The International House, Berkeley (also known as I-House) is a multi-cultural residence and program center serving students at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...

. 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.

About

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 Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

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, including Nobel laureates, royal family members, ambassadors and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

staff. The House is the subject of a documentary called "The Visionaries: International House", which was aired by PBS stations across America. The documentary, hosted by

Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...

, highlights how the International House on the Berkeley campus has served as one of the largest, most diverse, residential, global communities in the world. The International House has several rooms and lounges that overlook the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water f ...

and

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

. Nearly 600 international and American students from 70 nations live in the house during the academic year.

History

International House Berkeley was part of a larger "International House movement", founded by Harry E. Edmonds. Edmonds decided to investigate the situation of foreign students in New York City. With the funding and support of

, the first International House opened in New York in 1924. Edmonds and Rockefeller decided to extend the idea. When the idea of International House was first proposed to the Berkeley community in the 1920s, there was considerable resistance -- resistance to coeducational housing; foreigners living in the area; and a racially-integrated setting. Berkeley, California was selected given the Bay Area's role as a point of entry from Asia and UC Berkeley's enrollment of the largest number of foreign students on the West Coast. When Harry Edmonds came to Berkeley to establish a site, he chose Piedmont Avenue location in part owing to the concentration 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." Designed by noted San Francisco Bay Area architect George W. Kelham in a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

–

Moorish architecture Moorish architecture is a style within Islamic architecture which developed in the western Islamic world, including al-Andalus (on the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian peninsula) and what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (part of the Maghreb). The ...

, 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.

Mission

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 The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make ou ...

and one additional member: * Melvin Calvin (resident: 1937-38) *

Owen Chamberlain Owen Chamberlain (July 10, 1920 – February 28, 2006) was an American physicist who shared with Emilio Segrè the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the antiproton, a sub-atomic antiparticle. Biography Born in San Francisco, Ca ...

(resident: 1940-41) * Andrew Z. Fire (resident: 1977-78) * Willis Lamb (resident: 1930-38) * Julian Schwinger (resident: 1939-40) *

Glenn Seaborg Glenn Theodore Seaborg (; April 19, 1912February 25, 1999) was an American chemist whose involvement in the synthesis, discovery and investigation of ten transuranium elements earned him a share of the 1951 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His work i ...

(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 Bhutto Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and statesman who served as the fourt ...

(resident: 1940s) * W. Michael Blumenthal (resident: 1951) *

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...

(resident: 1960-61) *

John Kenneth Galbraith John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through t ...

(resident: 1931-32) * Jan Egeland (resident: 1983) *

Vernon Ehlers Vernon James Ehlers (February 6, 1934 – August 15, 2017) was an American physicist and politician who represented Michigan in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 until his retirement in 2011. A Republican, he also served eight year ...

(resident: 1956-58) *

Sadako Ogata , was a Japanese academic, diplomat, author, administrator, and professor emerita at the Roman Catholic Sophia University. She was widely known as the head of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1991 to ...

(resident: 1956-57) *

Ogbonnaya Onu Ogbonnaya Onu (born 1 December 1951) is a Nigerian politician, author and engineer. He was the first civilian governor of Abia State and was minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Nigeria from November 2015 till his resignation in 20 ...

(resident: 1977-80) * James Soong (resident) *

Pete Wilson Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 36th governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as a United States senator from California betw ...

(resident: 1960) * Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway (resident: 1996-1997) Other notable alumni include: *

Eric Schmidt Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and software engineer known for being the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, executive chairman of Google from 2011 to 2015, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2 ...

(resident: 1976-80) * Wendy Schmidt (resident) Also of note, nearly one thousand alumni of the house have married another resident of the house.International House
Alumni''
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References

External links