MINJU KIM
Staff Writer
What seems so different this semester for many of the international students is that they no longer have to walk all the way to LoGrasso to get help from Mary Sasso, the former director of the International Education Center. Instead, they can just go to the Williams Center and see Jacob Czelusta, assistant director of International Student Services.
With the increasing number of international students on campus, the State University of New York at Fredonia has taken initiative to expand and decentralize its international education center to different branches, now called the “Office of International Education [OIE].”
Dr. Ralph Blasting, the chair of the search committee for Director of the Office of International Education, described the new model of OIE as one that “better reflects the fact that international education is decentralized.”
In the past, everything related to International Education went to IEC under Academic Affairs. However, OIE is now divided into primarily three branches: Academic Affairs, Admissions and Residence Life.
“The OIE still is the main office for all international programs, and the new director will be responsible for overseeing all international efforts,” said Blasting. “But to strengthen our international activity, the jobs of recruiting international students and assisting them in campus life when they are here have been moved to what we think are the appropriate areas.”
Jessica Gatto is in charge of International Admissions; she also works in the Admissions Office. It is her job to recruit international students — a duty that was formerly handled by the director of OIE.
“[Gatto] is much more familiar with our specific admissions practices and can address any questions to her colleagues there,” said Blasting. “Here, too, he [Czelusta] is better positioned than the director of OIE to help our international students with their housing, meals, visa status and anything else related to their life on campus. So I think you can see that we are infusing an international perspective across three different areas.”
Erin Willis is the Assistant Director for Study Abroad and Exchange Programs and works with students who plan to study abroad.
Then the question of “why?” comes up next: What is the reason behind decentralizing OIE? In the past, Mary Sasso and her assistant director worked to facilitate everything that was going on at IEC. Was there a problem? Is the change really necessary? Fredonia President Virginia Horvath said OIE was too isolated.
“What happens in campus life was seen as different from what was happening at the international education office. Once international students are here on campus, there’s a need to bring people to the Williams Center — not way out in LoGrasso,” said Horvath. “We used to have the director of the international education who was also the internship coordinator — a huge responsibility that we peeled off. Each of these things were growing to a point that we needed a person to support it. We did get an assistant but it was more than what two people could do effectively.
“The centralized model wasn’t accomplishing what we needed to, so we are trying this. I think we will always be engaged in saying, ‘What is the best way to support people?’ But it doesn’t make sense to separate it from the admissions — even our database: It was separate. We didn’t know how many students were coming because the director kept the separate database of the people and names weren’t put into Banner until later. We really needed the basic information about the students as regular prospective students,” said Horvath.
The obvious change at OIE was the relocation of its offices from LoGrasso to the Williams Center. The Study Abroad division still remains at LoGrasso. However, the two new divisions, International Student Services and International Admissions, are located on the second floor of Williams Center.
Czelusta said, “ISS was taken out of the Office of International Education (OIE) so that the position would have a more centralized location in the Williams Center, while also having a dedicated space for students to meet. This is the Global Connections Lounge in Room S226B of the Williams Center. Students can use this space anytime that the Williams Center is open. Also, this office is now under Campus Life. The idea behind that was to have a stronger programmatic aspect to the position, which would help facilitate more events/programs that could cater to international students.”
There are also concerns regarding OIE’s decentralization. Dr. Ted Schwalbe, the chair of Communication Department and former coordinator of International Learning, said he disagrees with the changes.
“I actually don’t agree with the division. About three or four years ago, some of the consultants that we hired to help us do better in the area of globalization. We conducted a survey of faculty and students about student faculty curriculum — everything having to do with globalization — and one of things that came especially from the faculty were questions about, ‘Who do I call? Who do I go to?’ when a certain question arises about international education. They didn’t know whether they should go to international education office, the coordinator of international learning, student affairs or academic affairs,” he said.
Schwalbe also said centralizing the office would make things less complicated and more efficient.
“The current structure which we have the international students reporting to student affairs, a recruiter from admissions working with international students [and] study abroad for Fredonia students; separated — I don’t think [it] is a good structure. … I think everything should be under the international education office so that whenever there is a question from any aspect about globalization that the place to go would be the international education office.”
“The old model did not have faculty and staff and other areas of globalization under its name. I would prefer even a more centralized structure whereas Fredonia is going to the opposite directions to decentralize things. I’ve looked at structures on other campuses as well — in most cases, while you may have assistant administrators in charge of international students, study abroad and faculty-staff opportunities — they do fall under one umbrella: international education office, and I think that would be a way to go,” said Schwalbe.
With a more centralized system, Schwalbe also emphasizes that the international education office should report directly to the president. Horvath said that there are just so many direct reporters she can have. She has nine right now: institutional research; Bill Boehner who is the chief diversity officer; each of the five vice-presidents and the office staff at the President’s office.
Whereas some people express their concerns on the new model, Mary Sasso, the former director of IEC who is now director international student services at College of Southern Nevada, sees the new model’s potential success:
“The new vision from Fredonia’s administration is to strengthen international student and study abroad services by differentiating them. This model can be found in many other institutions and it allows the institution to set specific goals for growth for each branch. This model also helps to define the supervisory, reporting and budgetary needs of the individual offices more clearly. I believe this model has potential for success,” said Sasso.
It is clear that the campus is becoming more diversified with more students coming from outside the nation. According to the “consolidated operating budget 2013-2014,” the proposed 2014-15 allocation for international programs is $500,000. Five years ago, it was $300,000. Over the past five years, the percentage grew up to 167 percent, making a significant increase in the support for international programs.
The search committee for Director of the Office of International Education is expected to announce its decision early in the Spring semester. With the position for director of OIE still open, Fredonia has quite a long way to see the results of its new model.