. As we undertake this effort, it is important to step back and review what I-House has been to the more than 95,000 individuals who have resided here since our opening nearly 90 years ago. I-House Berkeley has been (and is today): n Independently operated, but closely tied to the University of California, Berkeley; n Self-sustaining with a self-governing Board of Directors; n Focused on serving a highly diverse resident body from around the world; n A laboratory for international fellowship; n An incubator of talent; n A convivial place where residents feel a sense of belonging; n A home away from home in a well-loved and well-used architectural marvel; n A place unlike any they have ever experienced before; n An environment where residents feel both challenged and supported; n A center for learning about intercultural leadership, respect, and understanding. All of these amazing attributes combined with a natural spontaneity are part of the magic of I-House as one never knows what (or whom) one is going to encounter here on any given day. We want everyone who comes through our doors to have the opportunity to 'meet the world' in this place. Our enduring task is to tailor the experience so that this actually happens for the majority of our residents. Toward this end, we offer Sunday Suppers, theme dinners, cultural coffee hours, excursions, and intercultural leadership training for our residents to gain significant cultural exposure. When we mix together these planned activities with residents' natural curiosity to learn as much as they can about the world, I-House realizes and extends its mission in profound ways. We strive to be a vibrant community that provides many opportunities for this kind of engagement with the world to occur. We thank you for supporting its continuance over nine decades of service here in Berkeley. n 2 International House Times Executive Director's Message Assessing Our Identity to Maintain a Vibrant Community O n May 8, 2019, the I-House Board of Directors unanimously elected four individuals to serve as new members of the Board effective July 1, 2019: Lisa Garcia Bedolla, James Lichau, Cynthia Murphy-Ortega, and Jordan Tse. Lisa Garcia Bedolla is vice provost for graduate studies and dean of the Graduate Division. Dr. Garcia Bedolla's body of research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of political and educational inequalities in the United States, using multidisciplinary approaches to examine disparities that cut across lines of ethnicity, race, gender, class, and more. James Lichau is senior manager, assurance at BPM LLP. With nearly a decade of experience in public accounting, Lichau has provided accounting and audit services to both public and private companies. His industry focus is primarily on technology and financial services firms. Cynthia Murphy-Ortega is manager of university partnerships and association relations at Chevron Corporation. Her organization manages Chevron's relationships with universities and professional societies and institutes around the world. Murphy-Ortega joined Chevron in 1991 and has held various engineering, maintenance, operations, financial, business planning, and process safety management positions. Jordan Tse serves on Facebook's sustainability team where she focuses on working with internal and external partners internationally, promoting responsible practices in Facebook's data center and consumer hardware supply chains. We thank board members who rotated off the I-House Board of Directors as of June 30, 2019, Fiona Doyle and Judith Dunbar, for their years of dedicated volunteer service and support of the I-House mission. n Board Transitions Hans C. Giesecke, Executive Director

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