The word “paperwork” generally doesn’t evoke images of comfort, security, and happiness. And yet, the strong relationships that staff in WPI’s Office of International Student Life develop with students are, in large part, built on a foundation of government forms and legal documents.
“When people ask what I do, I usually tell them I work in immigration,” says Colleen Callahan-Panday, director of International Student Life (ISL). “We help with pretty much anything an international student does that touches the US government.”
That translates to about 4,000 student appointments a year for Callahan-Panday and the other two staff members in the ISL office. Together, the small but mighty team helps roughly 1,400 WPI students and recent alumni with a range of services, including applying for Social Security numbers, securing driver’s licenses, filing taxes, submitting visa paperwork, and applying for work permits. While some of these services may not seem directly related to studying at WPI, all are helpful—and in some cases necessary—to working as a research or teaching assistant, as many graduate students do.
Students gather during this year's International Orientation breakfast.
Of course, there’s more to life than paperwork, and the Office of International Student Life offers other services, too. In addition to serving as advisor to the International Student Council, Callahan-Panday and her staff work with many of WPI’s cultural student groups and help coordinate campuswide events and initiatives, such as International Education Month, which is held annually in November (see below).
“In many ways our office is like the host family in America for a lot of the students. It’s a safe space where they can come and share things,” she says. “I take pride in the fact that we holistically work with students.”
An important piece of that holistic work is acclimating students to life in a new country—including helping many prepare for their first-ever cold winter. And as ISL staff members get to know each new incoming cohort, they enjoy learning about students’ customs and celebrating that diversity with the wider campus community.
In any given year, WPI has about 1,000 international students from about 80 countries around the globe; roughly two-thirds of those are graduate students. Annually, ISL also works with 400–500 alumni who have special work permits related to their STEM degrees and about 20 exchange students from universities in Armenia, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland who are doing a semester- or yearlong program at WPI.
