Social Life
Make UC and Cincinnati your home.
Start by finding students who are having the same global experience that you are or meeting students who are curious about your country and your travels. You'll find a warm welcome!
IPALs
International Partners and Leaders (IPALs) is a student group run through UC International.
These international and domestic students are UC International's ambassadors on campus. They help host events so students from many different cultures can share experiences and make new friends. All students are welcome at the events, so follow the IPALs social media (@ucipals) and UC International's social media to find out what is happening.
If you are interested in supporting UC's international students, learn more about applying to join this group of student leaders through CampusLink.
International student groups
There are many other international student groups on campus. You can search "international" or a specific country name or cultural term in the organizations tab of CampusLink to see whether there is a group you would like to join.
Can't find one? Start your own!
If any information on this list is inaccurate, contact our office.
UC International invites UC internationally focused student organizations to outline and submit proposals to receive funding for campus events that support international students at UC. Funding is available for an academic year on a first-come, first-served basis.
The event must meet the following basic criteria:
- Event must be hosted by a partnership of at least two international student organizations; registered with CSI. A student organization may only receive funding once per academic semester.
- The event must take place on UC's campus.
- The event must be open to the general UC student population.
- Event hosts must propose a creative way to get international and domestic students to attend the event.
- Request for funding must be submitted at least 30 days prior to the anticipated event date. Any requests received that do not meet the 30 day requirement will be denied.
- Funding requests must not exceed $2,000 USD per event.
- The expected attendance for each event must be more than 250 people.
- UC International must be identified as a sponsor of the event, and would like to have marketing materials in hand prior to marketing campaign.
- UC International will not sign contracts for the event.
- Funds cannot be used for alcohol, fundraising money, or for anything that may be in violation of university policies.
For any questions, please contact Lorri Blanton.
Volunteer
A great way to get involved in the community is by volunteering! UC's Center for Community Engagement helps students find service opportunities (and bonus: they may count as service hours for common UC scholarships).
Explore Cincinnati
Since when do pigs fly? What's the Big Red Machine? Why is there a district called Over the Rhine when the nearest river is named the Ohio? If you live in Cincinnati, you'll learn the answers to all of those questions, and many more.
You'll understand Cincinnati's character as a surprisingly international city, headquarters to almost a dozen Fortune 500 companies, that still thinks of itself as a solidly German-American town and still splits itself east/west along a canal that was paved over a century ago.
We're a midwestern city perched on the southern-most edge of the U.S.'s northern states, just over the mountains from the eastern seaboard and a long day's journey from the prairies and plateaus of the greater midwest.
We have the oldest city food festival in the U.S. and the big sister to New York City's famous Brooklyn Bridge. Our distinctive collection of 19th-century Italianate buildings has rapidly filled with exciting restaurants in the 21st century. A glorious art deco train station houses some of our museums, and a museum houses a collection of iconic signs that signal Americana the world over.
A journalist once called Cincinnati, perched along the Ohio River, "Ohio's front porch." We hope you'll find it a welcoming place.