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Foreign Fellows Bring Internationalism to Students' Doorsteps All Year Long

>>> Bringing the world to you--foreign fellows take courses at MHC while sharing their cultures with students in language courses and through special international events held throughout the academic year. Clockwise from left front: Danyue Chen '97, Karen Lippoldt , Margarita Ramos-Godinez, Aline Cristesco, Ham head resident Amy James, Ham Hall president Carolyn Dufault '97, James's son Jake Ford.

Foreign Fellows bring the world's cultures to MHC students while strengthening the language programs and campus life generally. Six Language Fellows (LFs) and nine Language Assistants (LAs) from as many nations assist in classes, lead conversation sections, and organize language department events in exchange for tuition, room and board, a stipend, and a year in the United States. LFs live at Ham Hall and organize its language tables, gracious dinners, and the international events that make Ham special.

"People think college students don't get up early," Ham Hall president Carolyn Dufault '97 says, "but we have a big breakfast crowd and conversations are international in scope, like [discussing] what's happening in China now. I'll miss hearing how news affects people and their families firsthand, over eggs and coffee." Dufault thinks Ham is more international than her semester abroad was: "I learned more about Rome when [Italian LF] Antonella Strambi helped me make sense of the politics and history I saw."

Foreign Fellows receive a certificate for international students for their twenty or more credits of study at MHC. Danyue Chen '97 of China and Mina Ohuchi '99 of Japan also fill LF roles. LFs meet regularly with Ham head residents Amy James and Bob Ford, assistant director of residential life Elizabeth Hogan, and assistant dean of international affairs Joanne Picard to plan and coordinate dorm and department cultural events. Picard says LFs and LAs have the same instructional duties, which vary among language departments, but her office "just started to bring LAs together across interdepartmental lines, like LFs, to discuss suggestions and teaching strategies, and their needs as international students."

Recent events in Ham have included a big French department party, a Japanese post-gracious dinner sushi party, foreign film nights, and special M&Cs with Japanese rice treats or the snacks that LF Margarita Ramos-Godinez of Mexico taught people to make. Foreign Fellows held an international Jeopardy game on world geography, history, politics, and current events. The campus bakery made "real French bread" for a French gracious dinner so LF Aline Cristesco could show how, "In France, we just rip the bread; don't hold back!" German LF Karen Lippoldt put candy in shoes by doors on St. Nicholas Day. And when a dance tape arrived from Costa Rica, James says, "The entire living room was packed!"

The Foreign Fellows are "caring and impressively studious" women," James says, who "bring a maturity to campus and provide a bridge for seniors into the larger world." Mount Holyoke has 250 foreign students, a large number for its size. "A friend who visits me is jealous," one LF confides: "She's the only foreign student at her college." Dufault says, The Foreign Fellows program is a wonderful part of MHC that brings together so many amazing wonderful women from all over the world for a few years."