Welcome to the Office of International Students & Scholars
The Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) at the University of California,
Santa Barbara (UCSB) serves the needs of international students and scholars as
well as the UCSB community who work with this international population. OISS provides
administrative assistance, counseling, advising, and programming to the campus community.
The staff meet with students and scholars about immigration, employment, housing,
health care, financial concerns, academic problems, travel, and personal issues.
Changes in Optional Practical Training Rules
DV Gokhale International Grants/Loans in Statistics Program
for Indian students
Hamed Dadgour, Graduate Student
Hamed Dadgour is the OISS person of the month. He was elected the president of the
International Students Association in the fall of 2007. He is a doctoral student
in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Hamed’s home town is Tabriz in Iran. He is one of only a dozen Iranian graduate
students at UCSB. He is not the first in his family to study in the US. His father
studied Chemistry at UC Davis. Hamed is a graduate of Sharif University in Teheran,
noted for its science curriculum and stringent admissions requirements. He also
has an MA in Computer Engineering from Teheran University.
What is it like for someone from Iran adjusting to life in the US when Iran is portrayed
so negatively in the media? Hamed is cheerful and nonchalant. He admits that he
was confused when he first arrived. Everything in the US was very different than
conditions in Iran. He suffered from initial exhaustion trying to negotiate unfamiliar
everyday activities like opening a bank account or applying for a credit card –
everyone in Iran simply uses cash even for large transactions. Spoken English was
not at all like the textbook English that Hamed was taught in Iran. Public transportation
here is irregular and inconvenient. Was he lonely and homesick when he first arrived?
Hamed said that as a graduate student he was much too busy to be homesick.
So what helped Hamed to adjust to his new situation? Hamed says that the best part
of adapting to his new life was that the people around him were so kind and helpful.
At UCSB, it was easy for him to make friends. He has enjoyed making friends from
all over the world. He says that deep down most people are similar and have the
same basic values. His advice for incoming international students is to make friends
and don’t become isolated. Hamed found that the UCSB International Students Association
was the perfect organization to help him meet people. He advises new students to
participate in athletic activities and cultural organizations on campus. Hamed likes
soccer and hiking. You might notice that under Hamed’s presidency, the ISA has had
an increase in hiking trips on its schedule. He says that he has come to appreciate
the natural beauty of Santa Barbara that is so different from the urban environment
of Teheran where he spent his earlier student years.
When Hamed finishes his Ph.D. he wants to find a high tech job in the private sector.