International Student Leadership Team helps global Wildcats find their place
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 6, 2026) — Each semester at the University of Kentucky, new students arrive from countries around the globe. These global Wildcats travel great distances and say goodbye to family and friends, with some leaving home for the first time. During this transition, the International Student Leadership Team (ISLT) welcomes them to UK.
“We know students often learn best and connect more with their peers,” said Jane Newland, international program coordinator for International Student and Scholar Services. “ISLT was established with that idea in mind and with the hope that students would be able to make connections and find that home away from home.”
For ISLT members, welcoming students is personal.
“I remember that first week on campus,” said Anna Bollis, a senior from Brazil. “I had left my home for the first time, and here I was in a new country, a new city, a completely new environment. When ISLT welcomed me as a first-year student during those first few days, it really defined my college experience and helped me instantly find my place. It set me on a path to success.”
During their first week on campus, international students attend a welcome dinner co-hosted by the Fayette County UK Alumni Club, an ice cream social, a campus tour and orientations tailored to international students. ISLT members attend each event to guide the new students and offer advice as current UK students.
“Having ISLT folks around during that first week on campus gives new students a familiar face,” Newland said. “There are always fellow students for our new international students to connect with and get firsthand knowledge and advice.”
For international students, the first week on campus is intentionally designed to provide essential information, prepare them for life at UK and start them on a path toward academic success and personal fulfillment as active members of the UK community.
“This community means everything to me,” Bollis said. “The first week I was on campus was that first connection point for me. I can look at all the things I am involved with on campus, the friends I have and this wonderful community of international students from around the globe, and I can connect it all back to that first week.”
ISLT’s work helping students find their place at UK does not stop after the first week, though. Members host events throughout the semester to foster connections, hold office hours to meet with current students and work with International Student and Scholar Services staff to develop new programs and ideas for better supporting international students.
“ISLT is a recurring resource for our international students,” Newland said. “It’s also cyclical. The most exciting thing about it is seeing a student who connected with an ISLT member when they were new on campus and then, a couple of years later, watching that same student become a leader by joining ISLT. It’s a program that continues to pay dividends by ensuring our students are welcomed and have an important voice.”
Visit international.uky.edu/isss/student-engagement to learn more about ISLT and other international student engagement opportunities at UK.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and healthcare. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $1.02 billion research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.