SPEAKER: Joe Lurie, Director Emeritus,
International House, UC Berkeley
“International House and the Little Known, Groundbreaking Origins of Desegregation in Berkeley and Beyond”
In the late 1920's why not choose a segregated Berkeley where people of color could not live within two miles of the Berkeley campus as a place to "strike bigotry right hard in the nose?" And so inspired by Harry Edmonds, a YMCA official, and funded by John D. Rockefeller Jr, International House, the first interracial living center west of New York was opened in 1930 and located on Piedmont Avenue in the midst of then exclusive fraternities and sororities.
International House, a residential and program center serving today up to 600 students from around the world and throughout the United States, led the way in desegregating the Berkeley campus and community while some of its pioneering Black and Asian alumni contributed in later decades to little known groundbreaking traditions in the United States.
Our speaker, Joe Lurie , who served as International House Berkeley Executive Director for two decades, helped to foster the institution's traditions and mission of fostering mutual respect, intercultural understanding and social justice through living and learning together.
Since retiring from International House, Joe Lurie has been an active teacher, intercultural trainer, speaker , author and consultant on cross-cultural communications. Clients in the U.S. and around the world have included: Google; UC Berkeley; Chevron; American Express; The Peace Corps; The Institute of International Education; He's spoken for The World Affairs Council of Northern California; The Commonwealth Club of California; Cal Discoveries Travel; and Tsinghua University in Beijing, among others.
A former Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya, Joe directed programs in France, Kenya, and Ghana for the School for International Training, and served as Vice-President and COO for AFS Intercultural Programs in the U.S. and National Study Abroad Chair for NAFSA: Association of International Educators. His writings have appeared in Harper’s Magazine, U.S. News & World Report and were highlighted on National Public Radio. He is author of the award winning Perception and Deception-A Mind-Opening Journey Across Cultures.
He was featured in a PBS documentary broadcast across the U.S. and in China, and his book PerceptionAndDeception.com has been featured on C-Span's Book TV.