2011/12 - Bechtel International Center - Stanford University

RESOURCE CENTER FOR
INTERNATIONAL FAMILIES
The Resource Center for International Families is headed
by community volunteer Mary Schuelke and continues
to play a vital role in the lives of international students,
post-docs, and visiting scholars and their families as they
transition into their lives at Stanford. We 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, post-doc, or visiting scholar,
we focus on the spouse. We give her/him a spouse
handbook and point out the highlights and then give
out other resources as needed: campus maps, DMV
handbooks, handouts on buying and insuring a car,
information on housing and health insurance, shopping
guides, and information on English classes as well as
classes for spouses. For 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
take advantage of the counseling appointment which is
offered to them. We also give out copies of the Stanford
Continuing Studies handbook and encourage spouses to
consider the many courses that are offered in a wide array
of disciplines. Depending on the interests of the spouses,
we draw on the information in our many notebooks.
During the 2011/12 academic year we welcomed at
least 352 visitors from at least 39 countries. The largest
numbers of visitors were from Japan, China, and Korea,
and there appeared to be a significant increase in the
number of post-docs. A first for the Resource Center this
year was a visitor from Bangladesh.
Our visitors were welcomed and served by eight
international spouse advisors from six countries who
collectively spoke seven languages in addition to English.
Once they had been through their individual training
sessions, the spouse advisors became adept at guiding
visitors through their adaptations to life at Stanford. They
also were available to spouses who would come to the
Resource Center for a friendly conversation and words of
encouragement. We continue to see a large number of
male spouses whose wives are the post-docs or visiting
scholars.
We currently have a number of special projects that we
are considering for the coming academic year. One is to
expand our notebook containing distinct opportunities
for spouses who are medical doctors in their home
countries but are not permitted to practice medicine
while here. Another is to develop current information on
classes that are offered on the internet.
28 Bechtel International Center Annual Report 2011/12
We are 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 newlyarrived
spouses to successfully work their ways through
similar transitions.