The Tufts International Center

On 20 Sawyer Avenue, next to Alpha Phi and across from the International House, lies the International Center. The director, Jane Etish-Andrews, is a busy woman and often rushes between meeting after meeting. However, she is always warm and engaged when she talks to students. Her office is filled with beautiful knick-knacks from around the world, and her passion for the International Center is perceptible. 

Jane Etish-Andrews

Why do you think the International Center is important?
For a couple of reasons…we exist as an administrative office for all international students that need a visa. Beyond that, we help with cultural adjustment issues and advocacy issues. We exist as a support network and have one-on-one talks for cultural advising with students. We create programs for them like International Orientation, Graduate Orientation, and an Intercultural Language Program for graduate students to practice their English.
So I think it’s a blending of an administrative need for us to exist and to support the students before they’re here, once they’re here, and throughout their academic career. We also stay in touch with them after they leave. We handle immigration issues, and many call us for guidance several years after they leave.
 
How did you become interested in working at the International Center?
For me, it started out with an interest as an undergraduate in languages. I was a French major and got a graduate degree teaching English as a second language. From there, I went to work in an international office and the immigration piece became interesting to me. We do a lot of immigration for students. At Tufts, the International Center falls under the Office of Student Affairs and now it falls under the Dean of Undergraduate and Graduate studies.
 
Why do you enjoy working at Tufts?
For me, it’s the students. I love the climate at Tufts. I do feel it’s a friendly campus and that once you talk to people and say hello to them, you can break down a lot of the miscommunication that may exist. And people just need to get out of their silos and go to the Centers and hang out with some people or go to events. Don’t be shy! You may feel uncomfortable if you’re not part of that community, but you’ll learn something, and your comfort level will increase. It will get easier. People should just go and learn.
 
What about the Group of Six? How do you work with them?
We meet regularly as a group because we’re working together on different projects and goals. Now we’re part of the Office of Intercultural and Social Identities. We’re also part of the Social Justice and Leadership Initiative…so we do training for student leaders and peer groups. We’re doing lunches together during spring break just to get people together. We do a BBQ together at the end of the year. We’re colleagues so we talk to each other and a lot of our students intersect with a lot of our different centers.
 
Where should people go for more information and upcoming events?
Our website http://ase.tufts.edu/icenter/ and events on http://ase.tufts.edu/isip/