My new job

My first day of work as the International Student Advisor was on Wednesday. I didn't get home until 6:15 and was just absolutely exhausted and on information overload. My co-workers were so excited to have this position filled that they all felt it necessary for me to know EVERYTHING so they could be relieved of the duties they had been assigned from the vacant position.

I really like everyone I work with. Most of them are women in their early thirties, so many of them are potential friends. Apparently about five of us are new, so we're all doing our best to figure out who is supposed to do what and how. As frustrating as this may sound, I think it's going to be good because we can make our jobs to be whatever we want them to be. The only downside is that we don't really have a guide. Very little was left by any of our predecessors, so we're having to reinvent the wheel. But again, they're so happy to finally have someone in my position because apparently a lot of what they do depends on what I do, and they've all been waiting to do anything until I came.

I just learned on Friday that the new students arrive on September 14th, so that basically gives me/us ten days to plan orientation. Yikes! But since I just finished planning/doing orientation at FPU, I'm still sort of in orientation mode. I just need to learn what I need to know in order to teach them. We'll see how it goes.

I haven't gone through any of the lists or files yet, but it looks as though most of my students are from Asia (primarily Japan and Korea). Central doesn't offer any scholarships (even to athletes), so there's very little hope for students from third-world areas. There are about 300 international students total, but that consists of the ESL students, one-year exchange students and what they call the "matriculated" students, students who plan to get a degree from CWU. I will be the Advisor for the 100 matriculated students which includes grads and undergrads. I will serve not only as their immigration advisor, but the academic advisor for the undergrads who have not yet declared their major. I will also provide basic services, too, like personal counseling, advocacy and adjustment issues. It might just take me a while to get to know all of them.