Beyond the Struggles: How Should Residence Life Support

International Students & Colleagues?

Presented By: Noah Montague & Mais Omar

Why This Topic/Who Are Your Presenters?
❖ Noah
➢ Stony Brook University to Miami University
➢ Passion area/Research interest in supporting and developing non-native English
speaking international students as leaders
➢ Taught internationally working with college students in Taiyuan, China
❖ Mais
➢ Cyprus to Eastern Illinois University to Miami University
➢ Passion area/Research interest focusing on international student’s mental health
throughout their first year transition
➢ Myself, worked with The International Student Office & Orientation in Undergrad,
Global Connections LLC
Discussion Points/Learning Goals
❖ What does Miami’s international student population look like?
❖ How do we support international students & colleagues as a department?
➢ What has worked?
➢ What has not worked?
❖ Why is it important that we think beyond the struggles international
students face?
❖ What do international students bring to an institution?
❖ What does theory say about supporting international students?
❖ What to international colleagues bring to an institution?
❖ How do we best support those colleagues?
International Student & Colleague Support

Jamboard

❖ Enter the Jamboard for this

presentation and go to the first slide.
❖ On the first and second slides, input
your response to the prompted
questions.
Miami’s International
Population
Fall 2020 Demographics ❖ International Colleagues

❖ International Students Enrolled UNKNOWN

➢ Total: 2083
■ Oxford: 1671
■ Hamilton: 107
■ Middletown and VOA: 305
❖ New students (enrolled for the first time in Fall
2020)
➢ Total: 298
■ Oxford: 193
■ Hamilton: 29
■ Middletown: 76
Why Think Beyond The
Struggles?
❖ “Learning and living alongside people from around the globe helps all of our
students learn to avoid stereotyping and form more informed opinions”
(Krislov, 2019)
❖ “If it does not affect us, then it is not our problem”
 Give Space to Student Voice

“[I]t is important to understand their [international students] experiences and

perspectives. There is no better way to achieve this level of understanding
than to let students’ voices be heard, to let them speak for and about
themselves because reality exists within these students’ perceptions”
(Chunfeng Wang, 2017, Discussions section, para. 1).
What Can/Should We Be Doing?

❖ Listen
❖ Provide Resources
❖ Do Your Own Research
❖ Provide Opportunities For Leadership
and Learning
❖ Advocate to have more resources for
them
❖ Encourage and Advocate to hire
International colleagues
Closing Thoughts/Final
Discussion Questions?
❖ What will you commit to doing to
better support International Students
and colleagues?
❖ What are the things you will consider
from now on when supporting an
international student or colleague?