International House Berkeley
Encyclopedia
| International House at the University of California, Berkeley | |||
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| Official Opening: | August 18, 1930 | ||
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| Type: | Students Housing and Residence | ||
| Location: | 2299 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley, California, 94720-2320 USA | ||
| Capacity | 579 residents | ||
The International House, Berkeley is a multi-cultural residence and program center serving students at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. According to the International House, its mission is to foster intercultural respect, understanding, lifelong friendships and leadership skills for the promotion of a more tolerant and peaceful world.
International House, also known as I-House, is a dormitory for advanced undergraduates, graduate and professional students and visiting scholars. The House was created as a gift from John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...
specifically to foster relationships between students from different countries. It is notable for having housed many famous artists, scientists, and scholars connected with the university.
The House is the subject of a documentary called "The Visionaries: International House." Public Broadcasting stations across America have been airing this documentary by Visionaries Inc. The documentary, hosted by Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston
Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy...
, highlights how the International House on the University of California Berkeley campus has served as one of the largest, most diverse, residential, global communities in the world.
The International House has several "Bay view" rooms and lounges that overlook the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
, including the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
. Nearly 600 international and American students from 70 nations live in the house during the academic year.
The History of I-House, Berkeley
International House Berkeley was part of a larger "International House movement", founded by Harry Edmonds. Edmonds decided to investigate the situation of foreign students in New York City. With the funding and support of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
John Davison Rockefeller, Jr. was a major philanthropist and a pivotal member of the prominent Rockefeller family. He was the sole son among the five children of businessman and Standard Oil industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the father of the five famous Rockefeller brothers...
, the first International House opened in New York
International House of New York
International House New York, also known as I-House, is an unaffiliated and non-profit residence hall for graduate students, scholars engaging in research, trainees and interns...
in 1924.
Edmonds and Rockefeller decided to extend the idea. Berkeley, California was selected because the Bay Area was the American point of entry from Asia and claimed the largest number of foreign students on the West Coast.
When the idea of International House was first proposed to the Berkeley community in the 1920s, there was considerable resistance. There was resistance to men and women living together; foreigners living in the area; and resistance to a racially integrated setting.
When Harry Edmonds came to Berkeley to establish a site, he chose Piedmont Avenue
Piedmont Avenue (Berkeley)
Piedmont Avenue is a street in the city of Berkeley, California. It is the major street through the University of California, Berkeley's fraternity and sorority area. The street was originally named Piedmont Way....
-- the House resides at 2299 Piedmont Avenue—in part, because it was the home of fraternities and sororities which then excluded foreigners and people of color. By proposing this site, Edmonds sought to "strike bigotry and exclusiveness right hard in the nose."
International House Berkeley officially opened on August 18, 1930. It was the largest student housing complex in the Bay Area and the first coeducational residence west of the Mississippi.
The Mission of I-House, Berkeley
According to the International House, its mission is to "foster intercultural respect and understanding, lifelong friendships and leadership skills for the promotion of a more tolerant and peaceful world." The House believes it achieves its mission by providing students and scholars from the United States and around the world with an opportunity to live and learn together in a challenging and supportive residential and community-oriented program center.Notable alumni
The International House, Berkeley was home to six Nobel laureates and one additional member:- Melvin CalvinMelvin CalvinMelvin Ellis Calvin was an American chemist most famed for discovering the Calvin cycle along with Andrew Benson and James Bassham, for which he was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He spent most of his five-decade career at the University of California, Berkeley.- Life :Calvin was born...
(resident: 1937-38) - Owen ChamberlainOwen ChamberlainOwen Chamberlain was an American physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his discovery, with collaborator Emilio Segrè, of antiprotons, a sub-atomic antiparticle.-Biography:...
(resident: 1940-41) - Andrew Z. Fire (resident: 1977-78)
- Willis LambWillis LambWillis Eugene Lamb, Jr. was an American physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1955 together with Polykarp Kusch "for his discoveries concerning the fine structure of the hydrogen spectrum". Lamb and Kusch were able to precisely determine certain electromagnetic properties of the electron...
(resident: 1930-38) - Julian SchwingerJulian SchwingerJulian Seymour Schwinger was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work on the theory of quantum electrodynamics, in particular for developing a relativistically invariant perturbation theory, and for renormalizing QED to one loop order.Schwinger is recognized as one of the...
(resident: 1939-40) - Glenn Seaborg (non-resident member: 1934-35)
- Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson (resident: 1946-50)
The International House has also been home to many ambassadors and politicians, including:
- Zulfikar Ali BhuttoZulfikar Ali BhuttoZulfikar Ali Bhutto was 9th Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977, and prior to that, 4th President of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973. Bhutto was the founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party — the largest and most influential political party in Pakistan— and served as its chairman until his...
(resident: 1940s) - W. Michael BlumenthalW. Michael BlumenthalWerner Michael Blumenthal served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1979.-Life and career:...
(resident: 1951) - Jerry BrownJerry BrownEdmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
(resident: 1960-61) - John Kenneth GalbraithJohn Kenneth GalbraithJohn Kenneth "Ken" Galbraith , OC was a Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism...
(resident: 1931-32) - Jan EgelandJan EgelandJan Egeland was the United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator from June 2003 to December 2006. Egeland was appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan and succeeded Kenzo Oshima...
(resident: 1983) - Vernon Ehlers (resident: 1956-58)
- Sadako OgataSadako Ogata, is a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator and professor emeritus at Sophia University.-Early life:Sadako Nakamura was born in 1927...
(resident: 1956-57) - Ogbonnaya OnuOgbonnaya OnuOgbonnaya or Ogbonaya Onu was the first Executive Governor of Abia State, Nigeria from February 1992 to December 1993. He is National Chairman of the All Nigeria Peoples Party .-References:...
(resident: 1977-80) - James SoongJames SoongJames Soong Chu-yu , is a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan. He founded and chairs the People First Party, a smaller and more conservative party in the Kuomintang -led Pan-Blue Coalition....
(resident) - Pete WilsonPete WilsonPeter Barton "Pete" Wilson is an American politician from California. Wilson, a Republican, served as the 36th Governor of California , the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator , eleven years as Mayor of San Diego and...
(resident: 1960) - Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of NorwayHaakon, Crown Prince of NorwayHaakon, Crown Prince of Norway is the heir apparent to the throne of Norway. On birth he was named Prince Haakon Magnus but it was stressed in the announcement that he would go by the name Haakon. He became Crown Prince Haakon when his father ascended to the crown as Harald V in 1991...
(resident: 1996-1997)
Also of note, nearly one thousand alumni of the house have married another resident of the house.
See also
- University of California, Berkeley student housing
- International House of New YorkInternational House of New YorkInternational House New York, also known as I-House, is an unaffiliated and non-profit residence hall for graduate students, scholars engaging in research, trainees and interns...
- International Students House, LondonInternational Students House, LondonInternational Students House, London is a residence for 700 British and overseas students, interns and trainees whilst staying in London. It is located in Central London close to London's West End at the south side of Regents Park and operates as a financially self supporting charity under a board...