Adrienne Kim Bird is assistant Director of International Students and Scholars Program at UVA. At the start of a new academic year, she spoke about the new programs and transitions at the International Students and Scholars Program.

ISSP has recently implemented zoom on boarding for new international students. How did that go and how many students accessed it?

Kim Bird: This summer we piloted a Virtual Pre-Arrival Series with six Zoom sessions on topics we identified as being most important to new incoming students. Panels of experts comprised of students and staff from around Grounds gave presentations and answered questions on: Immigration, “What I wish I had known…,” Parents/Guardians Q&A, Academic Culture, Health & Wellness Q&A, and Finding Your Community.

We had over 600 participants in our live sessions and a lot of burning questions were answered! For those unable to attend, all sessions were recorded and are available on our newly designed website for approximately six months. We are pleased with how this first year went and we have already begun planning for an even better series next year.

What are some of the programs ISSP is hosting in Fall?

Kim Bird: ISSP will be hosting several OPT and employment webinars throughout the Fall in the months of September, October, and November. We’ll also offer drop-in virtual Q&A sessions to follow up on those webinars. Details and registration links will be posted on our website and will be emailed to all students through our listservs. For busy students who can’t find the time to attend any of these live sessions, there is a trove of information on our OPT page, including step by step video tutorials.

I’d like to mention two other ongoing programs co-sponsored by our office. The International Student Support Circle is co-facilitated by one of our advisors Caren Freeman and Baozhen Xie from CAPS. It is a safe and supportive space for students to discuss common issues and challenges as they adjust to US and UVA culture. Caren also co-facilitates the International Student Citizen Leaders Fellowship with staff from the Center for Contemplative Sciences. The Fellowship provides year-long mentorship and training to a cohort of international students who design and implement projects to improve the international student experience at UVA. Many great initiatives have come from this two-year old program, and we look forward to seeing what this new year brings. Applications for this year’s Fellows are open now until September 22nd.

Would you like to share any additional information with the UVA community?

Kim Bird: Our colleague Richard Tanson, who has served the University for thirty years is taking his well-earned retirement at the end of this year. It is impossible to overstate the importance of his contributions to this university. Tens of thousands of students and scholars, and even multiple generations of families have benefited from his expertise and tireless dedication to the International Student & Scholar Program. He has been a mentor to everyone on our team and has taught us not just about the minutiae of immigration regulations but has also shown us by example how to approach our jobs with a sense of mission, compassion, humor, and in his own words: “the ache of aspiration.” We are all going to miss him!

While we are sad to be losing a beloved colleague, we are pleased to announce that Seth Hall has joined our team as our newest advisor and Grace Medrano is our new Program Coordinator. We all look forward to serving our international students and scholars with a strong, hard-working, and creative team of advisors!