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The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

IFSA Welcomes International Faculty

IFSA: The association provides international faculty with the opportunity to connect Javier Muro de Nadal / Staff Photographer
IFSA: The association provides international faculty with the opportunity to connect
Javier Muro de Nadal / Staff Photographer

Event held to assist foreign members of SLU Staff

The SLU IFSA (International Faculty and Staff Association) Fall Welcome Event, held on Wednesday, Sept. 24, provided a setting for faculty members to mingle with each other. There were new faculty members from China and India, as well as other countries. The speakers from different sectors of international faculty community of SLU gave speeches that reflected aspects of IFSA’s mission. IFSA is comprised of approximately 90 members whose expertise in various fields and different cultural backgrounds serve as a resource for both the international staff and the SLU community as a whole. The goal of the association is to enhance the richness of the multicultural environment and influence the further development of campus and traditional diversity.

The event started with a welcome speech by Lisa Willoughby, a professor in the Department of Psychology. She introduced Hisako Matsuo, the President of IFSA and a professor of research methodology from Japan. According to Matsuo, the ideas for IFSA were initially formed in 2000 and officially established in 2008.

In the spirit of IFSA, Saint Louis University will participate in a second annual International Education Week (IEW), a joint initiative between the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Education. Active in more than 100 countries, IEW was founded 15 years ago to promote international understanding and build support for educational exchange.  According to Dr. Diana Carlin—the vice president of the global initiative—Mary Jean Eisenhower, past president of People to People International, will attend as the keynote speaker for the IEW to promote international exchange. IFSA is a community that embraces coherence and collaboration. Diana said that she could not do her work without the help of people in IFSA.

“I encourage all of you to consider IFSA as a place for support,” said Katie Gauthier Donnelly, the program manager of Global Citizenship. She indicated that IFSA supported her a lot in her first year in Saint Louis University. She also mentioned that the Saint Louis International Film Festival will feature a film-watching activity in the CGC.

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Tim Hercules, the Director of International Services, introduced the mission of his team at the event. International service supports visa and immigration compliance; acculturation initiatives; study abroad; the Billiken Bridge to Success conditional admit program; and federal TRiO programs supporting students with disabilities and students from first-generation, low-income families. He also introduced the faculty members who serve as the main resources for international students. International counselor Annie Rosenkranz and Scott Fetters also attended the event.

Gina Merys, the Associate Director of the Reinert Center at SLU, introduced the Transformative Teaching & Learning program and outlined its missions. She emphasized the importance of asking questions and getting feedback from the students. Other members of IFSA, like Simone Bregni, Associate Professor of Italian, helped out during the event. After the speech section, new faculty members got to know each other and shared their experience at Saint Louis University.

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