In a generous act of care for the International House community, a group of I-House NYC Alumni in China have raised funds to purchase face masks for I-House to distribute in New York. The group, in concert with International House Trustee at Large John Pek ’68, was led by Yuan Wang ’08 and included Owen Liu ’10, Chao Yu ’10 and Barbara Yu, Maggie Sun ’15, and others in Shanghai and Beijing. The shipment of 6000 masks–5000 from the I-House Alumni group and 1000 from the Columbia Alumni Association of Greater China–arrived this past week and was immediately...

Residents bring a wide variety of unique experiences and passions that make the International House NYC community exceptional. One such Resident is Jasmin Irisha Jim Ilham, a fierce advocate for climate change awareness who traveled from Malaysia to pursue a master’s degree in Climate and Society at Columbia University. Before arriving at I-House, Jasmin completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science in Malaysia and was active with several advocacy groups. She participated in the International Islamic University Malaysia Public Debate Series, where she spoke on the topic...

“Through the darkness of these times…Let the light of I-House shine.” “Thinking of all of you at this stressful time. We’ll all get through this.” “Know that I-House love is global, and you are never far from your most distant colleague or friend!” These are just some of the inspiring and hopeful messages that have been coming in to International House NY from the global I-House Alumni community. Like so many of its fellow institutions, I-House has been responding to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic as quickly as possible, and the response from its greater global community has been...

One of Michael Brun‘s fondest memories of making music is when, on a whim, he parked some cars to block off a local street in Haiti, hooked up some found speakers to his phone and other basic tech, and then begin to DJ right on the street. Making music live, on an inconspicuous street with no professional set up and no prep, so that people could come out and dance. “Haitians will make a party without sound. without electricity. You don’t need any of that,” the 27-year-old DJ said during a talk at International House New York, onstage at Davis Hall. And that is the image of Haiti...

Harry Edmonds and International House staff, 1927/ I-House Archives Happy Birthday, Harry Edmonds! Born in 1883 on a farm in Elmira, NY, Edmonds studied engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, where he met and married Florence Quay. After graduating in 1904, he and Florence moved to New York City, where he began working as a secretary for the Y.M.C.A. It was here, after a fateful encounter with a Chinese student in 1909, that the early idea for an International House began to take shape. Taken aback by the student’s isolation, with the encouragement and help from his wife...