About Us
Davis International Center welcomes and services Princeton University’s international students and scholars and initiates social, cultural, and extra-curricular educational programs to enhance the cosmopolitan ambiance on campus and in the surrounding communities.
Our efforts include:
- organizing welcoming receptions and year-end events, weekly lunches and regular discussions, visits to theaters, and other explorations, such as weekend hiking trips.
- introducing “hosts” to international new arrivals.
- arranging for community and student volunteers to help foreign scholars and students to practice conversational English.
- sponsoring weekly gatherings for foreign spouses to practice English, discuss books, and explore local points of interest.
- initiating mentoring relationships between students and area members of Princeton Alumni Association, Rotary International, and Distinguished Citizens.
And we:
- organize speakers and discussion series and co-sponsor international musical and dance concerts, art exhibitions, and national and international festivals with student groups and campus offices.
- produce video interviews with an international perspective that are aired through University and Community channels. These include International Forum and Inner Core, which are also streamed for internet access.
- bring international students and scholars to area schools and organizations to introduce diverse perspectives.
- initiate campus-wide projects, such as the annual International Festival, Global Village at Communiversity, Emerge!, and support national and international groups to facilitate their initiatives.
- work closely with area alumni associations including the Princeton Area Alumni, International Alumni, and Association of Asian American Alumni.
- connect with Chinese University of Hong Kong via a summer program for Princeton students to explore China, Singapore and Hong Kong.
- co-sponsor with AIG Foundation High School Diplomats, an cultural immersion program for Japanese youth during their annual ten day summer stay at Princeton.
- connect and organize networking opportunities for international faculty and staff.
Staff
Director: Paula Chow
Office Assistants: Hanna Hand, Jody Whitehead
History
International Center was founded in 1974 by volunteers - faculty, alumni and their spouses, and community residents - with an office space allocated by the University at 5 Ivy Lane. The volunteers welcomed newly arrived international graduate students and visiting scholars with regular social hours, Host Family, and English Conversation Tutoring programs. In 1978, Dean of the Chapel Ernest Gordon invited the volunteers to move their office to Murray Dodge Hall, the site of his office. A few months later President William Bowen agreed for the University to take over the Center and placed it under the Office of Undergraduate Student Life. Paula Chow, one of the co-founders, became the Director. Her founding partner Louise Sayen sp'38 became the first President of Friends of International Center, which continued to motivate the same volunteers to service Princeton’s international new arrivals. The Friends have continued this relationship with the International Center, both in their services and in their fund raising efforts to benefit the Center and its various initiatives.
International Center, since then, has extended its programs to enhance intercultural and international understanding on- and off-campus by working with students and offices and initiating additional social, cultural, and extra-curricular educational programs. It was moved to Stevenson Hall (91 Prospect Ave) in 1999 and then to the new Frist Campus Center in 2001, sharing a complex with the Women’s Center.
On May 10, 2007 the Center was named the Kathryn W. and Shelby Cullom Davis ’30 International Center through a generous endowment from Ms. Kathryn W. Davis. Her son Shelby Davis ’58, a trustee of Princeton, had initiated this endowment as a partial celebration for Ms. Davis’s centennial birthday. Ms. Davis together with her late husband and philanthropic family has supported many programs involving world peace and international understanding. We are grateful for their trust, which has enabled us to extend further support to student initiatives.
