Revised 10/02/17

International Student Council

Guidebook

Table of Contents

Renewing Your Country Association…………………………………………………………….3

Petty Cash…………………………………………………………………………………………3

Reimbursement……………………………………………………………...………………....…3

“A” Account Balance…………………………………………………….………………………4

Encumbrance………………………………………………………….…………………….……4

Table Reservations in Nigh………………………………………………………………………4

Room Reservations……….……………………………………………………………………....5

Event Promoting.…………………………………………………………………………………6

Email Blasts………………………………………………………………………………………6

Printing Materials………………………………………………………………………..………7

Sidewalk Chalk…………………………………………………………………………...………7

ISC Annual Events……………………………………………………………………………….7

Glocal Passport…………………………………………………………………………………...8

Scholarships………………………………………………………………………………………8

Budget Information………………………………………………………………………………8

Machine/PA Rentals…………………………………………………..………………………….9

Contact Information……………………………………..……………………………………….9

Renewing Your Country Association

Every year, each student organization is required to renew their association. All organizations must be active by September 4th in order to receive funding from the International Student Council and reserve rooms on campus. For more information, contact Nicole Doherty in Campus Activities at

Visit this link for more information.

How to get funded and pay for your cultural event?

Petty Cash

  • Email the ISC treasurer () three business days in advance for any petty cash requests. Petty cash email requests need to be as detailed as possible by providing the amount of money you need for food and programming. You cannot check out more than $200 each time.
  • E.g. Petty cash request for $150. $50 for programming (decorations, supplies, cups, plates, forks) $100 for food (chicken, potato, cream).
  • Once you receive an email that the petty cash is ready, visit the front desk in the Nigh University Center room 136 and pick up a petty-cash form.
  • Email Jared Scism at to make an appointment to sign your petty cash form.
  • Once you have a confirmed appointment, go to the International House and see Jared Scism to sign your form. After your form has been signed, you and your country association’s advisor will go together to the Bursar’s office to pick up the petty cash money that you need. All money must be checked out before 4:30 PM.
  • You have 24 hours to go shopping, save the receipts and take the money back to Jared’s office together with the receipts. Make sure that you purchase all food items on one receipt and programming items on another receipt.
  • If you take money out on Friday, you can keep them during the weekend, and take them back on Monday. If you don’t take the money back on time, you will be charged for the whole amount, so don’t forget to drop by Jared’s office with your receipt, your change (if any left) and your petty cash form before 24 hours are over.
  • After Jared has signed your petty cash form, you may turn in the money and the receipts to the Bursar’s office. You are done! Congratulations 

Advantages of this process: You are not spending your money.
Disadvantages of this process: It is a longer process. You can only check out $200 maximum each time

Reimbursement

  • Go shopping for items that you need for your event. You CANNOT spend more money that the amount ISC approved on food and programming and you cannot be reimbursed for tax (Use tax exempt paper). Also, make sure that you purchase all food items on one receipt and programming items on another receipt.
  • After you are finished, tape your receipts to a blank white piece of paper and put programming receipts on one page and food receipts on the other page.
  • Once all of your receipts are taped to paper, email Victory Ogunbanwo to make an appointment at . Please visit Victory with your receipts within one month after your event (two weeks if your event is in April), so we can get your money back on time.
  • After you fill out all the paperwork with Victory, you will get your money back on your Broncho Spirit card or a check in your mailbox within one month. You are done! Congratulations 

Advantages of this process: The process is not as long.

Disadvantages of this process: You are spending your own money and it takes a month until you get your money back.

Encumbrance

All students who rent from the Nigh University Center for an event may pay for their Nigh University Center purchase through an Encumbrance Form. In order to have your event in the Nigh University Center to be paid for with an encumbrance form, send your Nigh University Center invoice to Jared Scism at via email and Jared will complete the rest of the necessary steps.

“A” Account Budget

Almost every country/region association has an “A” account. An “A” account is like a bank account for your country and region association that is set up on campus that you can deposit money into after having a fundraiser event. To find out your “A” account balance, please email Jared Scism at . .

Nigh Center Table Reservations

1.Please fill out the Activity Table Request form (found outside of Katie Saylor’s office, NUC 319 or under the ‘files’ tab in the Nigh University Center portal on OrgSync) and remember to include all information about food and all of the dates requested. You will need to reserve the tables in two-week increments—i.e. if you want to reserve dates for a table starting on September 11, you would turn in the request on September 4 and the last date that you could reserve on the form would be September 25.
2.Return the completed form to any Conferences and Events office, NUC 319 or 317B. Make sure to timestamp the request using the machine on the wall next to NUC 319’s mailbox before turning it in. If no one is available to review your request, please drop the form off in the box outside of NUC 319.
3.A member of the Conferences and Events staff will contact you via email within 24 hours telling you if your event is approved or not.
4.On of the day of your tabling event, please stop by NUC 319 to pick up a number for your table, and return the yellow number card when your tabling session is over.
5.If you have any other questions, email Katie Saylor at

Room Reservations

In order to hold your event, it is important to make a room reservation with the place you are planning to have your event.

International House: To make a reservation at the International House, please follow these guidelines:

  1. Check the International House calendar the following website to see if the International House is available at
  2. If there are no events listed during the time you wish to have your event, fill out a reservation form on OrgSync by visiting your country/region associations Orgsync profile, clicking the events tab, and clicking the green button that says “Create an Event” and fill out all the application. When filling out the application, check the box that you want to use a reserved space on campus and choose the International House as your location for your event. Please be as specific as possible and wait 24-48 hours for your confirmation. All reservations must be made at least one week in advance.
  1. Nigh University Center: To make a reservation at the Nigh University Center, fill out a reservation form on OrgSync by visiting your country/region associations Orgsync profile, clicking the events tab, and clicking the green button that says “Create an Event” and fill out all the application. When filling out the application, check the box that you want to have a reserved space on campus and choose the Nigh University Center as your location for your event. Please be as specific as possible and wait 24-48 hours for your confirmation. All reservations must be made at least one week in advance.

Few things to keep in mind:

  • Make sure to follow all procedures and guidelines of the International House and the Nigh University Center. The International Student Council will not be responsible for paying any damage fees that may be caused by country associations.
  • You may bring more than $200 of food to the International House. If you plan to spend more than $200 and want to use the Nigh University Center, you must have you must fill out an off campus-vendor form and have it approved by Conference and Events before you can purchase food for your event. This form must be submitted to Conference and Events two weeks prior to your event to get approved. To get this off-campus vendor form, see Katie Saylor in Conference and Events.
  • At the International House, a chaperone is not necessary after 5:00 or on weekends. If you want to use the Nigh University Center, you must have a chaperone if your event is after 5:00 or on a weekend.
  • You do not have to pay for any equipment that is used at the International House, but you may have to pay for equipment at Conference and Events
  • The International House can hold up to 300 people inside and 50 outside. If you plan to have more than that, it may be necessary to rent the Nigh University Center instead.
  • The International House has a huge grill, popcorn machine, shaved ice machine, and PA system.
  • Each school year, your association must complete a reservations agreement form at the International House and the Nigh University Center.
  • If you have your event at the International House, please arrive early to set up for your event.

Event Promoting

Email Blast

If you wish to have your event sent out in an email blast, you must first send an email with the email blast you wish to send to Molly Smith at . This must be done no later than 10 days before you want the email sent. When sending the email, let her know who you are and that you are and politely request the Vice President of Student Affairs approval for an email blast. Once you have received an email approval from Molly, forward the email that shows you have been approved to the Service Desk at o later than 5 days before you want the email to be sent. At the beginning of your email, introduce yourself and tell them who you are, what country association you are from, and politely ask if they could send an email blast for you. After you have written the beginning of your email, copy and paste all of the bold italic words listed below and tell them what you want for each section.

1. Subject Line: Write what you would like for your subject line in the email to be here.

2. Send to:

In this section you write if you want to send it to students, faculty, or staff. You may include only students, or you can include two, or you may include all three if you want everyone on campus to receive your email.

3. Dates to send out: In this section, write what dates and time you want to send the email out. You may only send it out at 8:00 AM or 5:00 PM. You can see an example listed below.

January 23rd at 5:00PM

4. Email Body:Write out the email you want sent out to everyone.

Printing Flyers & Posters

If you are planning to print flyers for your event, all student associations must have their flyers printed at Print Central on the first floor of the Nigh University Center. All students who use anything other than Print Central will be unable to be reimbursed.If you need help designing your poster, UCOSA has a designer that is there to help you create your flyer/poster. If your event is sponsored by ISC, your flyers and posters must have the ISC logo placed somewhere on the poster. After your posters have been printed, you must take them to room 424 in the Nigh to receive an approval stamp to hang them up in the Nigh Center or in the main offices in the Liberal Arts building, Housing, and Wellness Center if you wish to hang them there.

Chalking

You may also promote your event by writing on campus sidewalks with sidewalk chalk. The only requirement is that you write with chalk at least 20 feet away from the entrance of any building and it must be written horizontally.

International Student Council Annual Events

International Festival- The International Festival is held each year in November. The international festival allows for country/region associations to share their culture people from UCO and the Edmond and Oklahoma City Community. Country associations also compete for the best booth display, food and cultural performance. You will be given the paperwork for the International Festival at the end of September.

Amazing Race-Similar to the popular TV show, the International Student Council will host the Amazing Race on the campus of UCO where each country/region association will have a booth somewhere on campus that will represent the country/region association. At the booth, students will have to complete games or answer trivia questions in order to obtain the first clue. The Amazing Race will take place each year in October.

International Prom-The International Prom will be held each year in the Spring Semester. The International Prom will be a way for the International Student Council to fundraise for an organization in the community every year.

Mr. and Miss UCO International Pageant-Each year, one male and one female from each country represented on the UCO campus has the opportunity to compete for scholarships. The Mr. & Miss UCO International Pageant is usually held at the end of March or early April every year. The pageant highlights the talent, culture and diversity of UCO's international students with pageant participants from around the world. There are 1st, 2nd and 3rd place male and female winners with each receiving varying amounts of scholarships. The 1st place winners become part of UCO's "Royalty" and represent the international student population at various functions.

International Olympics- The International Olympics takes place each year during the spring semester. During the Olympics, each country/region association has the opportunity to compete against one another in a variety of sports such as table tennis, soccer, basketball, badminton and tug-of-war. Applications for the International Olympics are given to associations in February.

International Graduation Banquet-Each fall and spring semester, the International Student Council holds a graduation banquet for all graduating seniors and J-1 students who will be returning home.

Adopt a Street Cleanup-Each fall, spring, and summer semesters, the International Student Council will pick up trash on Ayers street for the Adopt a Street Program. All country/region associations must participate in the fall and spring semesters or will receive one absence.

Glocal Passport Program

Glocal Passport is a program that allows for students at Central to experience what it is like to travel to different countries around the world without ever leaving campus. At the beginning of each semester, students interested in the Glocal Passport program will receive an empty passport from the International House Room 204. Throughout the year, students will be able to receive a stamp on their passport for all the country/regional association events that take place form the International Student Council. These stamps will be provided for students when they arrive at the beginning of an event and when they depart at the very end of the event by an ISC country/region association liaison. At the end of the semester, students who attend four different country/region association events and one major ISC event will have the opportunity to enter their passport into a drawing for a $800 scholarship.

Scholarships

At the end of every semester, the liaison for each country/region association will come to the final meeting of the semester for a voting session. During the voting session, members of the region/country association will nominate names for the hardest and most dedicated member of their association. After the nominations have been submitted, members of the association will vote for their top choice. The student with the highest number of votes will receive a $250 scholarship.

Budget

All country/region associations must attend general meeting on Friday at 2:00. Failure to miss three meetings will result in a 15% budget decrease. After four meetings, country/region associations will lose 50% funding and 100% of all funding will be lost after missing five meetings or more and will result in termination of the country/region association.

For the 2017-2018 school year, each country/region association will be allocated 1,000 dollars. Country/Associations who need additional funding can apply for additional funds from the International Student Council Executive team, but must submit a budget request and defend their budget before the executive board at least one month prior to their country/region association event. There is only $4,000 remaining in this additional funding pot. All country/region associations who have not planned or held their annual event by the end of February will forfeit all of their funds to the ISC general pot for other country/region associations to apply for.