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International
student group forms alumni organization After planning for more than a year, TCU alumni with international backgrounds laid the foundations of the TCU International Student Association Alumni organization, said Patricia Endara-Zosso after the first meeting of the organization Sunday. Endara-Zosso, who is from Panama, graduated in 1998 and served as the president of the International Student Association in 1997-98. She said she helped organize the new alumni chapter to make it easier for former international students to keep in touch after graduation.
“It is much harder to stay in touch when there are literally oceans and continents separating one from another,” Endara-Zosso said. John Singleton, director of International Student Services, said that his office has the contact information for about 500 former international students, but there are a lot more who they have lost communication with. Endara-Zosso said former international students represent a valuable source of contacts for TCU worldwide that would be wasted without an organization to maintain the connection. An official organization of former international students is not only useful for keeping connections among members but it also has the potential to help TCU counsel new students from abroad, said Stefan Zosso of Switzerland, a 1997 graduate. “When arriving to TCU as a foreigner from a totally different culture it is easy to become confused by the system and customs of the new environment,” said Zosso, who served as the president of ISA in 1996-97. The TCU ISA Alumni organization will be a formal network that is not only for international students but for any students who need advice in finding jobs globally or dealing with immigration and work authorization locally, Zosso said. He said that in the long run the new alumni chapter plans to set up an endowment for a scholarship to help international students and improve international relations. Marija Gluscevic, who if from Yugoslavia, earned her bachelor’s degree in 1997 and her master’s in 1999 at TCU. She said members of the alumni association are not just spreading the word about TCU around the globe as representatives, but they also contribute to recruitment of prospective students. Currently, there are 423 international students enrolled at TCU, but based on the number of applications the International Student Services received for next semester, the office expects this number to rise, Singleton said. Raquel Torres, a senior e-business major and current president of ISA, said that TCU’s recognition of the new alumni organization reflects the university’s goal to become a global institution. “Keeping international graduates involved with TCU is a part of being global,” Torres said. David
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