International House alumni gatherings are in the planning stages in:

Paris, France
June 14, 2003

Los Angeles, CA
October 11, 2003

San Diego, CA
October 12, 2003

Invitations will be mailed to alumni in those areas. Watch the program calendar on the web for more information at
International House

Donna Dickinson Remembered

Donna and Bill Dickinson

Donna Kuizenga Dickinson, who served as the International House Program Director from 1971 to 1984, died on December 3, 2002. Known for her dynamic leadership, Ms. Dickinson developed the community visits program and Lodestar retreats. She worked with the Section Club (Faculty Wives Foreign Student Committee) and shared her contagious enthusiasm for International House with many community groups. Ms. Dickinson also served as a foreign student advisor from 1964-71

Sheridan Warrick, I-House Director Emeritus, recalls, "I first met Donna Dickinson in the sixties when she walked into my office and indicated that she was interested in becoming a foreign student adviser. This was the era when foreign students were just beginning to inundate American universities and little was known about how to serve them.

"Her qualifications were almost too good to be true, and there was the bonus of two for one: husband Bill loved to talk to students about fission, fusion, black holes and quarks. Donna loved to speak at community events about international understanding through hospitality, and together they enjoyed hosting students at discussion retreats in the mountains, as well as advising and counseling."

Warrick notes, "Donna was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister; the owner of three Cal degrees including a Ph.D.; the admirer of an Asian culture; a linguist, a writer for newspapers, a believer in world federalism, mother of two, spouse of a Livermore Lab nuclear physicist who was a graduate of Cal Tech and with whom she had resided in Cambridge Mass, at Los Alamos, New Mexico, and in Bandung, Indonesia."

Liz Carr, longtime assistant to Donna, recalls: "I think the dynamo title is right. I remember Donna saying once that when she was asked the best advice she had ever been given, she said, 'Take your cupcakes when they're passed!'"

Warrick remembers Donna as enthusiastic and engaging. She had a hearty laugh, loved to have fun, and to lead dining table discussions "where ideas crackled like firecrackers."

Ms. Dickinson is survived by her husband William Dickinson of Alameda. The family asks that donations be made to the I-House Scholarship Program or St. Joseph of Arimathea Collegiate Chapel. A memorial service was held on December 30.