Weisen_Capstone_Final-paged

REENTRY FOR THE NET GENERATION
ADDRESSING INTERNATIONAL STUDENT NEEDS THROUGH AN ONLINE TRAINING
INSTRUMENT
Elizabeth K. Weisenburger
PIM 63
Capstone Paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Intercultural
Service, Leadership, and Management at the School for International Training, Brattleboro,
Vermont, USA.
September 15, 2008
Linda Gobbo, Advisor

The author hereby grants to the School for International Training the permission to reproduce
either electronically or in print format this document in whole or in part for library archival
purposes only.
The author hereby does _____ does not _____ grant to the School for International Training the
permission to electronically reproduce and transmit this document to the students, alumni, staff,
and faculty of the World Learning Community.
Author’s Signature__________________________
 Elizabeth K. Weisenburger, 2008. All rights reserved.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’d like to thank my loving family and friends for their support and prayers for me throughout the
Capstone process. I would most especially like to thank my parents, Dr. Thomas and Diane
Weisenburger, for laboring to love and support me so enthusiastically through my graduate
studies and the completion of my Capstone Research, which was accomplished under their care
while recuperating from a debilitating illness. I heartily thank Dr. Christina Sanchez, Director of
the University of San Francisco (USF) International Student Services Office. She was not only
my practicum advisor, but she was also my professional mentor and friend. It was under her
approval and support that this research was born and conducted. Additionally, a big thanks goes
out to the USF staff and faculty whom I interviewed. Their collaborative nature and passion for
international students made my work all the more enjoyable. My heartfelt love and thanks to my
dearest friend Janie Worster, my PIM 63 Capstone Buddy Michaela Brehm, and my Christian
community of friends whom all persisted in their encouragement, love and spiritual support to
help me persevere and finish what I had begun, even when my health challenges seemed
insurmountable. Lastly, gratitude goes to my Lord Jesus Christ, my sun, my bread, and my
sustaining grace for whose glory this research is due.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables iv
Abstract v
Introduction and Statement of Research Question 1
Literature Review 6
Research Methodology 19
Presentation of Data 22
Analysis of Data 35
Conclusions 39
Statement of Conclusion
Practical Applicability
Recommendations for further research
Appendix A 46
Appendix B 48
Bibliography 50

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LIST OF TABLES
Table
1. USF Staff & Faculty Perceived Roles and the Demographic of International 22
Students They Serve
2. Perceived International Student Reentry Needs 24
3. USF Staff & Faculty Suggestion to Address International Student Re- Entry 29
Needs via an Online Reentry Training Instrument

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ABSTRACT
For international students who leave the familiarity of home to study in the US, it can be
surprising to find that in returning home they may face a re-acculturation process similar to the
one experienced abroad. Reentry workshops have been proven to be the most effective ways of
preparing students for the process of returning home, yet due to the concrete challenges that US
colleges and universities face in implementing them to unaware students, they are a topic of low
priority are rarely administered. In this digital age, practitioners have suggested implementing
online reentry training as an inventive solution to the challenges of reentry preparation.
This research explores the perceived reentry needs specific to international students at the
University of San Francisco (USF) and how those needs can be addressed through a online
reentry training instrument. Standardized open-ended interviews were conducted with nine
members of USF faculty and staff to assess their perceived needs of the international students
with whom they closely work, investigating ways to creatively address those needs via an online
reentry training and ongoing orientation efforts with the International Student Services office.
The findings indicated seven salient reentry needs including reconciling residency
expectations after graduation, successful career transition, and contextualizing reentry in overall
life transition. Accompanied training suggestions include online role-playing, utilizing and
developing international job social networking databases and web spaces, and posting alumni
student anecdotes. Done to equip international students for a more successful reentry home, the
process undertaken by USF to assess and implement an online reentry training can be a template
of collaboration for other colleges and universities seeking to address reentry preparation.

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Introduction and Statement of Research Question
“There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home,” wrote the essayist Margaret Sangster.
Indeed, “home” for most of us conjures up the deepest sense of belonging and familiarity. Yet,
for those who leave the familiarity of home to work or study abroad, it can be surprising to find
that in returning home, what was once so intimately familiar can become surprisingly alien. It
would naturally seem unreasonable that anyone should have difficulty fitting back to one’s
country whose values and customs are so intimately familiar (Austin 1996). Yet, this is a reality
most intercultural sojourners experience in leaving their place of belonging at home in exchange
for belonging elsewhere.
In returning home, intercultural sojourners can find that they have developed and
integrated values, expectations, and behaviors that are different from the ones they had at home,
undergoing a re-acculturation process similar to the one experienced abroad (Freedman 1983;
Butcher 2003; Brabant, Palmer, Gramling 1990; Gama and Pedersen 1977). This re-adaptation at
home can lend itself to surprise, shock, and unpreparedness, an experience also known as
“reentry shock.” Reentry shock has been shown to create a range of difficulties, including
psychological distress with interpersonal relationships, particularly with friends and family,
conflict with self and family expectations, and reverse homesickness (Storti 1997).
A large demographic of intercultural sojourners are represented by the international
students enrolled in US colleges and universities whose numbers reached approximately over
half a million in the 2006/2007 academic year1
. Drawn to the opportunities of higher education
in the US, they expend vast amounts of personal and economic capital in pursuit of their
academic and career goals. Entering the US, they are granted an F-1 or J-1 visa intended for
1
582,984 students according to The Institute of International Education’s 2007 Open Doors report

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students and scholars who can demonstrate non-immigrant intent. Though some international
students come for short-term semester or year-long study, most come to complete a degree
program, spending the entirety of their undergraduate and graduate years studying and living in
the culture and language of their American university and its environs. In sum, their study abroad
and reentry experience, which most often ends with practical training and/or a career transition,
can be one of profound adaptation and transition.
Having lived and worked with international students and in field of study abroad in
various personal and professional capacities, I sought to further my theoretical and skill training
in intercultural education and management at the School for International Training. My graduate
student practicum at the International Student Services Office (ISS) at the University of San
Francisco (USF) returned me to the field of international student services and allowed me to put
my newly-acquired knowledge and training into practice. USF enrolls approximately 550
international students and scholars each year2
. With the support of the ISS Director, I sought and
was given the task of implementing an accessible and portable way to address reentry
preparation for USF international students through an online training instrument, developed and
implemented in collaboration with the Information Technology (IT) department. My interest in
addressing international student reentry was born from an identified need at USF and my own
experience as a study abroad student who experienced reentry shock. It was further fueled by the
discrepancies I witnessed in the professional field of international education where intercultural
tools and reentry trainings were being widely employed by study abroad offices and seemingly
less so in the international student services offices, who were increasingly burdened with
immigration compliance.
2
Accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the university’s 8,500-member student
body is composed of students from 75 countries, and is ranked in the Top 15 national universities for student
diversity and international student enrollment.

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I began my Capstone research addressing the most basic cornerstone of training
development, a needs assessment (Silverman & Auerbach 1998). In tandem with the needs
assessment, I wanted to generate ideas on how those needs could be creatively addressed through
the online training instrument that would be implemented. My research thus sought to answer the
following question: What are the perceived reentry needs of international students at the
University of San Francisco and how can those needs be addressed through a culture-general
online training instrument? The findings will be used by the International Student Services
Office (ISS) to inform the content of this instrument and its ongoing orientation of international
students.
It has been advocated and proven that through training and preparation, international
students can understand that the emotions and experiences they may face upon reentry are
normal and be given skills, attitudes, and knowledge to help them re-adapt successfully. The fact,
however, is that most international students are not being prepared before returning home
(Williams 2006). Though it is common for international students who study in the United States
to attend extensive orientation programs held by their universities when they first arrive in this
country, it is rare for American colleges and universities to offer reentry preparation or training
(Williams 2006; Cox 2006; Adams 1993; Arthur 2003). It is a topic of low priority in most US
colleges and universities due to challenges in institutional support, the prohibitive time and
resources necessary to design, implement, and advertise a workshop, and uninterested
international students. Because of these challenges, few reentry workshops or information
sessions are being implemented (Cox 2006, Williams 2006).

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The ISS office at USF is charged with both an advisory and programmatic mission.3
Its
staff carries out this mission through on-campus orientation, immigration advising, Student and
Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS)4
compliance, year-round tax and visa workshops,
personal counseling appointments, and the sponsorship of on-campus global awareness and
cultural enrichment programs. With a campus culture that seeks to promote seamless learning,
ISS staff are not limited to their collaboration with only those in the Student Life Department,
under which it is housed. The ISS Director often accepts invitations to do intercultural trainings
with both Student Life and academic departments and chairs a task force with ISS staff that
involves faculty and staff who are interested in promoting the well being of international students
in all areas of on-campus life: the classroom, housing, academic services, etc. Though they make
their work seem easy, it accomplished with great dedication, Herculean efforts, and a minimal
budget.
Incoming orientation and the above-stated on-campus programs help to support
international students throughout the academic year. There are efforts to give graduating students
recognition, celebrating their accomplishments with a newly instituted annual graduation party.
Yet, apart from this party and a career workshop done in collaboration with Career Services,
there is no existing preparation for students’ return home. Implementing an online reentry
training takes advantage of the growing technological options available to educators and
administrators in surmounting the lack of time and resources available in offering student reentry
support (Cox 2006).
3
USF ISS Office Mission: International Student Services promotes a global perspective for the USF community
through educational and programmatic outreach while fostering the holistic development of international
students/scholars by providing support services and immigration advising.
4
The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is used to track and monitor schools and
programs, students, exchange visitors and their dependents throughout the duration of approved participation within
the U.S. education system (http://www.ice.gov/sevis/).

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Taking advantage of technology is nothing new. Web sites, blog spots, Facebook groups,
and other such internet developments have bursted into cyberspace with rapid growth and
international educators and administrators have responded, changing the ways in which they
educate, train, and administrate students and their programs (Rhodes 1995). There are countless
ways in which colleges, universities, and in-country sending agencies have harnessed the internet
to their advantage by hosting web pages and student blogs dedicated to the marketing of
prospective international students, posting required documents online, and utilizing Yahoo and
Facebook groups to communicate with and support students. Even the once encumbering and
voluminous International Student Advising Manual, published by the National Association of
International Educators (NAFSA), is now online with immigration updates made in real-time.
NAFSA has even formed a technology Special Interest Group and boasts an award-winning
resource website for its professional members. Though such developments do not replace
person-to-person contact and collaboration, it reflects the practical implications of technology for
international education practitioners.
In 2002-2003, Dr. LaBrack, a long-time NAFSA member and professor of Anthropology
and International Studies at the University of the Pacific, received a federal education grant to
create one of the first interactive cross-cultural training websites for use and modification by
intercultural practitioners. “What’s Up With Culture?” (http://www.uop.edu/sis/culture/) was
developed from over 30 years of cross-cultural training coursework developed at his university
and the School for International Studies (SIS). Though there are current developments in the
field to further develop online cross-cultural training, this site has remained a standard in its use
by international educators and administrators.

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It is Dr. LaBrack’s site that will provide the basis and template for USF’s reentry training
instrument. The following literature review and the perceived international student needs and
suggestions to meet those needs that this research is intended to generate will be used to inform
and modify its content. It is hoped that the research and pursuant training instrument helps USF
international students better understand and transition back home with the skills, attitudes, and
behaviors they need to succeed.
Literature Review
Anyone interested in international student reentry quickly finds that excavating the
existing reentry literature to find current and culture-general research can be a challenging task.
Ironically, student sojourners are perhaps the best–researched group of cross-cultural travelers,
according to Bochner, Ward, and Furnham (2001). There is an extensive body of work that has
focused on friendship networks and skills acquisition, inter-group perceptions and relations, the
prediction of psychological, socio-cultural and academic adaptation, and fluctuations in cross-
cultural adaptation over time. Yet, though there is considerable theoretical and empirical research
on international students when they come to the United States, there is comparatively little on the
adaptive process of returning and adapting back home (Bochner, Ward, & Furnham 2001; Martin
1984; Grabant, Palmer, & Grambling 1990).
A major factor for this absence of reentry research is the large difficulty of conducting
cross-national research (Grabant, Palmer, & Grambling 1990). Though there has been a lack of
recent theory development in cultural general cross-cultural reentry research since the internet
age (Williams, 2006. p.12), several empirical studies have emerged, the greater of them have

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centered on one or two specific nationality group of students and the variables that affect their
reentry, such as family relations, age, nationality, and gender (Cox 2006, p.5).
Historical Reentry Research Materials
Theoretical Research
Resoundingly, the majority of intercultural scholars and practitioners are continuing the
use and modification of classic theories like the Gullahorn and Gullahorn’s classic W-curve
theory and pursuant stage theories to describe the complex reentry transition that intercultural
sojourners experience (Martin 1984, Cox 2006). Though not without its critics that question its
continued permanence and validity, these theories continue to be used for lack of alternatives.
Yet, the caveat remains: care and caution should be used and students reminded that these are
models and not exact predictors for how the will experience reentry or the emotions that attend to
it. As one international educator explained it:
Sojourners face different circumstances that can profoundly influence their entry and
reentry experience and influence the phases of their transition. If educators utilize this
model to explain entry and reentry to students; they should use caution to assure students
that it is a model and not an exact indicator of how they will feel or react during
acculturation and re-acculturation. (Cox 2006, p. 23)
The majority of reentry literature cites Gullahorn and Gullahorn’s classic W-curve
hypothesis. The W-curve hypothesis was first developed as a concept in 1963, extending
Lysgaard’s U-curve hypothesis (1955). Having studied Fulbright students, they found that
students, after having acculturated to their host country, found themselves undergoing a similar
re-acculturation upon return home. The W-cure has six stages: 1) Stages of euphoria and
optimism in the new country, (2) a decline in adjustment to the host culture followed by (3) a

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recovery stage of increasing adjustment, (4) initial feelings of euphoria and satisfaction after
returning to the home country followed by (5) another decline in adjustment in the home culture
and, finally (6) if they are able to make the final adjustment there is a stage of recovery and
increased adjustment (Gama and Pedersen 1997, p.47).
Stage theories, where researchers have conceptualized the adjustment process in stages
and phases, have also been used to understand reentry as well. Though there are different names
used for the stages most researchers follow something similar, to the following:
A honeymoon phase, where the sojourner is excited by the experience, followed by a period
characterized by confusion or disintegration in confronting new beliefs, values, and
behaviors. This “culture shock” phase may be marked by withdrawal, confrontation,
depression, and alienation. A final stage is “recovery” or adjustment, characterized by
increased sensitivity, understanding and appreciation for host culture. (Martin 1984, p.115)
Other more recent and less used models are Martin’s (1986) communication-centered
theory and Art Freedman’s (1980) strategies for managing cultural transitions. Martin’s
communication-centered theory is based on four assumptions: 1) In order to understand the role
of communication in reentry, we should examine the sojourner’s communication (acquisition of
meanings and rules) in three cultural contexts: the home environment before leaving, the foreign
culture, and the reentry environment. 2) The intercultural sojourn is viewed as a process of
change for the individual, including changes in meaning structure, in internalized rules for
interaction, and in concomitant communication behaviors. 3) For the intercultural sojourner,
reentry is the process of understanding and interpreting changes- in the home environment and in
reentry relationships. 4) It is through communication with others that the sojourner reenters.
Art Freedman, in A Strategy for Managing “Cultural” Transitions: Reentry from
Training, writes of the migration from one’s host or foreign culture to one’s native culture
delineating the transition into three stages: conflict, disconfirmation, and renegotiation. Conflict

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occurs upon coming home when sojourners realize they can’t pick up where left off.
Disconfirmation happens when hopeful expectations of family, friends, and associates are
challenged or disconfirmed. During this reentry process, individuals’ level of comfort,
effectiveness, and satisfaction dip down almost as far as when they first migrated to the foreign
culture. However, after going through the same cycle of cultural shock impact, recoil, and
accommodation, their equilibrium becomes somewhat restored and new but increasingly secure
relationships begin to be established with citizens of native culture. Renegotiation happens when
enduring and meaningful new relationships are reformed and based on the creation of new and
mutually acceptable expectations. Students will have to be prepared to modify their recently
acquired foreign behavior in order not to give up the benefits derived from their travels. They
can attempt to model their newly acquired behavior for their fellow natives—inviting them to
tolerate, accept, maybe experiment with new behavior themselves (Freedman, 1980).
Critical variables have been identified in much of the empirical research done on reentry
(Martin 1984). The different kinds of variables that Martin has identified as background
variables are: (1) gender, age and academic level, previous cross-cultural experience, and
nationality, (2) host culture variables, location and duration of sojourn, degree of interaction with
host culture, and (3) reentry variables as the physical and social environment of the sojourners
return.
As a complement to Cox’s caveat to the use of the above theories, models, and concepts
used above, Martin (1986) advocates the need to consider the process nature of reentry. Reentry
cannot be defined in external temporary boundaries, as sojourners psychologically prepare and
anticipate transitions prior to physically leaving, the locus of the process thus being internal.
Additionally, in explaining the essential components of reentry training design and

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implementation, she speaks of the importance of conceptualizing reentry in the larger perspective
of adult transition. Within the larger context of adult transition, she talks about addressing three
dimensions: Interpersonal psychological adjustment, interpersonal skills leading to functional
fitness, and cognitive learning.
Empirical Research
Several empirical studies have identified reentry difficulties faced by international
students returning home and why they occur. Asuncion-Lande’s (1976) classic categorical
inventory of reentry problems, developed by a group of foreign graduate students, demonstrated
that students actually anticipate certain concerns about coming home. She categorized the
concerns into six categories: cultural, social, linguistic, political, educational, and professional.
Concerns ranged from cultural adjustments having to do with change in lifestyle, social
adjustments going from the individualism of the US to familialism (where conformity and
submission to the demands of the family) and uncertainties in interpersonal relations, and
concerns that the one’s professional aspirations would be hindered by political climate, lack of
opportunity, or a US education that was not recognized.
Brabant, Palmer, and Grambling (1990) examined the re-adaptation of 96 University of
Southwestern Louisiana foreign students to family, friends, and life in general. Their data
indicated that culture shock may not be so universal as generally assumed and that reentry shock
could be alleviated by visits home. These finding are consistent with James Corey’s5
suggestions
that international students return home to alleviate reentry shock. (Austin 1986; Corey 1986) In
addition, they found that there was a direct correlation between gender and several problems
5
Corey had taught in Saudi Arabia and had witnessed the difficulties that US-taught Arab doctoral degree earners
had faced upon return home where the social and political conventions were drastically different and the
improvement to reentry that maintained contact brought.

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related to reentry. Females were more likely than males to report problems with both family and
daily life, and to find their friends had changed. (Brabant, Palmer, and Grambling 1990, p.397)
Gama and Pedersen’s (1976) study of 31 Brazilian students returning home from the US
reported that most of their subjects’ problems were related to their professional life and the
difficulty in adjusting to the lack of facilities, materials, opportunities for research, and
bureaucratic red tape. However, like the study above, students felt their abilities to cope were
adequate.
Andrew Butcher’s (2002) more recent study A Grief Observed: East Asian International
Students Returning to Their Country of Origin, highlights grieving as an aspect or phase of
reentry, studying 50 graduates of New Zealand Universities. He observed that East Asian
international students returning home often experienced grief that could not be observed out of
social convention and restrictions (e.g. familial piety or respect). Because of this phenomenon
their grief became “disenfranchised grief,” a grief that could not be openly acknowledged
(p.355). Their grief was produced by returning to family and family expectations, renegotiating
relationships where emotional loss was encountered, and the changing expectations and
renegotiation of relationships relating to a changed worldview.
Butcher strongly advocates reentry programs and preparation in moving from a grief
observed to a “grief understood.” In addition to keeping up with newspapers and e-mail, he cites
the importance of a workshop or preparation program that will provide students a positive
framework to reflect on the changes that took place because of their cross-cultural experiences
while establishing contact with those who can provide moral support in both home and host
countries.

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Lastly, but importantly, Dr. Nancy Arthur made a considerable contribution to
international students and the career aspect of their reentry in the new Handbook for Counseling
International Students in the United States, delivering a chapter on career development.
Given NAFSA’s focus on global workforce development issues in recent years, the
chapter on career development, by Dr. Nancy Arthur, a Canadian professor, is notable.
She discusses the gap between increased efforts to recruit larger numbers of international
students and the needed infrastructure support and services to meet their needs. Her
recent writing uniquely focuses on the complexities of career decision-making for
international students and the need for increases understanding of the constraints these
students face as they enter the global workforce. (Tillman 2008. p.15)
Cultural Reentry Workshops
Workshops or information sessions have been shown to be the most effective ways of
disseminating reverse culture shock information and preparing sojourners cognitively and
emotionally for the process of reentry (Cox 2006, p.1). Richard Brislin and H.Van Buren IV, in
their study Can They Go Home Again?, documented their reentry workshops for international
students at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii. Using the work of psychological
theorist Irving Janis as the theoretical basis for their seminars they worked the concept of “the
work of worrying” into their workshop. Janis argues that worrying about potentially stressful
events is helpful. Such work can force the person to learn as much as possible about the event, to
prepare for its negative effects so as to not be surprised by them, and to envisage what he might
do if any of the negatives effects indeed occur. Conclusively, Brislin and Van Buren IV do not
suggest that students will have problems, but present possible problems and other conflicts as
potential problems and encourage students to think through them. The assumption is that if
students work through these issues before going home and prepare for potential conflicts, they
will have fewer problems after they actually return home.

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Art Freedman (1983) notes that his three stages of conflict, disconfirmation, and
renegotiation can be explained with the W-curve theory in training and helps absorb a great deal
of tension and anxiety that participants tend to experience toward the end of a workshop when
they begin to anticipate the reentry process and is especially helpful in providing workshop
participants with some conceptual handles that they can use in re-entering their native culture.
Laurie Cox, in her dissertation Going Home: Perceptions of International Students on the
Efficacy of a Reentry Workshop, found that very few studies have linked cultural reentry theory
with the design of a reentry workshop (Cox 2006. p 6). Seeking to bridge the gap in the
integration of empirical research and training design, she created her own culture-general
workshop for international students, representing 22 different nationalities, at the University of
Southern California, one of the largest receiver of international students. Designed specifically to
assist international students with addressing and controlling various aspects of cultural reentry,
she found that of the small student sample size that attended her workshop and returned home,
they were unanimously positive, with a few neutral, that workshop helped them to adjust back
home. The workshop elements that the students found most helpful were: discussing how
students could feel comfortable with their growth and changes, developing strategies for
successful transition back home, and renegotiating relationships.
The Challenges of Implementing Cultural Reentry Training at US Colleges and Universities
The most current research done in surveying what US colleges and universities were
doing to address reentry, was conducted by Shannon Williams. An international student advisor
and alumnus of the School for International Training, she was interested in finding out what US
colleges and universities were doing to help students in their reentry process as part of her

14
master’s completion project. To test her hypothesis that US colleges and universities were
minimally addressing reentry shock, she surveyed and received responses from 68 institutions
that enrolled the highest number of international students for each of the five Carnegie
educational institutions categories: Doctoral/Research, Masters, Baccalaureate, Associate and
Specialized (Williams 2006, p.16).
Her data concluded three challenges to implementing reentry workshops for international
students, accounting for their absence in most US colleges and universities. The first challenge is
institutional. Though international student advisors were researched to show interest in
implementing reentry workshops, there exists a lack of institutional support to carry them out.
Second, is the lack of office resources to implement workshops, making it a low priority amongst
competing responsibilities. Lastly, she identified a lack of student interest and awareness. As
international students don’t anticipate a transition back home and are usually too busy making
practical preparations to leave for home or enter practical or professional training opportunities
in the US, they often will not attend a workshop, even if it is offered. Whereas Williams found
that some universities addressed reentry through online newsletters, handouts, and information
sessions, as a whole, she concluded that there was little being done to address reentry shock for
the above stated reasons.
Andrew Butcher, in his research of Asian international students returning home from
Australian Universities, noted that universities’ international student support services are
increasingly offering reentry preparedness programs, although they tend to be of varying quality
and often with only nominal support from university management. (Butcher 2002, p.363) Not to
be entirely faulted, US universities and colleges have needed to adjust to political forces and
demands of the existing market economy. Stephen Bochner, in his collaborative work The

15
Psychology of Culture Shock, notes that in major receiving countries such as the US,
international students have become part of an export industry (Ward, Bochner, & Furnham 2001,
p.22). Much of the current rhetoric and literature that is produced by NAFSA’s international
student knowledge community reflects the need to sustain this educational export industry.
NAFSA’s article “Restoring US Competitiveness” (2006) and its report of the Strategic Task
Force on International Student Access (2003) persuades US lobbyists of the need to keep access
open to a steady stream of international students from abroad and argues for the educational,
security, and foreign policy benefits of doing so.
In addition to responding to political and market forces, international student offices may
be responsible for recruitment, admissions, and other tax and practical workshops that are a part
of student’s on-going orientation needs. These responsibilities leave staff and offices strapped for
time and resources. With the post 9/11 shift to using the new government tracking system
SEVIS, most international student offices are too busy to attend to the intercultural aspects of
their work by the time demanded to make sure their universities and colleges are in compliance
with government regulations. A recent International Educator article entitled, “Devil in the
Details,” narrates this experience from those working in the field:
The advent of SEVIS brought with it a paradigm shift within the international educator
community. We are now compliance focused, in an environment where human errors,
like entering the wrong year on a date, can have disastrous consequences… Many of us
are education abroad veterans who want to facilitate the same kind of intercultural
experience that we feel has so richly enhanced our world view. (Risa 2007, p. 60)
Consequently, as Williams notes,
For a majority of international student offices immigration advising is their primary
focus, whether the institution has less than one hundred students or thousands of
international students. (Williams 2006, p.2)

16
Laurie Cox, in her recent doctoral dissertation (2006) cited several authoritative sources
advocating the need for colleges and universities to respond to the need for reentry preparation.
She stated (citing Adams, 1993; Arthur, 2003; Brislin & Van Buren 1974; Butcher, 2002;
Hodgson, 1994; Hogan, 1996; Pai, 1997; Seese, 1999; Workman, 1980)
Colleges and Universities can and should assist their students with reentry adjustment by
offering reentry workshops or reorientation sessions to help them internalize the concept
of cultural readjustment and create successful coping strategies. (Cox 2006, p. 43)
In addition to the challenges William’s identified, Laurie Cox’s doctoral dissertation
(2006) clearly outlined the other challenges facing advisors in developing and implementing a
workshop: time and education. Though her small student sample of nine students unanimously
reported that they found her workshop helpful in the adjustment back home, the amount of time
she had spent in developing advertising, and implementing the reentry workshop for
international students at USC led her to conclude that in addition to the prohibitive amount of
time necessary,
International student advisors may not feel that they are qualified to design and facilitate
a reentry workshop undertaking considerable study and this may be one of the reasons
that the reentry workshops are rarely offered nationally to international students on
college campuses. (Cox 2006, p.145)
Technology: A Solution to the Challenges in a Digital Age
The use of internet technology as a pedagogical and administrative tool for international
student and study abroad providers is seen to help answer the challenge that staff and faculty face
in higher education offices that are operating with decreased budgets and resources (Rhodes
1995). It also harnesses the fruits of the information age for the purposes of internationalization
and a means of social support for students who are increasingly computer-oriented.

17
Vija Mendelson and Stacey Woodey Thebodo in their article “Educational Connections,”
from International Educator’s April/March 2007 issue, states that online tools are becoming
increasingly popular as advisers and administrators realize their potential to add meaningful
learning opportunities to a student’s sojourn. Online tools appeal to “digital natives,” a term
coined by Marc Prensky for students who are now attending colleges and universities across the
nation and who have a lifelong familiarity and preference for different technologies.
While the initial commitment of time and resources needed to implement new technology
can be daunting, the investment is not only worthwhile, but is in fact advisable as we, part of
the community of education abroad advisers, seek to educate this generation of digital
natives. (p. 61)
The article summarizes a list of following benefits:
 Enable the institution to reach a large audience without direct contact.
 Deliver both basic and in-depth information to students.
 Provide multiple levels of training for students with different needs and interests.
 Make use of multiple modes of communication.
 Aid in the immersion process and facilitate the integration of the study abroad
experience into students’ education as a whole. Incorporating technology into student
training and preparation also addresses some key points that Bruce LaBrack discussed at
his session “Integrating Internet Resources into Study Abroad” at the 2005 NAFSA
national conference, specifically the primary characteristics of “Just-in-Time” (JIT)
training:
o Enables the learner: they are making them take responsibility for self-directed
learning.
o Does it at their pace: resources are available 24/7, with no time limits.
o Considers both ‘portability’ and specificity: both culture-general and culture-
specific materials are included.
o Delivers it at the right time: the system can be designed to make content
available with the learner’s stage of transition in mind.
o Emphasizes learner readiness: appropriate support can be provided in “teachable
moments.”

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In the International Educator’s May/June 2007 Issue “Social Networking Goes Abroad,”
Murray and Waller testify to the rising popularity and implementation of online social
networking in International Education.
Within the past few years, Facebook and MySpace have become an ordinary part of the
lives of college students around the United States, and increasingly, around the globe.
(p. 6)
These sites offer new opportunities to interact with students, market and advertise events, and
provide a public space for communication with their students.
While the arguments for both the risks of Facebook will continue to be voiced, there is no
denying that these types of social networking sites are not disappearing any time soon. As
Kramb successfully points out, “It’s the hottest thing on campuses right now. There is
only so much you can do to bring students to you and then you have to go where they are.
(p. 59)
The collaborative nature of International Education professionals makes the phrase
“Don’t recreate the wheel” into a creed faithfully practiced. List-serves such as SECUSSA,
regional and national NAFSA workshops, and the NAFSA website are a few examples of this
information sharing and collaborating. There are many textbook and video resources that
international educators have at hand to develop a variety of reentry programs for both
international and US student sojourners. One such source is Bruce LaBrack’s “What’s Up With
Culture?” cross-cultural online training
In responding to the challenges identified above, Williams and Cox, who concurrently
conducted their research, came to the same conclusion for future research and implementation:
the use of an online reentry workshop. Williams notes Bruce LaBrack’s online training as a
starting place for international student offices. One of her survey respondents summed up the
challenge of preparing students for reverse culture shock and the office’s solution to the
challenge:

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I am afraid that it may be an inherent dilemma that international students cannot anticipate
the need for a cultural reentry workshop. Yet this is not hard to understand. After all you
would not expect an international student to take an aspirin before he/she gets a headache,
nor would you expect them to take a throat lozenge before they have a sore throat. So why
should we assume our students would anticipate the pain and loss associated with cultural
reentry prior to going home? My solution is to offer an interactive, on-line workshop that
they can utilize whenever they feel the need that they can access from the University,
specifically the international student office. (Williams 2006, p. 40)
Research Methodology
The goal of this research is to understand the perceived reentry needs of USF
international students and ways to address via an online reentry training instrument. The findings
will be used by the International Student Services Office (ISS) to inform the content of an online
reentry training instrument and its ongoing orientation of international students. Silverman and
Auerbach (1998) in their book Active Training: A Handbook of Techniques, Designs, Case
Examples, and Tips state that a clear sense of where the trainer is going and what they are
seeking to accomplish is the single most important ingredient for designing an active training
experience.
My research methodology was given parameters largely determined by institutional
access and direction from the ISS director. Rossman & Rallis, in their book Learning in the
Field, comment that “most bureaucracies have policies or regulations defining who can or cannot
have access to what.” (p. 163) In my case, though I had direct access to faculty and staff on
campus, I was not guaranteed access to international student alumni at the forefront of my
research, a reality the Director of ISS assisted in changing.
To establish breadth and reliability of data, I chose to conduct qualitative research with
USF staff and faculty, with an anticipated attempt at surveying international student alumni. My
research methodology consisted of conducting standardized open-ended interviews with selected

20
USF administrators and faculty on campus and surveying identified international student alumni
with a survey questionnaire instrument I could send by email. My desire in exploring the reentry
needs of USF international students with faculty and staff, as they interacted with them on and
off campus, was to generate themes that reflect the unique and relevant aspect of their students’
reentry experience and needs as well as ways to creatively address them.
With exception of ISS staff, the ISS director identified eleven USF staff and faculty who
reside in six different departments and have considerable contact and responsibility for the
academic, career, and psychological welfare of international students at USF on an off campus.
Of the eleven identified, nine were able to participate, representing the following departments:
Career Services, Admissions, Counseling, The School of Business, The Provost, Arts &
Sciences, Graduate Computer Science, and Overseas Programs. Through my graduate internship,
I had met and interacted with most of the staff and faculty identified and recognized them all as
professionals whom had worked cooperatively with ISS staff in various capacities to facilitate
the improvement of the international student experience at USF. Overall, their input would help
integrate the academic, professional, and personal aspect of the reentry phase.
Prior to on campus interviews, I sent the identified faculty and staff members (see
Appendix A) an introductory letter, explaining the purpose of my research, a working definition
of “reentry” as I have defined it in this research, and questions I was going to ask them about
their observations working with students and suggestions they would have for an online training
instrument. I chose standardized open-ended interviews to capture responses that could be easily
compared and for the fluidity of exchange that could yield further findings.
Having the questions beforehand gave staff members and faculty time to think about the
question and take advantage of the half an hour we would have to interview together.

21
Standardized open-ended interviews are “tightly prefigured, having fixed questions that are
asked of all participants in a particular order. Because of the nature of the questions, however,
participants respond freely. “ (Rossman and Rallis, pg. 62) The questions they were given were
very general open ended questions such as “Based on your observations working with
international students, what do you perceive are their greatest needs are as they return to their
home countries?” I considered the questions stepping-stones to conversation that would allow for
more nuanced and detailed observation and response.
I scheduled and conducted interviews with the staff and faculty on campus, with the
exception of the Overseas Program Coordinator whom I interviewed over the phone due to her
temporary absence at the university. These face-to-face interviews were scheduled individually
by department, with Career Services and the Arts & Sciences having two and three
representatives, respectively. For data collection purposes, I sought to use the entire half and
hour allotted for the interview, recording the conversations with a hand held tape recorder for
later transcription and analysis. The Graduate Computer Science and Overseas Programs
department faculty and staff did not use the entire half an hour as they perceived fewer needs
amongst those interviewed.
Limitations
My desire to survey USF international student alumni who had returned to their home
countries went unfulfilled, though not without effort. I had requested to be put in touch with a
minimum of ten alumni, representing an approximate breakdown of nationality, graduate, and
undergraduate percentages at USF. After creating the international student survey (See Appendix
B), the ISS Director sent e-mails to four alumni, facilitating communication and explaining the

22
purpose of my research. The four alumni had either worked at the ISS office and/or shown
involvement in ISS activities while enrolled at USF.
I received only two alumni survey responses in response to the e-mails. Because of this
small response, which did not allow for sufficient reliability or breadth of data, I did not include
their responses in this research. My hope is that the survey will be used by ISS staff or future
interns to further grow reentry training support with an added alumni perspective.
Presentation of the Data
I. USF Staff & Faculty Perceived Roles and the Demographic of International Students
They Serve
The first two questions on the standardized interview asked participants to state their role
with international students and approximate the number or percentage of international students
they interact with at USF. Their responses helped paint the professional and relational context
from which their perceptions arose.
Table 1: USF Staff & Faculty Perceived Roles and the Demographic of International Students They Serve
USF Department (# persons)
Staff or Faculty Present
(1) Percentage or Number of Intl’ Students Served &
(2) Perceived Staff or Faculty Roles
Career Services (3)
Director, Associate Director,
& Assistant Director
(1) On average I have 20 clients per week who come by for drop-in
appointments. I would guess [of the 20 clients] that 4-5 of them are
international students. On average, I think the international students
use us more than domestic students…Per the 550 [international
students] that are here, they would represent a bigger percentage than
the [domestic] university [students] as a whole…As for graduate
students, we don’t have a ton, but it feels like to me that at least, 50%
of them [who actively use us] are international, which is a high
percentage. (CS Assistant Director)
(2) We are career counselors and we counsel them in their career
development and job search process. We [also] provide workshops for
them: interviewing, job search, resumes and cover-letter workshops,
often collaborating with ISS to do workshops. (CS Assoc. Director)

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Counseling Services (1)
Director
(1) Interestingly, it’s about proportionate to their representation at the
institution; so about 7% of our clients are international students.
(CAPS Director)
(2) The primary role that the center has is one of direct service.
Typically, they are in greater crisis than the average client when they
come in because pscyh. services are not something that many of them
are familiar with and there is a bit of a voodoo around it. When they
do get to us, they are usually pretty far deteriorated in terms of their
level of anxiety, or depression, or panic, or whatever. So, our primary
interaction is obviously at that direct service level of trying to help
them when various crises come and often another flavor of it is often
for the students its around academic and family expectations around
academic ‘slash’ career issues.” (CAPS Director)
College of Arts & Sciences (2)
Associate Dean & Academic
Advisor for Student Academic
Services
(1) Approximate numbers unknown.
(2) My role is limited to basically seeing them in their orientation
week, briefly during the overview. They come to me as they may have
problems. (Associate Dean)
I play more of an academic role. I go over [with them] their graduation
requirements, make sure that they enroll in the correct classes, or help
them problem-solve any academic issues [they have]…We try to also
stay in touch with them throughout the semester so that if any issues
arise, they know who to come to. (Advisor)
School of Business &
Management (1)
Academic Coordinator
(1) Approximately 60-70% (n=114 –133) of the 191 incoming
international students.*
(2) My role is to provide academic guidance with their coursework and
to facilitate their enrollment, including connecting them with
appropriate faculty members. So [I] sort of am a conduit between them
and the faculty, getting them into classes [and] things like that.
Computer Sciences(1)
Professor & Graduate
Admissions
(1) Approximately 40 new graduate Computer Science students per
year.
(2) I am the graduate program director for Computer Science, so that
means that I have two primary roles: one is to review applications and
the second is to advise them when they are here as to what courses
they should take. They also come to me with personal problems and
career stuff… I’m Dad for two years. (laughter)
Overseas Program (1)
Coordinator
(1) Approximately 30 Jesuit Exchange students per year.
(2) My main contact with international students is with students that
are coming in as Jesuit Exchange. These are student who come to USF
from our partner universities [on] reciprocal exchange.
*Taken from a Fall 2006 ISS Audit

24
II. Perceived International Student Reentry Needs
The second part of the interview questions asked the interviewee(s) to state what they
perceived to be their international students’ greatest needs are as they return to their home
countries.
Table 2: Perceived International Student Reentry Needs
USF Department Perceived International Student Reentry Needs
Career Services • Need to understand and reconcile their unrealistic expectations to
stay and remain & work in US after graduation and the frustration
connected to familial pressure often as perceived failure in returning
home.
• Need to translate their education/work experience and be prepared to
successfully interview and network in their home country.
• Need to reconcile family business expectations upon return to home
country.
Counseling & Psychiatric
Services
• Need to understand and reconcile their unrealistic expectations to stay
and work in US and the frustration, shame, and familial pressure often
associated with perceived failure in returning home.
• Need to define and navigate relational expectations back home.
• Need to hold both home culture and aspects of US culture
College of Arts & Sciences Need to frame reentry within the larger developmental transition from
student to employee, school to work and adult responsibility
School of Business &
Management
Need to reconcile family business and government-sponsored career
expectations
Computer Sciences Need to be prepared for the differences in work style and technological
resources and infrastructure in home country.
Overseas Program Need an easier way to secure academic transcripts online after reentry.
Career Services (CS) perceived three salient needs in the students they interact with. The
biggest perceived need comes from meeting with students who don’t want to go home and have
unrealistic expectations about staying and getting a job in San Francisco after degree completion.
The staff perceive students’ sense of failure and shame when they can’t get a job and stay,
leaving their transition out of the university and home less than positive.

25
I would say, first of all, [that] many of them don’t want to return. So, if they are returning,
it’s [often] with a sense of defeat [due to] a failed job search, or a failure to land their OPT
[Optional Practical Training] or they couldn’t get their H-1B. So, my impression is that they
go grudgingly. (CS Associate Director)
…towards the end…graduation is supposed to be a happy, joyous, occasion, and for many of
my students that I’ve interacted with over the years, it’s not. These confrontative experiences
leave the students angry and frustrated with Career Services and with the university in
general. (CS Director)
Secondly, Career Services indicated that international students need to be able translate
their education and work experience successfully in their home country. This need includes
learning to interview in the customary fashion of a student’s home country versus the American
way that is taught in Career Services workshops, meeting with staff to make one’s resume
relevant, and identifying job and networking resources at home before returning home from the
US.
Lastly, Career Services spoke about the need to reconcile expectations about family
business upon return home. About 60% of the students they service are of Asian descent. For a
population of these international students, many are sent to take the USF Family Business
courses and are expected to return home to the family business. There are various needs that
come from these expectations in this demographic of students. Some students return eagerly and
some see other opportunities and do not want to return to the family business, creating anxiety,
tension, and expectation dissonance.
The Director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) perceived three salient
international student reentry needs. The first and largest need, like Career Services, is counseling
students who don’t want to go home and have unrealistic expectations about staying and getting
a job in San Francisco after degree completion.

26
Their greatest needs as they return is that a fair number of them need a reality test…cause
they kind of run the docket of “Well, I’m going to interview here, I’m going to interview
there, and I’m going to turn something up,” and when we see them again, many times they
are very depressed about the reality that they are not going to stay…for many of them, there
is shame over “I didn’t get a job here.” And they need to know how few people really get
positions here. (CAPS Director)
Secondly, the CAPS director, identified needs around defining and navigating relational
expectations with families at home, including participation in the family business, dating partners
both in the US and abroad, and marriage prospects. Concerns were expressed around anticipated
“goodbye trauma” with dating relationships made at USF, being promised in an arranged
marriage and navigating expectations around sexual purity, communication around honesty with
family members, and anxiety over marriage prospects for many women returning home, to name
a few.
Lastly, the CAPS Director spoke to the transitional need of re-entering one’s home
country after acculturating to different worldviews and cultural norms at USF. University is a
time of worldview formation. For many international students, the urban, multicultural,
individualistic, and politically liberal and active environment of San Francisco is a stark change
from their home country environment and cultural norms. The CAPS Director speaks a lot to her
students about bridging the reentry culture gaps and seeking to hold both home culture and
acquired US culture dear. She mentioned she really feels like she has succeeded if students are
able to go home and value both.
My Latin American students sometimes talk, [saying] “I’ve experienced the diversity here.
I’m going back to a very homogenized population, so what happens to all the people of other
colors and faith practices?” [Their reentry home] narrows [their experience], so we talk a lot
around that piece and around biculturalism, how to bridge the two the cultures. [We talk
about] how to hold and respect the one [culture] with the other, and knowing when to step in
and step out. (CAPS Director)

27
Contrary to Career Services and Counseling needs perceptions, the Associate Dean of the
College of Arts & Sciences and her colleague, the academic advisor, saw that students, for the
most part, were very happy to return home, stating that most students have come with
expectations to study at USF and then return home to their families and relations. Only rarely are
there students who express concerns because of political or economic instability.
They come to see me and say goodbye [when] they are leaving. And it’s always a sweet
goodbye because they have families and relationships [they are returning to]. (A&S Assoc.
Dean)
Questioning the relevancy of the international component of their students’ reentry, the
Associate dean stated that the overarching need of international students returning home lay
within the larger context of a developmental life transition from the confines of academia and
being a student, to the world of work and responsibility.
It may not be related to being international [as much as] it may be related to changes. Change
is scary. Because the students have finished a milestone, they are expected to just go, and
start a life, or go to grad school. (A&S Assoc. Dean)
The most salient reentry need assessed from conversation with the coordinator for The
School of Business and Management (SBM) came from those students returning home and
dealing with career expectations from their parents or their sponsoring governments. These
included family business expectations with many of her Asian students as well as government
expectations for those students’ whose scholarship to complete a degree in a narrow field of
concentration put a lot of pressure on them.
Some students, before they leave, talk to me about their concerns. A lot of them have family
businesses and they have to go back. Working with their family may not be what they really
want to do because they have explored other careers at USF…I’ve had several students that
are miserable. They are accounting majors [because] their parents are forcing them to. So
they are dealing with career issues once they go back home…Even students from Norway,
have to have a business degree to be funded by the government, so there’s some funding
issues and I have a couple of students that the Saudi Government is funding and they get

28
scholarships but only if they study specific majors. The pressure that is put upon them affects
them and weighs greatly upon them. (SBM Coordinator)
Wearing many hats for his students, the Professor and Graduate Admissions Coordinator
for Computer Sciences (CPS), takes his job seriously in teaching and mentoring his group of fifty
students, forty of whom are international. Known to both mentor and teach his students, he hosts
dinners for students with colleagues, creates focus groups to deal with any concerns students
might have, and works very closely with students during their stay. Because the department
serves the market niche of computer technology where there is a high demand for a skilled labor
force, graduates are readily hired. Therefore, he deals with a very different reality than the other
interviewee(s) as almost all of his graduate international students, about 89% approximately, find
jobs and stay in the US after graduation. For those that do stay, the Professor works hard with his
colleagues to prepare them for entry into their jobs. For those that will return to their home
countries after graduation, the Professor speaks to professional culture shock.
One of the shocks that they will have going home is “why aren’t you doing it the American
way? You are so inefficient,” so they have a culture shock when they go back professionally.
Now maybe they slip back into their old ways, I don’t know, but once you’ve seen peers here
that are really ‘kick butt,’ it’s pretty hard to return. You have all the resources in the world
here, and everything is rich, you know you are breathing fresh air for the most part. (CPS
Professor)
My last interviewee was the coordinator for Overseas Programs. As she deals with short-
term Jesuit Exchange students, she does not perceive many reentry needs, other than
administrative problems or “superficial needs.” as she states. One need is addressing the Clearing
House system that retrieves students’ transcripts without the last-minute costs of express-mailing
them. Even though she, along with the ISS office, contacts students about getting their transcripts

29
before leaving, they are so busy that it is often becomes a problem after they return home and
haven’t done it.
A lot of them are having trouble with the clearing house system. It seems like there is
always a percentage of them that never receive their transcript for some reason. I get a lot
of those questions. (OP Coordinator)
III. USF Staff & Faculty Perceptions of Ways to Address International Student Reentry
Needs via an Online Reentry Training Instrument
Lastly, given the needs they perceived, the survey asked staff and faculty to name ways
to address those via the online reentry training.
Table 3: USF Staff & Faculty Suggestion to Address International Student Reentry Needs via an Online
Reentry Training Instrument
USF Department Ways to Address International Student Reentry needs via an
online Reentry Training Instrument
Career Services • Include a data-driven piece that reflects the real number of
students who stay in the US and attain a job (after OPT).
• Develop internet database with career sources in students’
countries of origin through UCANN System. This can be done
by ISS or CS graduate workers/interns.
• Students can be given a “tips sheet on how to access
information about the global workforce.
• Have students reflect on their experience and how to transfer
skills on to resume.
• Have students research interview styles and expectations back
home.
Counseling & Psychiatric Services • Put a definition of biculturalism on the site.
• Add anecdotes and stories of students who have successfully
transitioned back home and have found ways to embrace both
US and Home cultural values.
• Give students questions and have them role play with a partner
about possible situations they may be facing at home, also
having them list ways in which they can integrate new values
and take care of themselves.
• Suggest using the internet to stay in touch with friends.

30
Career Services, addressing students’ professional and personal reentry needs, first
suggested the implementation of a data-driven piece on actual international student numbers who
stay and get a job and those who go home. This piece would help communicate in real numbers
that there are few students who stay and in no way is it an indication of failure when one returns
home.
Second, in addition to attending the alumni panel seminar that ISS and CS put on together
each year, the Director made the suggestion to have students identify professional resources at
home before they leave the US, identifying the University Career Action Network as a possible
internet database site that can be linked to the reentry site.
What this is, is a consortium of 15 + schools where we share an internship database.
But within it, we are starting to explore an international piece of it. Basically, it is for
students here who want to have an international internship. But, the model that I am thinking
of is under this website. Resources that exist in the US may exist in their home countries and
may help them with their transition. We currently have a career counselor who is trying to
College of Arts & Sciences • Have students reflect on who they want to become.
• Implement an informational data system would serve the
multifold of purposes of social and career networking, USF
international student alumni development, the forming of
international mentors who have returned home to their home
countries, and wider access amongst staff and students and
students with their peers.
School of Business & Management • Address general life transition and ways to successfully
transition out of school life and into working life.
• Create an open student-centered blog space where students
could connect and write about their experiences.
• Implement an easier way for students to secure Academic
Transcripts.
Computer Sciences • Create Yahoo news groups that save/organize information that
can be used by alumni and new students.
Overseas Program • Implement an easier way for students to secure Academic
Transcripts.

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develop her own resources to serve Japanese citizens. [Developments such as these] could be
linked to this site to help them with that process. (CS Director)
It was noted that the career counselor is developing Japan-focused resources on her own time,
however, there are a wealth of other sites and resources out there, and a “tips sheet” on what to
look for can be uploaded to the online training or given to students in hard copy.
Lastly, The Associate Director spoke to her work in having students study interview
styles and expectations in their home country, as well as communicate transferable skills both
from school and internships they did while in the US onto their résumés. There are résumé sites
that that can be linked to the reentry piece can intentionally ask students to think about what they
gained and benefited on in the US. This would enable them to see what transferable skills can be
added to their résumé.
The Counseling and Psychological Services Director defined success in counseling
international students on reentry as having them re-enter their home country and be able to value
both their home country culture and the culture they attained in the US. In addressing this
valuing of both cultures, she mentioned that putting a definition of biculturalism on the reentry
site would be very helpful for students as students grasp to understand their experience. Naming
one’s experience is helpful in understanding it, they would thus have “a word to hang their
experience on,” she stated.
Giving anecdotes and stories of international students who have successfully integrated
back home after their stay at USF is a strong encouragement to international students preparing
to go home, the Director said:
That’s why its great to have those anecdotes about people who went back and are doing well.
I think of a really mature person, who was from Latin America, Colombia and who found it a
very classist society. She really struggled around things like that. But, from her very high
class, [she] was able to find ways to try to work in social activism there so she didn’t feel so

32
disgusted with what she was experiencing at home. She saw that there were others who shared
her values. (CAPS Director)
Reentering one’s home culture, while valuing both cultures, can also bring conflict. The
director uses self-directed questions and role-play. In doing so, she helps her students address the
cultural and social contexts they are entering, allowing them to prepare mentally and practice
situations that may arise. One example she cited includes family expectation with participating in
the family business and possible expectation dissonance between students and parents. As most
US students prize individual choice and freedom, they often advise their international student
friends to make their own choice. However, their counsel does not take into account the various
social and familial obligations that are bound to students’ home culture. The director gets
students to tangibly and practically think about ways to navigate their individual issues and take
care of themselves.
How can you sell that you are not going to be in the family business, for instance, in a way
that would make sense to them. Is there is something you can do that will intersect with the
family business? For some of them, its really just asking them “how are you going to take care
of yourself in that situation? That situation is not going to change, so how are you going to
take care of yourself? What sources of support do you have? How can you get some of the
things that you want or need or like?” (CAPS Director)
Lastly, she notes the power of technology to stay connected via the internet with those they left
and finding a group of people who understands their experience once they get home.
The Department of Arts and Sciences’ Academic Dean and advisor contributed two
salient suggestions in our interview. The Academic Dean stressed that for undergraduate students
it would be helpful to incorporate into the reentry training site that reentry is more about lifestyle
change and to have students reflect on who they want to become.
Have them reflect on their reentry. Their [responses] will help them to say, form a
psychological perspective, that change is hard and everything is going to be okay…Most of
the questions I would ask them would be open ended. Something like: “How do you see
yourself changed from the time you have come here?” That would leave it open for them and
then you say “How would you take this experience for who you hope to become in the
future?” And that would prompt them to reflect on who they want to become, because what I

33
suspect they are going to say is that a lot of them don’t know who they want to become. And
so it would open the conversation to so many things. (A&S Associate Dean)
Both the Associate Dean and Academic Advisor suggested that implementing an
informational data system would serve the multifold of purposes of social and career networking,
USF international student alumni development, the forming of international mentors who have
returned home to their home countries, and wider access amongst staff and students and students
with their peers.
I think that if I was to handle international students, I would suggest that the ISS Director
establish an informational data system for international students. It would have a several fold
purpose: with the consent of alumni, there are some who may be willing to become
international mentors to those who are recently returned. [Students returning home can be
contacted by those who are already returned] from the same country and they can have an e-
mail exchange. Then on the website, you can say “feel free to e-mail these students and then
categorize them by country.” And then you say, okay, this country, these are the resources,
you can e-mail them… And the students, let’s say in Taiwan, know that these students have
gone and that they have found jobs, and they can become resources for networking. (Director
of A&S)
Just like Fulbright. Every year, they put down everybody who graduated, then you put down
the country, then the e-mail address and major so that anybody who wanted to e-mail them,
they could. (Academic Advisor of A&S)
With respect to undergraduate and graduate needs, the Academic Advisor mentioned that
graduate students are those who expect to stay more than undergrads, and that this would be a
useful tool for them. In addition the Director concluded that it would provide USF an opportunity
to advertise what their graduates are doing.
The Coordinator for the School of Business and Management, like the faculty and staff of
Arts & Sciences, spoke to the developmental aspect of leaving school, entering work, and the
need to implement something that addresses not only culture shock, but also general life
transition and ways to successfully transition out of school life and into working life. She

34
additionally spoke to creating an open student-centered blog space where students could connect
and write about their experiences.
What I was thinking was maybe adding a component, and I don’t know if you already have
this or not, sort of like a blog- something that they can write their experiences and connect
with each other about. They might find somebody else that studied in the US or something,
maybe not at the same school. And I thought that having some kind of networking tool for
them once they go back [would be a great tool to] stay connected. MySpace used to be for
college students. Now it has opened up, so anyone can get on it. That could be the way to go,
But you know, [it should be] one of those areas where students can feel like they can go in,
write down whatever, so it should be student generated. For all that [USF and the ISS] does,
it’s not attractive to the student [to have a university-generated web space]. It’s not at the
student level. It’s more administrative, like all of our websites are. They are not catering to
students.
(SBM Coordinator)
Upon going home, the only real contact the Coordinator gets from international students
are from those who are trying to obtain their academic transcripts and trying to navigate the
website. I inferred that finding an easier way for students to obtain their transcripts would be a
useful academic addition to the reentry site.
Computer Science graduates have very different transitions, the majority opting to stay in
the US, filling needed high tech jobs. For those who have returned home and those planning to
come, the CS Graduate Coordinator and professor has set up news groups, something that can be
modeled by ISS.
We have news groups set up for India and China. It’s something through Yahoo. People can
search for USF India or USF China and get these news groups with all of the answers,
instead of e-mailing the student reps, they use this news group to search for previous answers
to asked questions… So it organizes facts. So it’s sort of a space where students from an
individual country can ask their peers about their experiences and what to bring. (CS
Professor)
Lastly, the Coordinator for Overseas Programs, when asked if she had any suggestions
for an online reentry training instrument stated:

35
No, really, I just think ISS does such a good job. I mean they are available and they are
THERE. I mean, there a whole office to help. It’s just a matter of students going to find
their resources. And sometimes they don’t. (OP Coordinator)
Analysis of the Data
The main point of interviewing USF staff and faculty was to get other department voices
involved in contributing their perspective of student needs and ways to address those needs
collaboratively through an online reentry training instrument. Though I was unable to garner
sufficient student response, my interviews with faculty and staff generated seven salient
perceived international student reentry needs and pursuant strategies to meet them:
 Reconciling unrealistic expectations for job and residency in the US after degree
completion
 Successful Career Transitioning to Home Country
 Contextualize Reentry within Overall Life Transition
 Integrating Personal Change & Development
 Negotiating a Return to the Family Business
 Keeping Connected at Home and Abroad
 Being Able to Access their Transcripts
These needs reflect the academic, professional, and personal aspects of USF international student
reentry and reflect workshop elements that Cox’s international students found helpful in her
workshop implementation: developing successful strategies for successful transition home,
discussing how students could feel comfortable with their growth and changes, and renegotiating
relationships (2006).
The marked disconfirmation of many USF international students’ hopes to remain in the
US and obtain a job diverges from reentry entry literature that assumes students are anticipating

36
a return to their home country. This prominent experience among international students mimics
similar disconfirmed hopes and expectations that students’ may experience on their return home
(Freedman 1980) in personal, social, or professional realms, yet has the unique quality of being
an experience that happens on US soil prior to a return home.
Strategic suggestions by Career Services staff to address this need by having real
numbers of international students who stay is consistent with Butcher’s (2002) suggestion to
allow students the space to grieve losses associated with reentry, in this case the expectation to
remain in the US. These numbers should help students understand that staying in the US is
unrealistic for most international students, grieve their loss of expectation, and hopefully be
empowered to change expectations to transition home successfully without embitterment towards
themselves and the university. As Butcher states, this reframing of loss, when done within a
positive framework, provides support and allows students to go from a “disenfranchised grief” to
a “grief understood.”
This marked disconfirmation of expectation to remain in the US can be said to lie within
the larger developmental life change and transition experience that circumscribed the reentry
experience in the data analysis process, upholding Martin’s (1984) assertion of the importance of
conceptualizing reentry in the larger perspective of adult transition. Indeed, international
students, whose sojourns last between two to four, or maybe eight years in the US, take on a
reentry transition that is more focused on career and life transition, leaving the academic life and
returning home to enter the workforce or continued studies. The perceived need to make a
successful career transition reflects that most USF international students, apart from the majority

37
of Computer Science students6
who find employment in the US, face the complexities of career
decision-making in entering the global workforce.
Strategic suggestions by Career Services, the Arts and Sciences Department, Graduate
Computer Sciences, and the Graduate School of Business and Management to employ the
internet to harness and develop social and professional networking is supportive of the growing
use of technology for this generation of “digital natives” and helps address the consequent stress
and restraints that students endure (Waller and Murray 2007). Connecting to and growing
existing career databanks that serve international student needs, creating an international student
alumni databank, and hosting yahoo groups or student-centered MySpace groups or Facebook
communities for social, cultural, and professional adjustment growth utilizes students’ familiarity
and preference for online technologies.
On the university front, the collaborative use of internet technology by different on-
campus departments as an administrative tool for international student reentry support not only
helps the international student office, which operates with small budgets and resources (Rhodes
1995), it encourages the university’s relations with its alumni, their continued ties and support of
USF, and their image abroad. Additionally, it takes advantage of the missed opportunity that
Shannon William’s (2006) noted in combining the power of collaboration with other on-campus
offices in addressing reentry shock and preparation.
Within the larger experience of life transition lies the challenge and opportunity of
integrating personal change and development. The Arts and Sciences Department staff perceived
that students were very happy to go home and that it was the University’s opportunity to help
students contextualize the entire reentry experience in the larger developmental life transition of
6
Alternatively, for the Graduate School of Computer Science, the small portion of students who do return home
have professional needs that have to do with lack of technological infrastructure and opportunity in one’s home
country as compared to the US or expectations to do things in an “American way” versus the home country.

38
leaving school to enter the work world and reflect on who they were becoming as a result of their
time at USF. This suggestion and the suggestion by the CAPS Director to engage students in
understanding and applying the definition of “bicultural” and providing anecdotes of students
who have been able to incorporate changes in themselves with changes at home, assumes
Martin’s (1986) assertion that the intercultural sojourn is a process of understanding and
interpreting changes in meaning structure, internalized rules of interaction, and communication
behaviors.
The role-play of possible scenarios to be encountered at home upon arrival addresses the
changes in meaning structure and behavior and allows students to recognize and affirm change
and mentally prepare to incorporate those changes upon their return home. In the case of
returning to the family business, a need mentioned by both Career Services and the School of
Business and Management, the act of role playing, or even providing possible scenarios online
for students forces the student to learn as much as possible about their situation, prepare for
negative effects so as not to be surprised by them, and to envisage what they might do if the
negative effects occur. Brislin and Van Buren affirm that encouraging students to think through
and anticipate an adjustment helps students prepare and cope for what they experience in going
home.
Keeping in touch and connected, as a social need for students, has never been easier and
can be addressed by the above-mentioned technologies. In addition to keeping up with
newspapers and e-mails, Butcher’s (2002) suggestion to have students establish moral support
both at home and in the host countries is an opportunity to further alumni support and the
possible use of alumni support in-country, with possible opportunities for mentoring. Adjusting

39
discrepancies in the Clearinghouse system for transcript requests would help address the need for
transcripts and navigating the system outside the US.
Conclusion
Commonly known as “reentry shock,” the reentry experience for international students
returning home after study in the US has been researched and shown to create a range of
difficulties, including psychological distress with interpersonal relationships, particularly with
friends and family, conflict with self and family expectations, and reverse homesickness. Their
intercultural experience, which includes academic and career preparation, and for many,
transition into their adult lives and the world of work, can be a profound experience of adaptation
and transition
It has been advocated and proven that through training and preparation, international students
can understand that the emotions and experiences they may face are normal. Rather than be taken
by surprise, they can be empowered to know that their re-adaptation back home is natural, and be
given skills, attitudes, and methods they can use to adapt successfully. From recent college and
university surveys done by Williams (2006), it was found that reentry preparation is a topic of
low priority in most US colleges and universities due to challenges in institutional support, the
prohibitive time and resources necessary to design, implement, and advertise a workshop, and
uninterested international students. Cox (2006), who studied international student perceptions of
a reentry workshop she implemented in person, did get positive feedback from students who
voiced that her workshop did aid in their transition. Hoping to reach a wider audience and
overcome the administrative barriers to implementing a training to unaware students, she
suggested harnessing technology to deliver a reentry training via an online resource (Cox 2006).

40
Not only would this allow student portability and access, but it also would be building on the
growing creative technological advances that have practical implications for hard-pressed
international educators and administrators. The best example of harnessing technology for
intercultural training still remains as Dr. LaBrack ‘s interactive cross-cultural training website
“What’s Up With Culture?” , the open-source template for USF’s reentry online training.
This Capstone paper, in seeking to answer the reentry needs of USF international students
via a culture-general online training instrument, sought to find out the perceived needs particular
to international students returning home from the University of San Francisco and how those
needs can be addressed through this site. Interviewing the staff and faculty from six departments
that work closest with them generated collaborative ways to address those needs.
In then harnessing technology to implement these suggestions, it is hoped that USF
international students will be better helped in understanding and functioning back home with the
skills, attitudes, and behaviors they need to succeed. These were the following needs and
pursuant suggestions to meet their reentry needs:
1) Reconciling unrealistic expectations for job and residency in the US after degree completion
• With the exception of Graduate Computer Sciences give students a data-driven piece
on the number of actual international student numbers who stay and get work,
assuming the have used up all their OPT, and those who go home. They will find they
are in the majority/norm. This should help communicate that not staying is not an
indication of failure.
2) Successful Career Transitioning to Home Country
• Forewarned & Forearmed: Students should be told at the beginning of their time that
few international students stay in the US after their studies. If very eager, expect to
network and work hard early on and from the beginning.
• Develop an internet database with career sources in students’ countries of origin
through UCANN System with the assistance of interested graduate student workers

41
who can spend time doing it. This can also include site links to helpful country-based
sites.
• Post a list of job and networking resources by country of origin. If these resources are
yet to be developed, give them a “tips” sheet on how to access information and/or
where to start.
• Have students reflect on their experience and how to transfer skills on their resume.
Research interview styles and expectations back home and have links to pertinent
resume sites.
• Establish a student-centered blog site or networking piece via the Internet with USF
alumni.
• Implement an informational data system that would serve the multifold of purposes:
social and career networking, USF international student alumni development, and the
formation of international mentors who have returned home to their countries.
3) Contextualize Reentry within Overall Life Transition
 Address general life transition and ways to successfully transition out of school life
and into working life.
 Communicate greater life transition stages and have students put down what their
hopes are & what they want to realize.
 Communicate the reality of the work world and the transition.
4) Integrating Personal Change & Development
 Put up a definition of what ‘bicultural’ means. This will give students a name and an
understanding of their experience becoming bicultural as they’ve acculturated to life
in the US and return to their home country.
 Post examples and anecdotes of students who have changed and have successfully
integrated changes back to their lives at home.
 Suggest finding like-minded people in home country upon arrival.
 Develop role-play scenarios in which students can practice how to communicate with
family back home.
(5) Negotiating a Return to the Family Business
 Develop role-play scenarios in which students can practice how to communicate with
family back home if they are wishing to negotiate their role in the Family Business
and/or thinking about steps to take care of oneself and respond productively if a
return to the family business is inevitable.
6) Keeping Connected at Home and Abroad

42
 Use the internet to keep connected.
 Set up newsgroups, a student-centered blog-site, or a MySpace account.
7) Students Can’t Access their Transcripts
 Extend the period in which students can access their transcripts or come up with
another way in which students can access them in an easier way so that they are not
shut out of the Clearinghouse system.
Practical applicability
The direct recipients for whom this reentry research was conducted are the University of
San Francisco International Student Services staff and the various faculty and staff who
collaborate with them to advance the international student experience on campus and off. The
perceived international student reentry needs and ways to address them are intended to help the
ISS staff in shaping and modifying the content of an online reentry training instrument that will
ultimately benefit and equip USF international students for the process of reentry to their home
countries and the life transition that ensues.
Additionally, the research provides a jumping point for the further collaboration between
Career Services, Counseling and Psychiatric Services, The College of Arts and Letters, The
School of Business and Management, Computer Sciences, and the Overseas Programs in the
ongoing orientation and support of USF international students. Missing in the research were USF
Admissions, Alumni Development, and the Development office. Suggestions made by USF
faculty and staff interviewees to create an alumni database, create social and professional
networking groups via yahoo, Facebook, or MySpace, and provide alumni mentors for those
returning home and those seeking admission to USF would benefit these departments.

43
Due to the lack of international student reentry preparation at US colleges and
universities, the entire project undertaken at USF of assessing reentry needs for the modification
and implementation of an online reentry training, utilizing Bruce LaBrack’s “What’s Up With
Culture?” cross-cultural training website as an open template, could be a model for implementing
their own online reentry training workshop.
Suggestions for Future Research
As the reentry literature purveys, international student reentry research is a large topic
and there are just as many avenues to research it as there are variables that affect it. For purposes
of completing my Capstone, my research took a small and practical scope, focusing on the
particular reentry needs of USF international students. My findings provided several perceived
reentry needs from USF faculty and staff and consequent ways to address them via an online
reentry instrument. The reentry training instrument is a modified version of Bruce LaBrack’s
“What’s Up With Culture?” online training, a site that was funded by the Department of
Education and intended for use and modification of international education practitioners
everywhere.
On the outset of my research, I had intended to gather students’ perception of their needs
and ways to address them. However, due to minimal student access and low survey response, I
was unable to do this. This opens a research opportunity for future USF interns or staff to
research and garner international student perceptions of their own reentry needs and ways to
address them. This would lend their voices to the content of the reentry training instrument,
making it more responsive to the USF international student reentry experience. There could even
be space for collecting anecdotes to be used as examples online of students’ reentry experiences.

44
Since training is a process that involves assessing needs, marketing, implementation,
delivery, and evaluation, there lie opportunities for future research in each of these areas.
Students and international education practitioners who utilize online materials with their students
could be surveyed on how best to implement and market the online reentry training instrument.
This would provide valuable feedback for student participation and instrument implementation,
especially as students are often unaware and unprepared for reentry home. And though there is
an assessment piece to the instrument, research could be furthered by asking international
students to use and evaluate the site in depth, prior to and after reentry.
With exception of the USF Graduate Computer Science graduates, who by and large gain
employment in the tech industry and remain in the US after graduation, further research could be
done on the reentry needs of international students who use their year of optional practical
training (OPT) after graduation to gain profession experience in the US. What are the
differences between those who stay a year for OPT and those who go home right after
graduation?
As the literature and research findings revealed, reentry encompasses the larger
experience of life transition, in particular a transition into the professional world of work. Given
the complexities in international student career decision-making, there are great opportunities to
further develop the suggestions made by USF faculty and staff to address career development
and preparation. These included developing or growing existing career databases that specifically
addresses international students entering the global workforce, developing an alumni mentor
support by country or profession, making tip sheets for ways to increase employment at home,
etc. Indeed, the collaborations seem endless and for prospective USF interns or student workers
in both the ISS office and Career Services, this could be a wonderful collaboration between the

45
departments. Additionally, this may look very different for undergraduates than graduates and
for engineering and business majors than liberal arts majors.
As the literature reveals there has been little research done after the proliferation of cell
phones and the internet. How does this proliferation in cheaper travel and the explosion of social
networks of sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, which provide students a continuous
online social community, affect their reentry experience? How, in turn, can they better aid
international students in their reentry adjustment home?
In sum, though the research opportunities are numerous for implementing and evaluating
the online reentry training and preparing USF international students for reentry home, it is
helpful to be reminded that there is no blueprint for the reentry experience and that challenges
will always abound with life transitions. It is hoped that in implementing and delivering an
online reentry training, students will be provided necessary attitudes, skills, and knowledge to
help them better transition home and that the international student advisors, administrators, and
educators that work and care for them, can more effectively channel their assistance and
expertise towards these ends.

46
Appendix A
USF Faculty/Staff Interview Questions
Introduction
Thank you for taking the time to answer the following interview questions.
The International Student Services office at USF is seeking to assist international students in
making a successful transition home to their respective countries through the implementation of
an online reentry training. In designing and implementing this training, a needs assessment must
be executed to inform its objectives and content.
The goal of this interview is to obtain a better understanding of the needs particular to USF
international students who are returning home to their respective countries from the perspective
of faculty and staff who work with them.
“Reentry” or “reentry adjustment,” describes the re-adaptation of an individual to the home
culture after an extended stay in a foreign culture. The process contains positive and negative
aspects as the returning sojourner becomes aware of changes in his or her self-concept, attempts
to interpret experiences and changes to others, and incorporates experiences into his or her daily
life. In process, an individual often experiences “reentry shock,” the unanticipated reactions and
range of emotions experienced by sojourners upon returning to their home country.
Transitions are not limited to purely psychological and social adjustments. International students
have been researched to carry academic and professional concerns upon entering their home
country, for a range of reasons: inability to work in chosen profession, translating relevance of a
US degree at home, changes in political climate, concern with quick material success, etc.
We realize each student is unique. Each one has a unique experience on campus and no student
will be returning home to the same set of circumstances. Yet, in seeking to address the broader
international student experience at USF, your perspectives are valuable.
Thank you for your contribution!
Gratefully,
Elizabeth Weisenburger
Former Graduate Assistant, International Student Services at USF
M.A. Intercultural Service, Leadership, & Management, Candidate

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