The International House Association, or IHA, launched Wednesday with the purpose of cultivating a global community, according to a press release.
The organization connects various historic International Houses and centers around the world, according to their website. Their mission is to allow students, scholars and alumni to engage in a network that fosters a community devoted to intellectual collaboration, cultural exchange and peacebuilding.
“Our hope is simple but ambitious — to advance peace through cross-cultural understanding,” Shaun Carver, IHA president and executive director of the International House at Berkeley, said in an email. “That means equipping future leaders with the skills to communicate across cultures, resolve conflict peacefully, and work collaboratively on global challenges.”
UC Berkeley’s International House, or I-House, was a founding member of the IHA and currently serves as the administrative home of the association, noted Carver. I-House is home to almost 600 students and scholars from over 70 different countries each year, according to their website.
I-House was established in 1930, six years after the first International House was founded, according to Carver.
“Berkeley I-House became one of the first intentionally interracial and intercultural residential communities in the country — a living experiment in inclusion long before it was the norm,” Carver said in an email. “That pioneering spirit continues to define both Berkeley and the International House movement today.”
In 1939, IHA was created and is now being revitalized to meet the new demands of a more polarized and complex world, stated the press release.
Directors and alumni leaders from International Houses across the world, such as Berkeley, Chicago, London and Tokyo, chose to formally organize the IHA again following discussions of “how much more we could do together, not just individually,” Carver stated in the email.
“We’re living in a moment that feels more divided and complex than ever, yet the need for genuine global connection has never been greater,” Carver said in an email.
Key services the organization provides include programs with collaboration between International Houses and support and consultation for the development of new International Houses, among other objectives, stated the press release.
One of the IHA’s upcoming series is the Global Forum Series titled Pathways to Peace: Lessons in Reconciliation, with one of the events taking place on campus, noted Carver.
“For nearly a hundred years, people have walked through I-House doors and discovered that our shared humanity runs deeper than our differences,” Carver said in the email. “The International House Association is simply the next chapter of that story. We want to ensure that this legacy continues to grow, connect, and inspire well into the next century.”