QUIC: 50th Anniversary: 1962

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

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50th Anniversary: 1962 - 2012

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Last Updated: Wednesday, April 04, 2012 2:37:56 PM ET

QUIC 50th Anniversary Open House - part of Queen's Alumni Spring Reunion

Friday, May 25th

9 am - 4 pm at the Queen's University International Centre

Have you been involved with the International Centre during your time at Queen's? - We would love to hear from you. Drop in for a cup of tea or coffee during the Open House, or email QUIC50@queensu.ca.

50th Anniversary Message from the Director
January 1. 2012 marks for Queen’s University International Centre (QUIC) the beginning of celebrations for our 50^th anniversary year. While few of us will remember the campus as it was in 1962, QUIC as we know it today finds its roots in that year when the international student club, Queen’s senior administration, the Kingston Rotary Clubs and a local businessman, Edward Churchill, worked together to establish the first International Centre which opened its doors on October 14, 1962 at 181 University Avenue. That initiative offered the 156 international students present on campus, a “home away from home” - a place to take tea, cook meals, celebrate national, cultural and religious events, and to find a support community given the challenges of studying in a new cultural and academic environment in a small English town at a university with an indelible Scottish heritage on a campus of about 3,500 students.

The history of QUIC over these 50 years is rich with personal stories, full of community memories and alive with examples of project and program initiatives that have acted as a national standard for other international centres across the country. Whether involved with scholarship students arriving from across the globe in the 60’s, or developing global education curriculum and programs in the 70’s and 80’s, or facilitating the growth of study abroad and internationalization in the 90’s and beyond, or supporting students from diverse backgrounds in Canada and from abroad in telling their stories about the social and cultural challenges of life on campus including incidents of racism, or advancing the skill and training of professionals in the field of international education over the past decade – QUIC has played a key role which has brought the Queen’s University name to the forefront of the Canadian university international scene.

Today in any one year Queen’s has more than 2,000 international students on campus to study for a degree or on exchange, and more than 2,000 students going abroad from campus for study/work/travel. In addition, the overall student population of more than 20,000 who study on campus each year includes a significant number of students who bring to our learning environment a wide range of diverse cultural and national perspectives that enrich our daily experience both inside and outside of the classroom. We have in our midst the makings of a dynamic learning experience that will enable Queen’s students to become skilled and competent global citizens prepared to meet the challenges of the world into which they graduate. This will require innovative and creative staff and programs. In our past 50 years, QUIC as a central support unit for Queen’s has demonstrated our creative capacity to help Queen’s achieve its international goals. Over the next 50 years, QUIC will continue this commitment to working with the departments and faculties on campus to create an internationally informed and cross-culturally sensitive university community.

Wayne Myles

Director

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Join us at the Centre for the QUIC 50th Anniversary Celebratory Reception
Thursday, October 11th, 4 - 6 pm

Share your memories related to the International Centre and community at Queen's
We want to hear from YOU! QUIC50@queensu.ca

International Centre staff and friends in early 90's,
at the original entrance to the Centre from Union Street.

The spirit of QUIC has prevailed for five decades.
Upon the establishment of the original International House,
Principal Corry stated in 1962:

“This house, we hope, will be a place where visitors will find friendship, where warmth
of hospitality and companionship will cause a glow in memory in the future;
and I hope also that the work done here will show us the way in which we ought to go forward
to secure a permanent International House in Kingston."

We invite you to read highlights from the History of QUIC.

Kingston, Ontario, Canada. K7L 3N6. 613.533.2604