International Student House Washington, DC

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An Evening at the Embassy of Liechtenstein

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International Student House of Washington, DC (ISH-DC) resident scholars and alumni from around the world had an incredible evening hosted by His Excellency Kurt Jaeger, the Ambassador of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Ambassador Jaeger, along with his wife, Laurette, graciously welcomed us to their residence in mid-June for a summer “Happy Hour” to enjoy wonderful conversation and learn about Ambassador Jaeger’s work representing his country here in Washington.  Our resident scholars also learned many new facts about the incredible country of Liechtenstein as they spent the evening conversing with Ambassador and Mrs. Jaeger, as well at representatives from the Embassy.

International Student House actively promotes inter-cultural dialogue and building an international community, therefore we highly encourage our resident scholars to engage in the exciting networking opportunities that are often uniquely found in Washington.  We are immensely grateful to Ambassador Jaeger and the Embassy for such a kind welcome and giving our residents a perfect opportunity to engage in substantive conversation.  Not only were they able to hone their networking skills, but they also learned from the Ambassador’s expertise in both the public and private sectors.

What a wonderful evening to remember!

 

Highlights from our 2018 Spring Garden Party

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On May 22 not even torrential rain could stop nearly 250 guests from celebrating spring and ISH-DC’s mission.  Foreign Ambassadors, Members of Congress, alumni, Board members, and friends joined our resident scholars from 28 countries for our annual Garden Party.  This year, we were especially pleased to welcome leaders from International Houses across the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Romania who were here for the International Houses Worldwide Director’s Conference, which you can learn all about here.

Guests, including Laurette Jaeger, wife of His Excellency Kurt Jaeger, Ambassador of Liechtenstein; Isabel Vital, wife of His Excellency Domingos Fezas Vital, Ambassador of Portugal; and His Excellency Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu, Ambassador of South Africa.

Guests were able to see firsthand the community we have built and our strong focus on cross-cultural understanding.  This was also an amazing opportunity for our alumni to share the long lasting impact that living at the House has had on their careers as well as their personal lives.

ISH-DC Resident Scholars Rose Twagirumukiza from Rwanda, Boban Markovic from Serbia (alumnus), Maria Tilander from Sweden, and Tamara Schranz from Austria.

Our residents were able to connect and have inspiring conversations with our guests that are extremely successful in their career fields. This opportunity to network with various Washingtonians and diplomats is a vital part of their experience living at the House that prepares them for the future.

The Garden Party was a wonderfully successful event. It may have been dark and storming outside, but residents, alumni and guests alike lit up the house as they shared their love for International Student House of Washington, DC.

ISH-DC Executive Director Tom O’Coin, Congressman Alan Lowenthal, Deborah Malumed, ISH-DC Board President Cynthia Bunton

 

International Houses Worldwide (IHWW) Executive Directors Conference in Washington, DC

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International Student House of Washington, DC (ISH-DC) recently had the privilege of hosting the Executive Directors from Alberta, Bucharest, Chicago, London, Melbourne, New York City, and many more cities around the world for the annual International Houses Worldwide (IHWW) Directors Conference.

IHWW is a consortium of 17 International Houses (“I-Houses”) unified by a common mission: To provide students of different nationalities and diverse cultures with the opportunity to live and learn together in a community of mutual respect, understanding, and international friendship. This mission is achieved by daily interaction among our resident scholars through programs and community life designed to foster diversity of thought and experience. This dynamic flow of ideas elevates our communities as places where students and scholars from around the world can all share discoveries, approaches, and points of view.  I-Houses are home to 9,500 residents annually, graduate and undergraduate, from more than 125 countries.  Collectively, almost 350,000 individuals are alumni of an I-House, creating an unparalleled alumni network.  Many alumni have lived in more than one International House, and the friendships that they have made during their stays last a lifetime.

The Executive Directors from around the world spent the week engaging in a number of substantive conference sessions focused on shared opportunities, during which the Directors had the opportunity to participate in extensive dialogue to critically and constructively address common issues and practices.  This annual conference is an important time for International House leadership to come together and support one another as they look toward a strong future of a growing, robust, and diverse community of resident scholars and alumni.

During their time with us, the Directors also had the opportunity to enjoy a modest number of cultural activities unique to Washington, including a tour of Mount Vernon, the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Diplomatic Reception Rooms at the U.S. Department of State.  They also had the privilege of joining His Excellency Geir Haarde, Ambassador of Iceland, for an evening reception at his residence.  Ambassador Haarde graciously welcomed the group into his home and spoke eloquently of his time as resident scholar at ISH-DC, and the strong life-long bonds he established here in the 1970’s that remain to this very day.  Ambassador Walter Cutler, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Zaire, and Mrs. Didi Cutler, ISH-DC Board Member, also warmly welcomed our IHWW leadership to their Georgetown home for an evening reception following a substantive day of conference sessions.

These International Houses around the world promote dialogue and understanding through shared spaces and experiences, and the exceptional leadership of each individual I-House ensures the mission thrives and remains strong.  ISH-DC was honored to host this year’s Directors Conference, and we look forward to the coming years as we continue to work together and support each other in our shared mission.

ISH-DC Thanks Robert J. Abernethy for Investing in our Students

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ISH-DC is very pleased to recognize Robert J. Abernethy and the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions for their very generous renewal of financial support for ISH-DC’s scholarship initiative.  Mr. Abernethy’s gift provides residential scholarships for graduate students living at the House and attending Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).  Over the past four years, twenty-six graduate students from 18 countries have benefited from his generosity.  Without this critical support, these students would not have had the financial means to benefit from living in ISH-DC’s intercultural community.   Our Abernethy Scholars have graduated from SAIS and pursued successful careers at The World Bank, businesses, and nonprofit organizations around the world.  All of them carry the lessons learned and friendships made here at the House with them.

Cultural Nights at ISH: Strengthening the ISH Community, by Resident Scholar Rakesh Gupta

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“The House promotes inter-cultural dialogue, encourages life-long connections, and fosters global citizenship.” “Our mission has proven to be more important than ever, given the times in which we now live.” These two sentences taken from the ISH DC website lives up to the experience as a resident at ISH to say the least.

ISH is a place that facilitates its residents to make beautiful connections and relationships; benefit and contribute to and from each resident. The resident initiated national celebrations and festival celebrations are only a few of such examples.

Mexican Night
Italian Night

The recent events of the past months at the house include the Ferragosto day, Mexican night, Bollywood night and the Octoberfest, apart from all the other cookouts that happen at our very own ISH. These present themselves as the unique and rich public goods created and initiated by the residents and generously facilitated by the management with resources and infrastructure. Residents are excited and look forward to these events almost the entire week before, building up to the hype and exceedingly delivering on expectations. These events are charged with positive energy, perhaps enabled a tiny bit by culturally appropriate beverages (will not alter the outcome of the events, so keep the Mezcal and artisan beer coming!) accompanied with delicious food. Oh, did I forget to mention the dancing? The hours of dancing that follow almost all events is icing on the cake!

Every event contributes and enriches to the rich diversity that ISH offers that we as residents appreciate and learn from. This is enabled by the distinctive and continual different groups of residents that ISH hosts comprising of brilliant, well-rounded, tolerant, open-minded, interesting and fun people from across the globe.

These events which bring the entire ISH community together have also led to smaller groups for various purposes – helping each other on assignments, weekend getaways, Thursday Frontpage alliances, Saturday El Centro groups, board game nights, resident salons, kayaking on the Potomac, whisky tasting, running club, movies groups, movie nights, yoga classes, French classes, volunteering, museum going groups, and several others.

This is all very welcome as these ultimately generate positive externalities and contribute to the immense and growing social capital of the ISH community. My stay here at ISH since March 2017 has reminded me several times of what my then Rector at the Norwegian Folk School where I spent a year as a Youth (Norwegian) Peace Corps, that the intangible experiences of inter-cultural dialogue and relationships that we make will have lasting effects on us as individuals. This is very true with my stay here at ISH, and I’m very glad to be a part of it. So, ISH has got everything going right especially with these events that bring almost all residents together, kudos on that!

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Rakesh Gupta NICHANAMETLA RAMASUBBAIAH is working at the Development Research Group division of the World Bank in Washington DC. He is also a PhD candidate at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne / Paris School of Economics. He holds a Master degree in Quantitative Economics from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS-Ulm) and Paris School of Economics specializing in Public Policy and Development; a University Diploma in Applied Mathematics from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne; and an Executive MBA from Alliance University.

His primary field of research is microeconometrics of development economics, with a particular interest in impact evaluation. He’s currently working on questions of intergenerational mobility across the world at the World Bank. Previously, he was working on early childhood development, social sectors budgeting, child poverty and Monitoring and Impact Evaluation of programs as a UNICEF Fellow at Economic Policy Research Centre in Uganda. Alongside, his PhD funded by the French Agency for Development (AFD) and Chaire Energie et Prosperité is on social capital and subjective well-being as an extension of the capabilities approach. He has also worked on the statistical foundations of coherent, composite, multidimensional development indicators, including Relational Capability Index.

His other work experience includes: ESSEC Business School (IRENE-CODEV) on social capital and relational capabilities research; launch team of Uber in Paris; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on fiscal impacts of environmental policies; Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) on a banking and credit services study; United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) on environmental policies’ distributional impact in the Asia Pacific; and also at Goldman Sachs as a hedge funds analyst.

International Student House of Washington, DC | 1825 R Street, NW | Washington, DC 20009

International Student House of Washington, DC is a private, non-profit 501(c)3 organization located near Dupont Circle in the heart of Washington, DC. Donations will help support our mission to provide an exceptional residential experience to a highly diverse international community of graduate students, interns and visiting scholars. The House promotes inter-cultural dialogue, encourages life-long connections, and fosters global citizenship.