Last update: 10/25/96

Intercultural Skills

College of Humanities
Dean: Nancy McDermid

Intercultural Skills Program
HUM 521
415-338-2827
Coordinator: James Kohn

Undergraduate Adviser: Kohn

Program

 Minor in Intercultural Skills

Program Scope

Our world is composed of countless different cultural groups who increasingly come into contact with one another for the purpose of business, politics, education, information exchange, or travel. Our own U.S. and California populations, already diverse with resident ethnic groups, are becoming even more diverse with the influx of numerous immigrants. Every member of this heterogeneous citizenry needs to understand cultural diversity and to know how best to appreciate and profit from it.

The purpose of this minor is to give students cognitive, affective, and practical skills in intercultural interaction. Students learn the historical backgrounds of ethnocentrism, are taught how to recognize and cope with ethnocentrism in themselves, and how to communicate effectively with peoples of different cultures or cultural inheritances. In addition, the minor requires students to achieve an intermediate level of competency in a foreign language, as a further tool in intercultural communication and understanding.

Students interested in this minor should see the Intercultural Skills coordinator first, to choose the culture courses most appropriate to them and to determine their level of language competency.

Career Outlook

The minor is particularly appropriate for students entering careers in which contact with other cultures is assured: education, international business, social services, etc. All students, however, can profit from the minor by improving their appreciation both of their own cultural background and of the reality and value of cultures different from their own.

MINOR IN INTERCULTURAL SKILLS

Courses for this program are listed in alphabetical sequence (consult Index for page reference).

No more than six units may be taken on a CR/NC basis; no more than nine units may be transferred from other campuses. No more than nine units may overlap with a student's major.

Program

									Units
IS 300	Introduction to Cultural Awareness				3

One of the following courses in intercultural communication skills	4
IR 305		International Negotiation (4)
SPCH 541	Intercultural Communication (4)
SPCH 542	Intracultural Communication (4)

One of the following courses in theoretical frameworks for cross-cultural comparison 
(or selected other courses on advisement)				3-4
ANTH 310	Kinship and Social Structure
ANTH 550	Culture and Personality
ANTH 581	Anthropology and Folklore
SOC 461	Ethnic Relations: International Comparisons (4)
One course in one's own culture on advisement				3
One course in a culture other than one's own, on advisement		3

IS 600		Culminating Seminar					3
Total									19-20
NOTE: Courses in one's own culture focus on an ethnic or national group with which the student identifies. Courses in another culture focus on an ethnic or national group with which the student does not identify. The decision as to which courses fit into which category will be made by the student in consultation with the program coordinator.

Foreign Language Competency

All students completing the Intercultural Skills Minor will be required to demonstrate intermediate-level competency in one modern foreign language other than English. For specific information about how to meet this requirement, students must consult with the minor adviser.