Mission Statement

of the
International Student-Alumni Network (ISAN)
at The College of Wooster

Please Note: This document is a work in progress, and should be read and reacted to with that caveat in mind.  We welcome your comments and input.

Motivation

The College of Wooster has a long and distinguished history of attracting and supporting a vibrant international student community on campus.  International students bring diversity and rich culture to the campus community.  On campus, they are active contributors and participants in campus life, leading several student organizations.  As alumni, many return to their home countries to become stewards of Wooster for a lifetime.  Those that stay in the United States go on to lead distinguished careers and are among the most recognizable of Wooster alumni.

Over time, members of the Wooster community have come to recognize that international students have unique needs on campus and upon graduation.  As students in a foreign land, these students often lack the informal family networks that can serve as a “safety net” in hard times.  Often, international students are subject to an ever-changing body of immigration regulations that cause singular challenges in securing career development experiences like internships and entry-level professional positions.  Upon graduation, many international students move to major cities in the United States, living away from college support networks for the first time.

We believe that international alumni can serve as an informal support network for students at the College.  Having previously been international students at the College, international alumni are in a unique position to understand student concerns, brainstorm potential solutions and possibly even mobilize resources to meet their needs.  We also believe that international alumni can benefit significantly from networking with each other and by participating more actively in alumni activities.  For these reasons, we have decided to create an International Student Alumni Network (ISAN) at the College of Wooster.

It is important to note that ISAN recognizes that excellent resources already exist on campus to meet international student needs.  We acknowledge the important role that these entities play in improving the international student experience and understand the many constraints that they must operate under.  Our goal is merely to complement the activities of these resources, and to make constructive suggestions where possible.  As ISAN obtains a critical mass and starts to grow, our goal is to work closely with these resources to ensure the best possible experience for international students at the College of Wooster.

Our Mission

The mission of the International Student Alumni Network (ISAN) is to ensure

a vibrant international student presence at the College of Wooster.

ISAN intends to achieve this goal by

-         Enhancing the opportunities available to international students before and after graduation

-         Encouraging meaningful interaction among international alumni and students

-         Actively engaging the alumni with the College.

Objectives

The International Student-Alumni Network (ISAN) is an informal group of current and former international students at The College of Wooster.  Eventually, ISAN will seek to become a formal Special Interest Group of the Alumni Association. 

ISAN’s long-term objectives are as follows:

1. To ensure a vibrant and active international student presence on campus
2. To enhance the opportunities available to international students before and after graduation
3. To encourage meaningful interaction among international alumni and to actively engage the international alumni community with the College of Wooster

ISAN intends to achieve each of these objectives through the following activities:

1. To ensure a vibrant and active international student presence on campus:
• By greater involvement in the international student admission process (for example, through student/alumni outreach to target populations in their countries of origin)
• By raising awareness of international student retention issues (for example, through understanding the implications of financial aid on international student numbers)
• By recognizing international student achievement (for example, through encouraging efforts like the International Student Recognition Dinner)
• By encouraging international student impact on campus (for example, through support of international-oriented student organizations such as the ISA, UJAAMA, SAC, etc.)
2. To enhance the opportunities available to international students before and after graduation:
• By raising awareness of international alumni achievement on campus (for example, through greater international alumni presence on campus)
• By providing mentorship opportunities between students and alumni (for example, through the creation of an informal career mentoring network/website)
• By communicating specific international student career development needs to the appropriate campus entity (for example, working with Career Services)
3. To encourage meaningful communication and interaction among international alumni:
• By creating a forum for networking among international alumni (for example, through the setting up of a mailing list or blog)
• By enhancing international alumni participation in all alumni activities (for example, through international alumni presence on the Alumni Board)
• By raising awareness of international student issues among the international alumni community (for example, through regular student-alumni interaction at Homecoming)
• By encouraging international alumni contribution to the Wooster community (for example, through increased participation in the Wooster Fund)

The above list of objectives is aspirational in nature. For the immediate term, ISAN will focus its efforts on a more limited set of goals. Specifically, current students have identified objective (2) as an area of immediate need. As the organization evolves, we will focus on the full list of objectives.

Membership

The membership of ISAN shall be open to all former international students of the College of Wooster and any individual who supports the goals and purpose of the Network.  The membership shall not be limited to only those who have graduated from the College, recognizing that many members of the international student community do not spend the entire duration of their undergraduate education at the College.

Officers

The acting leadership of ISAN envisages the following executive roles for the Network:

1. President: The President shall act as the official spokesperson for the organization and will represent the “voice” of the international alumni community to senior members of the Administration at the College of Wooster, including the Director of Alumni Relations, the Dean of Students and the President of the College.  The President will provide overall direction to the efforts of ISAN.
2. Vice-President: The Vice-President shall discharge the duties of the President in her/his absence.  The Vice-President will also be responsible for overseeing the efforts of the other Officers, particularly those in charge of the Admissions, Retention and Career Development efforts.
3. Secretary: The Secretary will serve as the primary source of historical information for the Network, responsible for recording activities, setting and communicating meeting times and logistics, encouraging membership participation in meetings and distributing minutes of meetings. 
4. Admissions Chair: The Admissions Chair will work closely with the Coordinator of International Admissions to design and support strategies for increasing international student enrollment at the College of Wooster.  Potential responsibilities include: communicating the profile of each incoming international student class to ISAN’s membership, designing alumni-focused marketing strategies for attracting international students to Wooster, coordinating alumni-participation in Wooster admissions events in international geographies.
5. Retention Chair: The Retention Chair will work closely with the Office of International Student Affairs and the Office of Financial Aid to design and support strategies for retaining international students at the College of Wooster.  Potential responsibilities include: communicating retention numbers each semester to ISAN’s membership, maintaining relationships with like-minded organizations like the Women’s Advisory Board, and brainstorming and implementing innovative strategies to tackle international student retention challenges at an aggregate level.
6. Career Development Chair: The Career Development Chair will work closely with the Career Services Office and directly with international students to design and support strategies for enhancing career opportunities for international students at the College of Wooster.  Potential responsibilities include: profiling international alumni to identify “support areas”, encouraging international alumni participation in the “mentoring network,” connecting international students with appropriate international alumni, and identifying points of synergy with resources like the Scots Career Network.
7. Membership Chair: The Membership Chair will work closely with the Office of Alumni Relations to design and support strategies to recruit international alumni to join the Network.  Potential responsibilities include: maintaining ISAN’s membership list, updating the mailing list, communicating with new members and introducing new members to the goals and purposes of the Network, recruiting new international alumni to join the network immediately upon graduation.
8. Networking Chair: The Networking Chair will work closely with the Office of International Student Affairs, international student organizations, and the Office of Alumni Relations to design and support networking strategies for the international alumni community and between international alumni and international students at the College of Wooster.  Potential responsibilities include: facilitating on-campus networking sessions between international students and alumni during Homecoming/Alumni Board meetings, connecting international alumni with each other on an ad-hoc basis, and meeting evolving networking needs of the organization.
9. Communications Chair:  The Communications Chair will design and support strategies for the publicity needs of the Network.  Potential responsibilities include: designing communication mechanisms for ISAN’s membership, encouraging international alumni participation in Wooster magazine, COSMOS, and selectively in the Wooster Voice, publicizing achievements of international alumni to the broader Wooster community and serving as a means to raise awareness for legitimate concerns raised by ISAN ’s membership.
10. Technology Chair: The Technology Chair will design and implement information technology solutions to support the initiatives of ISAN.  Potential responsibilities include: setting up an interactive mailing list/blog, designing and maintaining a website to support the career development initiative, and encouraging Wooster international alumni to utilize lifetime e-mail.  Will work closely with all Officers to meet the needs of the membership and will interact with the Office of Alumni Relations and Information Technology as required.

As with ISAN’s objectives, this listing is aspirational in nature.  Currently, a small group of international alumni are working to get the organization off the ground.  Leading the effort are Christabel Dadzie ’04, Qaisar “Q” Imam ’91, and Sohil N. Parekh ’99.

Questions? Please contact us at isanwooster@gmail.com