{"72658":{"#nid":"72658","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Employees Offer International Community a Taste of Thanksgiving","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIf you are a member of Tech\u2019s international community, you may have never celebrated Thanksgiving \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean that you wouldn\u2019t love an opportunity to enjoy some mouth-watering pumpkin pie and turkey with all of the trimmings.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThanks to a group of Tech employees, international faculty, staff and students have an opportunity to experience the American holiday. \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor example, if you\u2019re at Julie Swann\u2019s house, you\u2019ll probably be passing the sweet potatoes to a student or colleague who hails from as far away as Thailand or Turkey.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were very happy to have a warm home to go to and friends to meet,\u201d said Olga Shemyakina, assistant professor in the School of Economics, who attended Swann\u2019s 2008 gathering. \u201cIt can get very lonely in the United States during Thanksgiving and Christmas if you don\u2019t have family and friends around.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince 2002 Swann, an associate professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE), has hosted students and faculty members from Iceland, China, Kazakhstan and several other countries \u2014 including the United States \u2014 at her Thanksgiving celebrations.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy PhD advisor would invite students to his house for Thanksgiving, and I thought this was a great tradition to adopt,\u201d she said. \u201cI usually email invitations to students first and then add a few faculty members if there is space.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPlanning the meal tends to be more of a challenge than trying to squeeze in as many as 16 people around two tables, since some guests are vegetarians or don\u2019t eat particular foods.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cJust try to find a stuffing or dressing that doesn\u2019t have garlic or onions in it,\u201d Swann said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe usually kicks off each meal with an icebreaker, since not everyone knows one another. For example, she\u2019ll ask people to share their name and the story behind it.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was the first Thanksgiving dinner I\u2019ve ever attended,\u201d said Santanu Dey, an assistant professor in ISyE who attended Swann\u2019s 2010 dinner. \u201cI particularly enjoyed the conversations with Julie, her family and the students \u2014 oh, and the food is awesome.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI enjoyed the diversity at Julie\u2019s gathering,\u201d said Pinar Keskinocak, ISyE professor and co-director of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics and associate director of Research, Health Systems Institute, who attended one of Swann\u2019s gatherings in 2002. \u201cIt was great to be with people from various parts of the world who were sharing their culture, experiences and food from their countries.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThen there are employees such as Kirk Bowman, who welcomed about 60 students annually to a Thanksgiving dinner at Tech\u2019s International House during his time as faculty director. \u0026nbsp;I-House is home to a living and learning community that includes both American and international students.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt all started in 2005, because the American students wanted to share this experience with all of the international students,\u201d said Bowman, who is director of undergraduate programs in the School of International Affairs. \u201cAbout half of the attendees were experiencing their first Thanksgiving meal \u2014 and they were always stunned by the amount of food and how many things could be made with Coca Cola.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese dinners usually last about two hours and feature turkey with all of the trimmings, green bean casserole and anything with sweet potatoes \u2014 all dishes cooked by the residents.Bowman acknowledged that it can be a challenge to find enough oven space for so many cooks.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople will cook in shifts, and we will also use stovetops or borrow ovens from other buildings,\u201d Bowman added.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAustin Lawry, an international affairs and modern languages student who has lived in I-House for three years, is always amazed by the amount of food at the dinners.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPictures can\u2019t even show the massive amount of food spread out \u2014 we usually have five tables in order to accommodate all of the food that I-Housers provide,\u201d Lawry said. \u201cThis is one of my favorite I-House events, since it gives the international students who have never experienced Thanksgiving an opportunity to be a part of a cherished American tradition.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s I-House meal is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 21 (the time of the meal is still undecided).\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFaculty and staff are welcome to volunteer to help with the meal \u2014 the more the merrier!\u201d said Kelly Comfort, current I-House director and assistant professor of modern languages. \u201cOur international students want the most authentic experience possible, so if anyone has a favorite dish or tradition to share, please get involved in the event.\u201d \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo learn more, contact \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kcomfort@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EComfort\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThanks to a group of Tech employees, international faculty, staff and students have an opportunity to experience the American holiday.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Thanks to a group of Tech employees, international faculty, staff and students have an opportunity to experience the American holiday."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-11-14 15:01:12","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:10:38","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-11-14T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-11-14T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"72657":{"id":"72657","type":"image","title":"International House Thanksgiving","body":null,"created":"1449177942","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:25:42","changed":"1475894661","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:21","alt":"International House Thanksgiving","file":{"fid":"193698","name":"ihouse_tday.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ihouse_tday_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ihouse_tday_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1880565,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ihouse_tday_0.jpg?itok=MVxxpolP"}}},"media_ids":["72657"],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1506","name":"faculty"},{"id":"15060","name":"H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering; International House"},{"id":"1802","name":"international"},{"id":"15059","name":"Julie Swann ISyE"},{"id":"1747","name":"Kirk Bowman"},{"id":"167018","name":"staff"},{"id":"166847","name":"students"},{"id":"2282","name":"Thanksgiving"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}