The expanding international face of the student population at Brown must be met with extended academic and advising options catered to assisting with the cultural transition, Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron said at Wednesday's general body meeting of the Undergraduate Council of Students.
Bergeron and Vice President of Campus Life and Student Services Margaret Klawunn gave an interactive presentation to the council, encouraging student input in dialogue about these issues.
"Our international population of students has really changed a lot in the last five years," Klawunn said, with students increasingly coming from countries that were previously underrepresented.
On retreats between different departments this summer, the topic of increased international student support arose as a core mission given the changing demographics, Bergeron said.
International students are taking advantage of existing programs, Bergeron said, citing the fact that 50 percent of students attending the pre-orientation Excellence at Brown program were international.
A buddy system also exists, Klawunn said, but many students want a more comprehensive system for internationals beyond orientation.
Bergeron related a story of a student from New York who came to her office hours and said that he could not imagine the culture shock that international students must experience, given the magnitude of his own culture shock after arriving at Brown.
Bergeron said there was "a lot of energy and interest" in bringing in an English as a Second Language specialist into the Writing Center in recognition of students' needs.
"This is something we've wanted to do for a long time," she said, adding that when students' issues with writing stem from a language barrier rather than conceptual issues, different services should be provided.
Increasing interactions with graduate students serves as another potential way to improve the strength of the international community network, Bergeron said. With international students composing 35 percent of the Graduate School population, the idea of "creating a cohort" would be a potentially beneficial system, she said.
They also actively encouraged suggestions from council members on possible responses to the changing demographics at Brown.
Bergeron and Klawunn also emphasized positive and ongoing improvements to advising as a whole, with last year's addition of Advising Central, an initiative originally evolving out of UCS student suggestions. "It's funny how, if certain things start to work, they seem to have been around for a long time," Bergeron said.
Students, particularly first-years and sophomores, can now use this other faculty resource for a broader perspective prior to declaring concentration, Klawunn said.
Bergeron also said she hopes the connection between advising and career development may become "more continuous" through each year of a student's time at Brown, a concern students and parents have raised.
Exploring housing improvements for the upcoming years also continues to be a priority of Campus Life, Klawunn said. "We are not happy ourselves that we have students in temporary spaces," she said, and there are many different ideas that require input on how to best improve housing in the long term.
Klawunn told The Herald last year that Brown would like to strike the right balance between renovation and new projects for future residence hall improvements.
The student job "is to keep asking the questions" to ensure the preservation and enhancement of the undergraduate experience, Klawunn said.
