ISSS-BU News  . 06 August 2007.  ISSS-BU News

An electronic news service for international students and scholars, owned by the Office of International Student and Scholar Services at Binghamton University, State University of New York

Visit ISSS on the Web! http://isss.binghamton.edu

Editor's Note: Staff in the Office of International Student and Scholar Services will be unavailable on Tuesday, August 7 from 11:45am to 1:15pm while they attend a University event.

CONTENTS:

  1. National Holidays for the Month of August
  2. Availability of Some ISSS Staff During the Next Three Weeks in August
  3. International Student Festival Announcement
  4. Arrival of New International Students

1. National Holidays for August

The following countries are celebrating national holidays during August:

Country
Date
Benin 1-Aug
Switzerland 1-Aug
Macedonia 2-Aug
Burkina Faso 4-Aug
Bolivia 6-Aug
Jamaica 6-Aug
Columbia 7-Aug
Singapore 9-Aug
Ecuador 10-Aug
Chad 11-Aug
Thailand 12-Aug
Pakistan 14-Aug
Congo, Republic of 15-Aug
India 15-Aug
Liechtenstein 15-Aug
South Korea 15-Aug
Gabon 17-Aug

Indonesia

 17-Aug
Afghanistan 19-Aug
Hungary 20-Aug
Ukraine 24-Aug
Uruguay 25-Aug
Moldova 27-Aug
Turkey 30-Aug
Kyrgyzstan 31-Aug
Malaysia 31-Aug
Trinidad and Tobago 31-Aug

2. Availability of Some ISSS Staff During the Next Three Weeks in August

During the next three weeks (August 6 - August 24), Ellen Badger, Karen Keefe-Guzikowski and Amelia Shafer will be devoting most of their time to international student orientation, both preparation and presenting at the actual program, which starts August 20. Thus, their availability for consultation will be very limited. Please keep this in mind when sending e-mails or requesting appointments with them.

3. International Student Festival Announcement

The seventh annual International Student Festival will be held September 7-23, 2007.  An important part of the Festival is the sports competitions in Volleyball, Table Tennis, Basketball and Soccer.  A new sport being added this year is Badminton.  BU Students, Faculty, Staff and Alumni are eligible to compete.

Sports competition dates are September 7 – 9, 2007 for preliminary and second round play, September 17-19 for table tennis, and sports championships on September 21 and 22.  The Cultural Showcase will be held Sunday, September 23.

This year, the Festival will once again offer an “international team” for those who would like to compete in sports but aren’t affiliated with any of the participating international cultural associations (Binghamton University Japanese Association * BU Turkish Students Association * Chinese Students and Scholars Association * *European Student Association *Graduate African Student Organization * Indian Graduate Student Organization * Korean Graduate Student Association * Korean Undergraduate Student Association *Taiwan Students Association * Turkish Cultural Association).  

The International Team is open to any BU student, faculty, staff or alumni, including U.S. citizens, who would like to match their skills in competitive play against the other student cultural associations.  Both men and women may compete in all sports.  Evening and weekend play will be required.

If you would like to be a member of the International Team, send an e-mail message to isss@binghamton.edu  Include your name, e-mail address, phone number (with area code) and the sport(s) in which you would like to compete.  If you are interested in serving as Team Captain, please indicate that as well.  Teams will be forming soon, so express your interest by August 16, 2007.

4. Arrival of New International Students

Although it is still two weeks until the Monday, August 20 start of international student orientation, new international students have begun to arrive. If you happen to meet a new student, please be sure to direct them to the office of International Student and Scholar Services. Although ISSS will not be photocopying visa documents until International Student Orientation August 20-22, 2007, the ISSS is recording new student arrivals and distributing their very helpful early arrival information sheet. ISSS looks forward to welcoming a record class of international students this Fall!

The Fall 2007 International Student Orientation Program is on the ISSS website at:
http://isss.binghamton.edu  Select the appropriate student category. There are separate programs for undergraduate students, graduate students, exchange students, and Dual Diploma students from Turkey.

ISSS also thanks the many current international students who have been in contact with new students and are helping them in the first days of their arrival at Binghamton. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
ISSS-BU is a listserv owned and managed by the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, Division of Student Affairs, at the State University of New York at Binghamton. It is the publisher of ISSS-BU News . Permission is granted to freely distribute the information posted to this list as long as its contents remain unchanged.

To sign on to ISSS-BU from an e-mail account on the Binghamton.edu server, send an e-mail message to
listserv@listserv.binghamton.edu
Leave the subject line blank. In the message text, type: subscribe ISSS-BU first name last name
Replace “first name last name” with your name.

If your e-mail account is on a server other than Binghamton.edu, send an e-mail message to isss@binghamton.edu
In the message text, type: Please subscribe isss-bu, your e-mail address, your first and last name.

If you are a registered student and don't have an e-mail account, you may claim an e-mail address and password http://busi.binghamton.edu/welcome.html Be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully. If you encounter difficulty, visit the Help Desk in the lobby of the Computer Services building.