Dec. 2, 2003

GW Picks New International Services Director

By Thomas Kohout

The University recently named Tara Griffin as the new director of the International Services Office. Griffin is charged with managing a department responsible for coordinating immigration advising, cultural adjustment workshops and orientation programs for more than 2,500 international students at GW. It’s a task made more difficult due to new restrictions imposed by the Department of Homeland Security known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS).

“This past year has been particularly difficult for international services offices at universities throughout the US,” Griffin said. “There have been some bumps in the road for international students in terms of the government regulations for tracking students.”

The Department of Homeland Security put the SEVIS program in place to track international students, in particular the students’ report dates to the school, whether they are taking full-time regular classes, and when they enter and exit the country.

“In the past universities tracked students themselves,” explained Griffin. “Now that information is sent to the US government.”

The changes requires a great deal of additional paper work. To assist with the new procedures, the office recently added four staff members, three new advisers to work with the students in addition to an executive assistant.

This month the office will move to new space on K Street. Currently the office is sharing space with another department and the staff is spread among several floors of Rice Hall. Griffin looks forward to having the space to offer what she refers to as “on-call” advising for students who walk in looking for assistance during specific times.

One of the projects she’s interested in outside of her international services responsibilities is to serve on a committee looking at internationalization issues.

“My impression is that there are a lot of things going on all over campus. So I’d like to maybe bring together some of those efforts and determine ways to best use the resources that we have.”

Currently no such committee exists, but Griffin has heard that there is a groundswell of interest in the subject. “That’s what you need, people who believe in the mission of internationalization and who can be spokespeople for that mission.”

Griffin brings a wealth of experience to the position having served in the International Services Office at Boston University while completing her PhD in French literature. Prior to returning to school for her PhD, Griffin worked in the international student exchange program at Georgetown University. The bulk of her experience, however, came during her service as the assistant director of the international center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

Related Link

International Services Office