Established in 1965 as the Foreign Students Association, the International Students of OSU (ISOSU) oversees organizations of international students with administrative and budgetary support. These organizations, referred to as affiliates, identify themselves by a particular nation, geographic, or cultural region. Examples of these affiliates represented in this collection include: the African Students Association, the Association of Latin American Students, Chinese Students of OSU, the European Students Association, the Indian Students Associaton, Permias (the Indonesian Student Associaton), and the Vietnamese Students Association.
The mission of ISOSU is to facilitate cross-cultural engagement by hosting events and programs that provide social interaction and learning opportunities for international students and faculty as well as members of the Oregon State and Corvallis communities. Any recognized student organization at Oregon State that identifies itself as an international student organization or association can apply to become an affiliate organization of ISOSU. The organization also manages the International Resource Center (IRC) which was formed in 2009 to serve as a public space where international students, their visiting families, and culturally curious locals could gather together informally and for events. From 1977 to 1987, ISOSU was known as the International Student Organization.
These materials were transferred to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center between 2012 and 2017.
Additions to the collection are expected.
Collection is open for research with the exception of the International Student Directories in Series 15.
International Students of Oregon State University (ISOSU) Records (RG 247), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Other collections that document international students at Oregon State include:
Photographs of international students, including views of ISOSU events and officers, can be found in Harriet's Photograph Collection (P HC), the News and Communication Services Photograph Collection (P 057), the Gwil Evans Photograph Collection (P 082), and the
Collections reflecting other OSU international student organizations include the Chatter Club/Friendship Internationale Scrapbook (MSS ChatterClub), the
Interviews with international students that were conducted in 2015 by the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center as a part of the OSU Sesquicentennial Oral History Project can be accessed
The International Students of OSU (ISOSU) Records are made up of 21 series: 1. Correspondence, 1982-2014; 2. Meeting Minutes, 1970-2014; 3. Budget Requests and Information, 1975-2013; 4. Constitutions, 1978-2005; 5. Handbooks, 1986-2016; 6. Student Associations, 1976-2016; 7. Event Files, 1973-2015; 8. Publications, 1975-2010; 9. Surveys and Questionnaires, 2000-2014; 10. Flyers and Posters, 1981-2016; 11. Photographs, 1985-2012; 12. Certificates, 1994-2016; 13. Newspaper Clippings, 1971-2011; 14. Officer and Committee Member Lists, 1972-2003; 15. International Student Directories, 1982-circa 2010; 16. Business Cards, circa 1995-2016; 17. Guestbook, 2010-2015; 18. Officer Notebooks and Log, 1984-2011; 19. Scrapbooks, 1992-circa 2010; 20. Moving Images, 1993-2008; and 21. Plaque, 1997.
The International Students of Oregon State University (ISOSU) Records document the administration, membership, and event programming of the organization and its affiliated student associations. The records consist of materials generated and assembled by ISOSU and include: budget requests, certificates, constitutions, digital files, flyers, a guestbook, handbooks, meeting minutes, moving images, newsletters, newspaper clippings, officer lists, photographs, posters, publications, scrapbooks, survey materials, and VHS videotapes.
Administrative activities reflected in these records primarily focus on budgetary management and event planning. There are budget requests and related documentation generated by both ISOSU, as a body receiving annual funding from the Educational Activities Committee and later the Memorial Union Board, and the student associations, which in turn, receive annual support from ISOSU. There are also separate sets of constitutions reflecting the individual student associations and ISOSU.
The coordination and publicity of events, the central activity of ISOSU and its affiliates, is reflected in photographs, flyers, posters, budgetary records, scrapbooks, moving images, handbooks, and questionnaires for post-event evaluation. Some of these events are annual dinner and performance shows organized by the affiliates to showcase their particular culture(s) (i.e. China Night, European Night, etc.). Much of the documentation generated by the affiliates reflect the organization and publicity of these shows. Other events reflected in these records, such as the International Cultural Exhibit, the International Spring Festival, and annual fashion shows, were organized by ISOSU to highlight all of the affiliate cultures in a single showcase. Traditionally, ISOSU coordinates 2-3 of these kind of events a year. Occasional ISOSU sponsored lecture series, forums, and workshops are also represented in these records.
Born digital materials in this collection are in a variety of file formats: Word documents, PDFs, GIFs, JPegs, Bitmap images, and HTML documents. These files contain meeting minutes, posters, flyers, digital photographs, officer lists, newsletters, and moving images. The bulk of these files (13866 out of a total of 13991) are made up of digital images. They are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 1 is made up of correspondence, memoranda, and press releases documenting interaction amongst ISOSU members as well as with ASOSU and OSU adminstrators. Topics addressed include event planning, workshop announcements, budgetary management, and policy clarification.
Series 2 consists of agendas, minutes, and notes from meetings of the ISOSU Executive Team, the ISOSU Advisory Board, the Finance Committee, and the ISOSU Leadership Council. This series also contains digital files.
This folder contains 28 born digital files reflecting ISOSU meetings and is made up of minutes, agendas, a meeting schedule, and a rolecall list for meeting attendance. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 3 contains budget requests submitted annually by ISOSU to the Educational Activities Committee for funding. Other materials in this series relating to ISOSU's budgetary management include memoranda, meeting minutes, expenditure listings, and budget submission guidelines.
Series 4 is comprised of ISOSU constitutions.
Series 5 consists of handbooks, manuals, and guidelines issued by ISOSU, the Office of Student Involvement, and the Educational Activities Committee. About half of the handbooks are general overviews of policies and procedures while others focus upon specific subjects such as: election guidelines, budgetary management, and event planning and publicity.
This folder is made up of 6 born digital files containing guidelines for the ISOSU election of 1996/97 and application packets for ISOSU officers with hiring guidelines and job responsibilities. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 6 documents the student affiliate organizations administered by ISOSU and reflects financial management, event planning, annual reviews, and mission statements. This series includes budget proposals, constitutions, correspondence, flyers, newspaper clippings, and digital files.
"To promote Australian/New Zealander/Oceanic cultural awareness"
This folder contains 16 born digital files that are primarily made up of mission statements for 13 of the ISOSU affiliate organizations. These appeared on the ISOSU website in 2007. There is also a blank application packet for affiliate registration for the 2008-2009 year. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 7 pertains to the planning and publicity of events organized by ISOSU and the various student associations. In addition to programs and flyers for the events, this series also contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, event schedules, checklists, recipes, and registration paperwork. This series also contains born digital files.
This folder consists of 39 digital files relating to ISOSU events. In addition to monthly calendar listings of events, these files also contain letter templates for the soliciting of event sponsorship, a roster of ISOSU Fashion Show participants, and a list of budgetary resources available to the affiliates for annual event expenses. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 8 consists of publications generated and collected by ISOSU that include newsletters, brochures, reports, and two editions of a cookbook featuring recipes from the world. There are also publications from the OSU Office of International Education, the OSU International Cultural Service Program, and other universities. This series also contains born digital files.
Published by ISOSU and the International Cultural Service Program. Some of the recipes were featured in ISOSU's 1985 and 1987 International Food Fair events.
This folder contains 11 born digital files of ISOSU newsletters and resource guides prepared for international students at OSU. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 9 relates to surveys and questionnaires distributed to attendees of ISOSU sponsored events and to international students to assess their needs and feelings at OSU. Primarily comprised of completed evaluation forms, this series also contains correspondence, blank forms, and aggregate data compiled from surveys.
Series 10 is made up of posters and flyers publicizing events organized by ISOSU as well as the OSU Asian and Pacific Cultural Center. This series also contains digital files.
This folder consists of 18 born digital files containing posters and flyers publicizing events organized by ISOSU and it's affiliated organizations. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 11 consists of photographic and digital images documenting ISOSU events, students, and staff. In total, there are 1207 physical photographs in this series (981 prints, 173 slides, and 53 negatives) and 13866 digital images.
The photographic images are portrait shots of ISOSU officers printed out on paper. The other parts of the display are graphics of flags of various countries and geographical border outlines.
This folder contains 13866 digital photographs arranged in 428 digital folders. They were taken by ISOSU staff and document various ISOSU events. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 12 is made up of certificates awarded to ISOSU by the Office of Student Involvement and the Student Activities Center in recognition of the organization of cultural events for OSU. There are also certificates given by ISOSU to individual student organizations for various honors.
Series 13 is made up of articles and advertisements clipped from the
Series 14 contains listings of officers for both the ISOSU administration and the affiliate student associations. Some of these lists are featured on student organizaton annual review forms. This series also contains born digital files.
This folder is comprised of 7 born digital files containing lists of ISOSU officers. These files are available for viewing in the Reading Room.
Series 15 consists of directories listing international students enrolled at OSU. These directories contain confidential information and their access is restricted.
Series 16 is made up of business cards collected by ISOSU that reflect a combination of ISOSU members, OSU staff in various departments, ASOSU members, student media staff, and off-campus businesses.
Series 17 consists of a guestbook containing messages, drawings, and poems written by visitors to the International Resource Center.
Series 18 is made up of notebooks assembled by ISOSU officers that reflect administrative activities and contain budgetary information, meeting minutes, memoranda, notes, and positon descriptons.The log contains written messages between officers.
Series 19 is made up of four scrapbooks assembled by ISOSU staff and students. Primarily comprised of photographs and newspaper clippings, the scrapbooks document ISOSU events as well as containing stories about malevolent spirits and haunted places from around the world. This series contains 188 photographic prints.
Contains images (printed from the web) and descriptions of buildings and places around the world connected with legends of ghosts and hauntings. Loose squares of paper with images of demonic figures from different cultures found inside the scrapbook are beng retained in the same folder as the scrapbook. The scrapbook is handmade with sheets of paper bound by pieces of ribbon.
Contains images (printed from the web) and stories of haunted folk tales from Japan, Mexico, Australia, and other places. The scrapbook is handmade with sheets of paper bound by pieces of ribbon.
Series 20 consists of nine VHS Videotapes and two digital files containing recorded footage of ISOSU events, including: China Night, Japan Night, International Thanksgiving, and the International Fashion Show.
Video can be accessed
Video can be accessed
Series 21 is comprised of a plaque recognizing the service of ISOSU presidents from 1989/90 to 1995/1996.