Checklist - Colorado College

Below is a departmental checklist for hosting international visitors. If you prefer, download this checklist as a PDF file to help you in preparing your visitor's arrival and departure.

Departmental Checklist for Hosting International Visitors

Some visiting faculty teach within an academic department and are hosted by that department. Others teach within the umbrella of an interdisciplinary program such as Asian Studies, Women’s Studies, American Ethnic Studies, or the several area studies programs.

This checklist includes details to complete when bringing an international visiting faculty to campus.

The checklist is divided into three sections: preparation, campus residency, and departure.

Preparation

1. Chair/Program Director

• Request that the Dean sends a letter of invitation and contract to the visitor. The letter serves of letter of invitation for the visitor’s home institution and for immigration purposes. The contract is necessary to obtain visa. Allow several months in advance for the visa application process. Please send visitor’s contact and email contact information to Donna.Beziou@coloradocollege.edu or call 227-8282, the Office of International Programs.
• Request syllabus from visitor. If appropriate, send a sample block system syllabus for visitor’s reference.
• Include course number and description in course schedule; check with Registrar
  to assure course’s inclusion in all appropriate venues. Circulate information about course availability on faculty and student listservs, i.e. the DIGEST.
• Solicit one or two faculty member/s to serve as host/s for visitor. This should be done early enough so that the host can send information about arrival procedures to the visitor.
• Designate office space and computer for visitor. An office designated for shortterm (i.e. primarily block visitors) international visiting faculty is available at the Office of International Programs. The office is equipped with a computer, printer, and telephone. On occasion, it may have to be shared with another international faculty member. Outside of basic office set-up in the Office of International Programs, the hosting department’s staff assistant responsibilities will still remain the same.

2. Staff Assistant

• Call in advance to reserve an apartment with Residential Life. Block 1, 6 and 8 can fill quickly. Inform visitor of housing arrangements. Check that Residential Life has sent housing contract to the visitor.
• Send copy of course syllabus to the appropriate Tutt Library divisional librarian.
• Send Bookstore text request form to visitor in plenty of time for the order to be filled (following Bookstore deadline guidelines). Staff Assistant keeps in touch with visitor to ensure that the textbook request form has been filed with the Bookstore.
• Request desk copies for visitor.
• Ask visitor to name any audio-visual needs and submit request to Audio-Visual Services.
• Notify college switchboard of name, home number, and office number of the visitor.
• Request travel arrival and departure information and convey information to the Chair/Program Director and faculty host.
• Check on classroom assignment and inform faculty host.
• Inform the appropriate student groups of the visitor’s anticipated presence on the campus in the event that they wish to invite the visitor to participate in programs.
• Visitors driving a vehicle must obtain a parking permit or a guest pass from the Security Office
• Dispatch Office located in the Edith Gaylord House before parking on campus. Visitors without means for transportation will need initial support to accomplish their errands. The Business office has a list of car rentals
• Providing long distance calling cards can prevent issues with phone bills at the end of the visit. www.worldphonecard.com is also a resource.
• Departments may choose to provide extra support for their visitors by paying for extra Rastall meals on the visitor’s Gold Card allowing for easy dining during the first week of their stay. Arrangements involve calling the Gold Card office with the appropriate budget code. Gold Cards can be created before the visitor’s arrival by providing a photo of the visitor digitally (364/472 pixels). You will have to remember to provide the Gold Card office with the Banner Employee number once the visitor has visited Human Resources at the beginning of their stay. The Office of International Programs collects visitor photos during the visa process and can help with this process.

3. Faculty Host/s

• Inform visitor of who will meet visitor at airport and the schedule of first few days on campus.
• Invite other faculty to participate in the welcome.

Campus Residency

1. Faculty Host/s

• Meet visitor at airport. Give visitor a Colorado Springs city map with Colorado College marked on the map.
• With visitor, pick up apartment key at Bemis Desk during working hours, 8 a.m.—5 p.m. If visitor is arriving after hours, ask Bemis Desk to take the key to the Campus Security Office. For after hours arrival, pick up apartment key at Security Office (Edith Gaylord House).
• Take visitor to grocery store to purchase food/supplies for immediate use, or supply the apartment with fruit, bread, tea, coffee, etc. Check that the visitor has received the Residential Life housing contract and understands its provisions.
• Confirm that the visitor has received the New Visiting Faculty packet from the Dean’s office.
• Assist visitor in acquiring keys to classroom building and office from Facilities Services.
• Give visitor a CC campus map with visitor’s office/classroom buildings marked.
• Immigration regulations require that the Office of International Programs validate the visitor’s arrival in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database with their physical living address. Please call Donna Beziou at 227-8282 to make an appointment for check-in and orientation.
• Introduce visitor to Staff Assistant and others who will help and support the visitor. Help visitor ascertain that all is in readiness for the first day of class. Consider assigning one student to advise the visitor in such things at the honor code and/or other questions they may have about class procedures.
• Give campus tour of college administration offices, Office of International
  Programs, Worner Center Student Post Office and dining facilities, gym, library, etc.
• Include visitor in faculty lunches and social events. Extend hospitality.
• Explain course evaluation expectation and request that course evaluation be completed by students and turned in to Department/Program Director before visitor’s departure.
• Assist with issues having to do with stocking the refrigerator, banking, and site of a laundromat/dry cleaner.

Finances:

• Assist in changing to U.S. currency.
• Assist in submitting bill for airline ticket reimbursement by Colorado College.
• Direct visitor to Human Resources with their DS-2019, passport, and their social security number if they have one, to complete their I-9’s and for salary information.
• Prior to receiving their fist paycheck, the visitor must visit the Payroll Office to determine residency status for income tax purposes.
• Your visitor must obtain a social security number in order to be paid in the U.S.
• Make sure the visitor visits the Social Security office no earlier than 10 days of entry in to the country to allow the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to input the visitor’s information into the database for Social Security to access. The nearest office is at 3628 Citadel Drive North, a fifteen-minute drive from campus.
• The visitor must bring their passport; I-94 card (stapled inside the passport), and the DS-2019 form to the local Social Security office. Make sure the visitor keeps the receipt for payment to show the payroll office to expedite their addition to the college’s payroll. The social security card will be sent to the address provided in approximately three weeks. When the social security number is received the number must be reported to the Payroll Office.

2. Staff Assistant

• Help acquire Colorado College ID.
• Offer information on Admission’s campus tours offered twice a day and once on Saturdays.
• Confirm that visitor has visited the International Studies Program, Human
  Resources, Payroll office, and if they do not have a social security number, knows to visit the Social Security Office to apply for a social security number.
• Computer: assist in establishing profile name and password.
• Initiate introduction of visitor to Tutt Library divisional librarian for a library tour.
• Explain visitor’s responsibility upon departure for paying telephone bill.
• Facilitate communication.
• If the department decides to extend the visitor’s stay, contact the Office of
  International Programs as soon as possible to discuss the process.
• Expedite financial issues such as exit payment. Visitors can pick up their checks during operational cashier hours on the Tuesday and Wednesday before the block ends. If the check is not picked up, the check will be sent to the department. Discuss preferred form of payment early on, especially for block visitors who are returning immediately to their home countries and may have difficulty cashing checks in their home country. Cashier will order money for large reimbursement checks for visitors if they are given a couple of days notice. This will save you from having to take visitors to the bank before their departure.

Departure

1. Faculty Host/s

• Offer to take our visitor to the airport.

2. Chair/Program Director

• Acquire course evaluation. Consider sharing visitor’s student evaluations with appropriate area studies committee and the Office of International Programs to note patterns of needs that could inform future approaches to orientations
• Exit interview by departmental chair.
• Write follow-up letter of appreciation to the visitor.

3. Staff Assistant

• Check on outstanding telephone bills.
• Ascertain that financial affairs with the College are completed.
• Ascertain that all borrowed materials/books have been returned to Tutt Library.
• Ascertain that all keys have been returned.