Patrick Gantz

Brad Brown

Principal, faculty chosen to staff new International Residential College

By Charlotte Crystal

Brad Brown, associate professor at the McIntire School of Commerce has been tapped to lead the new International Residential College, set to open next fall.

For several years, students who wanted to immerse themselves in a foreign language and culture could live in one of four language houses scattered around Grounds -- Maison Française, Casa Bolivar, Max Kade Deutsches Haus and Russki Dom.

But students who would rather dip their toes into foreign cultures, without jumping in over their heads, have had limited options -- until now.

"We'll talk to any student with international interests, not just those pursuing area studies," said Brown who has been named principal of the new residential college. "We'd like to bring in a broad range of people with diverse enthusiasms and different levels of experience."

Along with Brown, three other faculty members will be part of the IRC's new leadership team: Marga Odahowski, as director of studies, and two senior faculty fellows, Bruce Reynolds and Yuri Urbanovich.

Odahowski is currently the interim associate director for the Department of Student Health's Office of Health Promotion. Her background includes experience as a drug and alcohol counselor and as an instructor of meditation and yoga.

Reynolds will join U.Va. in the fall after serving on the economics faculty of Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. He is currently the director of the East Asian Studies program there and recently has served as editor of the China Economic Review.
Urbanovich is an international scholar in U.Va.'s Center for the Study of Mind and Human Interaction and an expert on nationalist movements and ethnicity.

The new residential college will be located in the Sprigg Lane dormitories, Mary Munford, Gwathmey, Lewis and Hoxton. Mosaic House, a cross-cultural dorm founded in 1995 in Hoxton, will continue as an independent but participating unit of the new college, and its applications will be handled separately.

Organized like the University's two other residential colleges, the IRC will bring together a diverse group of about 340 first- through fourth-year American and international students, who are interested in understanding world cultures, politics, societies or languages.

Programs for the college will run the gamut from cooking classes and folk dancing to lectures, seminars and workshops, from foreign films to visits to foreign embassies in Washington, Brown said. Some of the programs will be designed for the college's residents, while others will be open to the larger academic community.

"We want the IRC to enrich not only the lives of its residents but the life of the University community as well," Brown said.

The International Residential College expects to collaborate with related academic departments and schools, and the other international resources at U.Va., including the International Center, the International Studies Office, the vice provost for international affairs, and the foreign language houses. It should become a focal point for exploring global, cross-cultural and international issues on Grounds, said Barbara Nolan, vice provost for instructional development and innovation, who spearheaded the planning of the new college.

"We have been actively planning the new residential college for the past two years, but the idea is at least six years old," Nolan said. "The Virginia 2020 International Commission brought together people thinking along these lines, and the commission's critical mass of faculty and students lent new impetus to the idea."

After an intensive review of a number of highly qualified candidates, Brad Brown was chosen to lead the new effort. He teaches strategic management and international business at the McIntire School. His research focuses on entrepreneurial networks and corporate social responsibility, especially human rights auditing in factories around the world.

Brown has a longstanding interest in international business and has taught on various business topics at institutions in Vietnam, Finland, Denmark, Lithuania and England. He earned his bachelor's degree in applied science from the U.S. Naval Academy, his master's degree in business administration from the University of Maryland and a doctorate in business policy and international business from the University of Washington.

Brown believes the new position is a good fit with his interests.
"I like living an integrated life, where my professional and personal lives are closely linked," he said. "I think the residential colleges are closest to Thomas Jefferson's idea of an academical village. I'm very excited about getting in at the beginning to help shape the future of international studies at U.Va."