The Culture Corps: Working to Bring People Together

on the Iowa State University campus Harry T Vienna takes the Ames community through voyages around the world where children and their parents experience crafts play games dance to music try on clothing and are enchanted by stories from different countries Carla McCullough and her friends serve as peer mentors to ease the adjustment process of newly arrived international students Zia Hawk shares his unique cultural perspective to increase knowledge and understanding of ISU students in teacher education about domestic and global diversity life Burkhart designs teaching modules to familiarize American students with the contributions of the world's indigenous people Angela alluring serves as a global ambassador informing Iowa State students faculty and staff about opportunities to study and work abroad which are available through ISU pyrrha vitaly uses her cultural expertise to develop cross-cultural educational resources used by thousands of schoolchildren and citizens throughout Iowa Karim aleem helps translate US laws regarding sexual assault sexual harassment and domestic abuse into many different languages for the international student community and their families Shalini a merci enhances the performance minority theatre workshop members with dramatic arts techniques from her home country India what do all these students have in common they are all members of the culture core program at Iowa State University the culture core program is an outgrowth of the Iowa State University strategic plan to enhance undergraduate education and improve the campus climate the program was conceived by the university's office of international students and scholars and the office of the vice president for student affairs through the program I asked you faculty and staff are able to apply for funds with which to hire international students and US students with an overseas experience to internationalize both curricular and co-curricular activities the culture core is a prime example of how the central administration can support students faculty and staff working together towards promoting cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity here are some of the faculty and staff the culture core has sponsored and the students who helped them what we've done is take some of the more exciting case studies that we have available at sea card the Centre for indigenous knowledge for Agriculture and Rural Development and try to develop these into teaching modules that could be used at the university level we now have five of these teaching modules up on the internet and eventually we will rework these with the help of some of the educational experts to make them more user-friendly for use in primary and secondary schools I spend a lot of time working in the sea card database looking for case studies to base the teaching modules on and helps for those students to understand that people of the world have good methods and good ideas that they are implementing in their own countries we have a program that we call weekend voyagers international it was founded on the idea that if people got to know folks from all over the world in a playful enjoyable setting they would be less likely to maintain myths and stereotypes about other groups of people so we have organized occasional programs and we bring international students to children who then play together games and activities and make crafts that kids in other countries do as they're growing up the opportunity to talk about your country is a it's like a stress relief for you because you have it bottled up and you're always afraid you're gonna lose your culture you're gonna forget when you're been in a country for so long I was able to travel I alongside with the children to go and get different experiences about the world I also became more open-minded you know it's just you you leave your ethnocentric ideas and you learn to accept other cultures angela has been working in the study abroad center and as said she's been helping to promote study abroad in classroom presentations speaking with her peers in formal and informal settings about the international opportunities at Iowa State and she's also been advising students on international opportunities and acting as a peer counselor in the study abroad Center I can tell them from a student's perspective what it's like to study abroad and to learn about other cultures and the benefits that they can gain through doing that and I think the peer advising is really a great benefit because then they can understand from a students point of view and they feel a lot more comfortable a lot of times talking to a student about what it's like to be abroad and away from their country and being totally immersed into another culture so I think that helps quite a bit Iowa State University has a unique service in the international resource center we develop and distribute culture kits which contain not only printed information but artifacts such as masks and musical instruments which provide hands-on learning about world cultures the benefits of the culture core project bring us the opportunity to hire international students and particularly in an office that deals with international artifacts this is a great asset to us I've given a lot of information about my country and about my background making other people understand more about my culture I think that the is used to deny my working at the International Resource Center by interacting with me and seeing a different culture within my person and comparing it to their American culture we have a project through the Department of Public Safety that is doing outreach with the international student community in the area of victimization prevention our goal is to decrease the number of sexual assaults domestic abuse and sexual harassment issues for the international community typically we have a lot of information out there for the American population that knows English but internationals coming in aren't aware of our laws and aren't aware of how to keep themselves safe while they're here at Iowa State it is nature of this project that it's made to benefit students out there especially the international students if there are 129 countries represented on campus they're people from all those countries there is a need to go out there and see how they think how they talk what a long language is so in in in that way in that way to spread the word around to get to help understanding people to people rhythm people within communities that's how it basically benefitted we did this particular project for the theater department we did the Medea myth and we brought in international students to teach the discipline dance and music to our cast and we internationalized the Medea myth chorus and so there were women that really represented other women from around the world the greatest benefit was that they brought through the chorus women a multicultural costumes and jewelry and even with the madea's they brought in Africa and you know different nations it was so relevant because we were talking about abuse and you know battered women and it just went to show that even though it was written in a you know American so-called American English and it was for an American audience but even though we were women of different cultures and nationalities we could you know with our costumes say it happens even with us back home and I think the community had a lot to learn with that I'm in curriculum and instruction department and I teach multicultural non-sexist education classes to undergraduates and graduate students so this project was to help us in the curriculum instruction department diversify bring in international perspectives to this multicultural education class that deals mostly with us diversity the ISU community benefited from my project because they had an insight into how issues of religion or sex or democracy or government were dealt in a cross-cultural perspective and since I was working with the cause of Education I was very lucky to communicate my message to student teachers so by doing that I think the message will not only be restricted to the Iowa State community but will be passed on to all the schools and all those children that these student teachers will be teaching down the road well the International peer assistance program is a program that allows us to hire six undergraduate students enrolled at Iowa State and they help by providing assistance to international students on the Iowa State University campus because they serve as resource persons to international students they know the campus really well they've also interacted with many people across the university campus and thereby have increased awareness about international student issues the concerns that they that international students encounter when they first stepped foot in the Iowa State campus ISU international students benefited from our project by getting peer mentors they were able to come into our office hours and get free tutoring we met them at orientation so they recognized our faces immediately when they came onto the campus and saw us continually throughout the rest of the semester so they had friends from the beginning and had already a sense of community at the beginning what makes the culture core a successful program several reasons first it realizes the university's most valuable resources for infrared occasionally its students second it provides valid and fulfilling employment in there for financial aid to all participating students next it gives students especially international students a chance to interact on a more personal level with the university community by providing them with valid leadership opportunities and educational experiences at Iowa State next the culture core also gives us students who have studied abroad I choose to share their experiences with other students and the university community as well however the main reason why the culture core is so successful is because the entire university community the administration the students the faculty then staff are all working together towards one very important goal the goal of making Iowa State an institution where internationalization is more than just a passing trend the projects featured here are not blueprints they are just a few examples of the limitless kinds of activities that can take place towards the internationalization of a campus so I hope this video has inspired you to think of new and creative ways to bring an internationalization to into your environment whether you are a faculty member and engineering representative of a student organization staff in the residence halls or any other member of the university community you too can make a difference you