The Office of Global Affairs is pleased to feature Kim Lovaas for our December 2024 edition of the Global Visionaries series. The Global Visionaries series highlights the UW’s global impact by featuring innovative, globally-engaged faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Kim Lovaas, Director of International Student Services, describes her experience advocating for and supporting the international student community at the University of Washington for the past 25 years.

Kim Lovaas earned a MA from Lesley University in Intercultural Communications and a BA in East Asian Studies from Western Washington University.

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I grew up in Bellingham, Washington -as my parents did before me – so other than growing up near the Canadian border, I wasn’t really exposed to other countries around the world or foreign languages. As a kid, my family mostly took trips within the state or down the West Coast of the United States. 

I attended Western Washington University, which is also located in Bellingham but my parents wanted me to have the true college experience by living on campus. As a first year student, I learned about a Japanese exchange program that my roommate was involved with at Western called the Asia University America Program (AUAP). She was a peer adviser for a small group of AUAP students and she organized social and cultural events as well as local activities and trips. I joined her in these activities and soon also agreed to be a peer adviser, supporting my own AUAP groups for about a year and a half. During that time, I enjoyed getting to know the Japanese students, learning more about their culture, music, food and language. I have many fond memories of introducing AUAP students to my hometown, my parents, and having a family dinner at my parents’ house.

I initially thought I wanted to be a Psychologist and started taking Psychology courses at Western. I quickly realized these courses weren’t a good fit and I  reflected on why I wanted to be a psychologist in the first place. The heart of why is that I have always liked  working with people and helping others. So I decided to lean into my evolving interests in language, culture, and people, so I focused my efforts on East Asian Studies. I had started studying Japanese language and taking courses about the history of Japan. I also realized I wanted to understand the experience of being an exchange student and deepen my studies by actually going to Japan. 

I was not sure it would be financially feasible or how my family would react since I had never been outside the U.S. before, but I realized I could afford it if I participated as an exchange student through Western directly so I was still paying only Western’s tuition. I was selected to go to Obirin University in Machida, Tokyo my junior year but because I was majoring in East Asian Studies, all of the courses that I took at Obirin transferred back and counted towards my degree requirements. 

It was an amazing experience! I lived with a Japanese family that didn’t speak very much English. I was 21 years old at the time, and the family had two little kids, so I spent a lot of time with them and really improved my Japanese language skills during that year.

Before I went to Japan, I had lived in the same place my entire life. By stepping outside of my comfort zone and living outside of the United States for a year, I learned more about myself as well as my country and culture. That international experience was such a pivotal moment in my life. 

After graduating from Western, I returned to Japan for several years to work for a Japanese company that I had taught English for as an exchange student. I worked in their headquarters office in the center of Tokyo. I had a lot of Japanese and American friends living nearby, I was paid well, and I really enjoyed my life living in Tokyo. After working in Japan for a few years and saving money, I still didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my career, but I knew it would have something to do with international students.

My approach to intercultural competence has always been to be open and to listen. I have found that people are often scared of what they don’t know or what’s different. In my work, students come from different backgrounds, languages and cultures. I try to be open to learning about their lived experiences and to their points of view. I try to be mindful of my own preconceived beliefs and to stay curious. I think it’s important to know what you believe, but not to the detriment of saying someone else is wrong. It’s vital that we remain open and not judgmental to new ideas.

We need to enter every conversation with a sense of curiosity and a willingness to learn. We may not always agree, but we must listen and be open and willing to learn.

I am supportive, encouraging, collaborative, and aim to put students first. I try to focus on our purpose and remind myself and my team that we are here for the students. It’s so important to remember that whenever we are making decisions that impact students.

The work we do in International Student Services (ISS) is focused around immigration rules and regulations so there are many things we can’t change because we are bound by those regulations. We still try to review the regulations carefully and provide input. I gather my team to carefully review the regulations so we can work together to interpret them based on our own institutional policy. I prefer to be inclusive and seek their input before I make major decisions. I truly believe everyone has a voice. I want my team to feel like they can give input and that they are key players during the decision-making process. Although I am responsible for making the decision, I want their input.

I also try to lead from as supportive of a place as possible. I am constantly thinking about how so much of our work is about people and how people need compassion. I am always reminding my team that there is a strong human aspect to the work that we do. We have to be consistent and fair given that we have to follow rules and regulations that protect the institution and the UW’s reputation, but we also need to remember that we are human.

Lastly, I believe strongly in creating space for my team to grow and learn on their own. I try hard not to micromanage. I am always available to help whenever I am needed but my preference is to step back and cheer my team on as they grow and learn in their roles. I want to give them opportunities to grow within their roles and take on new challenges.

When I first came to the UW in 2000, we had fewer than 500 international undergraduate student applications. Most of the international students at the UW at the time were graduate students – the undergraduate student population was almost non-existent. Fast forward to 2024, where we now have over 7,200 international students enrolled (about 16% of the total student body), close to 13,000 international freshman applications and the UW is ranked 13 in the country for international student enrollment.

I am very proud of the growth in our international student population. It’s been amazing to witness how changes in the state budget, how a shift in admitting and enrolling more non-residents (which includes international students) and a commitment to funding international recruitment have resulted in a thriving international student community.

As far as the role I have played in all of this, I am proud to have been a part of this growth and to have strategically advocated for connecting international student enrollment and international student advising at the UW.

It has been critical to ensure we can maintain staffing levels to support the growth of international student enrollment not only within ISS but across campus. Seeing the international student community growth across campus has been an incredibly rewarding journey.

One thing I would like more people to know is that my team in International Student Services continues to work with international students after they graduate. When international students graduate from the UW, they are able to apply for optional practical training (OPT), which is an employment benefit available through the F-1 visa.

For most international students, it is a 12 month opportunity to stay and work in the US. However, if the international students are in a designated STEM eligible field, they can apply for an additional 24 month extension after the initial 12 month experience. Currently, there are over 2,000 F-1 UW alumni still in the U.S under OPT and STEM OPT whose immigration records are managed by International Student Services.

Even though they could be employed anywhere in the country, my team in International Student Services continues to maintain and report on their immigration records during their additional 12 months to 3 years in the US after graduating from the UW. We aren’t supporting them on a daily basis but they do still reach out for advice and support.

The only other thing I would like to mention is that the international student advisers on my team have limited scopes – their focus is specifically on immigration advising. Sometimes international students are referred to International Student Services for academic advising or mental health counseling or even career counseling. We do our best to direct the students to the other offices on campus that are able to support those needs.