Shea House provides students at the University of Virginia the opportunity to experience complete language immersion in Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi-Urdu, Italian, Japanese, Korean, or Persian. Approximately seventy-five students are chosen every year, through an application process, to live at the Shea House. Once accepted and living in the Shea House, students are expected to speak in the respective residential block languages while in their block, resulting in the creation of a total language immersion environment. The Shea House is one of the options of housing for returning undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Virginia.
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Shea House Building
The Housing Division at the University of Virginia spent more than three and a half million dollars on the Shea House building. The Shea House consists of eight residential blocks, one for each of the languages offered (Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi-Urdu, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Persian). Each of the residential blocks has a language assistant who plans events for the residents of their block. Students living in the Shea House are provided with full laundry facilities, high-speed Ethernet connections in each room, central heating and air conditioning, and common areas.
Events
Each year the Shea House, in collaboration with the faculty from the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures (DEALLC), the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures (MESALC), and from the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Virginia, organizes a plethora of cultural events. Cultural events include things such as residential block group dinners and discussions involving culture.
Governance
The Shea House government consists of House Representatives and Language Group Contact Professors for each of the eight languages offered in the Shea House. There are also Language Advisors, who are students with native or near-native proficiency in the language of their block. Language advisors are responsible for organizing cultural events for Shea House residents and coordinating the events with other Language assistants and house staff. The Shea House government consists of four committees: Communications/Media, Cultural Convergence, Financial, and Social.
Application Process
The Shea House has two separate applications for residents and language assistants. They are open to any full-time student at the University of Virginia who demonstrates at least a first-year proficiency in one of the languages (Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindi-Urdu, Italian, Japanese, Korean, or Persian).