University plans to restructure international offices

The restructuring comes alongside an expansion of the University’s international community. When founded in 1974, the Davis Center primarily served the University’s 300 international graduate students. Today, Princeton houses over 2200 international citizens: 500 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students and 700 visiting scholars. The University’s 2001 decision to admit international undergraduates on a “need-blind” basis has led to an increase in the international population.

Diana Davies, who became the vice provost of international initiatives on Feb. 1, said this growing population of international students motivated the changes. “Basically, all of the offices that serve international students and scholars … had grown up in a very organic way,” she said. “It made sense to go back and look at the situation as though we were starting all over.”

Davies said that relocating the interrelated offices to 36 University Place will be beneficial for international students. “Students won’t need to go to many different offices for support,” she said. “We’re in a central location.” The Office of International Programs is housed in the same building, she added.

The Davis Center, which previously reported to Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan, began reporting to Davies at the beginning of the spring semester. Another visible change in personnel comes with a change in the center’s leadership, as director Paula Chow will retire on June 30 after serving in the position for the last 36 years. The University is continuing a nationwide search for her successor, but the new director’s responsibilities will have changed as the University’s needs have evolved.

Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Rachel Baldwin, who serves as an adviser to international undergraduate students, will move from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students to the Davis Center as well. She will take on expanded responsibilities relating to international students, such as coordinating educational and social programming, while other ODUS staff members will adopt her other tasks.

Offices dedicated to services for international students will also undergo restructuring. The Office of Visa Services will be relocated from the Office of the General Counsel to the Davis Center on July 1, consolidating all visa services under one system.

In 1997, the University decided to separate visa services for undergraduates from those for other international scholars, such as faculty and graduate students, to allow ODUS to offer undergraduates more help in addressing complex visa issues.

The increased complexity of modern immigration law has since necessitated changes in this system. Under the new system, the Office of Visa Services will oversee immigration-related issues for all international scholars, and “departments don’t have to call around trying to find a place that can help them,” Davies said.

The reorganization also involves refocusing the Davis Center’s mission by eliminating redundant responsibilities already fulfilled by other University offices. The Center’s will continue to coordinate services and events not available in other offices, such as orientation for international students upon their arrival on campus.

“This transition outlines Princeton’s priority for campus internationalization,” Baldwin said in a University statement. “More importantly, it demonstrates an intentional commitment to students, faculty, staff and other visitors from abroad. While this will certainly broaden our global connectedness, I am most excited about the opportunities it will create to celebrate the cultural richness that Princeton embraces.”

Davies noted that the most significant challenges would arise in the short term, such as relocating all staff members working in the various offices to one location. She added that the move is set to occur in the fall semester, following freshman orientation, in order to minimize confusion for new students.