When Gordon Evans was President of International House, Residents ran the security desk, rent was $289 a month, and there was no “I-House North” yet. Now, for the first time since leaving in 1993, Evans returned to I-House to sit with current President Calvin Sims and talk about what else has changed in the last 25 years. On November 20, 2018, Residents, Alumni, current and former Staff and members of the Board of Trustees gathered in the Home Room to hear the discussion. Trustees William (Bill) Rueckert and Peter O’Neill took the podium one after another to introduce Evans, who was...

Even after two decades, Ayman Jarjour vividly recalls the place where he lived for his first two years at International House in New York City. “It was Room 414 in the South Building, the place where I stayed the least,” he said, sitting in the Dining Hall on a crisp fall morning. “I think that was part of the design – you have a small room, but very nice communal spaces, so you spend less time in your room and more time meeting other Residents and being part of the community,” he added, smiling. Jarjour, a Syrian-born classical guitarist and Resident at I-House from 1997 – 2000, returned...

Residents milled around the Main Lounge at I-House, many in traditional clothes from their countries. The smell of cheese and other hors d’oeuvres wafted through the air, and the Lounge was awash with color and conversation. On Friday, November 2, 2018, I-House’s Fall Fiesta had come around again. “Fall Fiesta is one of I-House’s main events. The idea behind it is to celebrate the diversity and cultures in the House,” said Anca Agachi,  an I-House Programs Fellow and one of the event organizers. At the annual Fall Fiesta, I-House Residents showcase their cultures by performing music,...

On Friday, November 13, 2018, Calvin Sims, International House President and CEO, served as a panelist at the inaugural “International Education Day at the UN: Partners in Sustaining Our Future – Sharing Goals in Global Stewardship,” in a session on Global Leadership Development. The panel was moderated by Samantha Lu, Associate Director for International Students Services, Columbia University. Linda Tobash, Senior Director of Policy, Knowledge and Data at World Education Services and Chair-elect of NAFSA’s Leadership Development Committee, and William Gaudelli, Dean of...

On November 1, 2018, the Council on Foreign Relations announced the winner of the Arthur Ross Book Award, the most prestigious for a book on foreign policy. International House President and CEO, Calvin Sims, served on the awards jury. This article first appeared on The Council of Foreign Relations website. November 1, 2018—Professor Stephen Kotkin has won the seventeenth annual Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Arthur Ross Book Award for Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929–1941 (Random House), the second volume of a definitive biography of Joseph Stalin. The book covers major events in the...