Date: August 16, 2021
What does it mean to be interculturally competent? One simple way of understanding this concept is to “do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” In other words, being interculturally competent involves becoming familiar with the cultures of those around us and adapting our communication and behavior to their actual values and wishes, as opposed to assuming how they want to be treated based upon our own cultural values.
As the Director of Multicultural Ministries, I enjoy introducing ideas, practices, and tools to our community that can help us to build a truly intercultural campus. Therefore, I am delighted that we will be using a tool called the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) during the annual Introduction to Intercultural Competency (ICC) next month. ICC Participants will take a confidential IDI assessment online that determines where they fall on the continuum of intercultural development: denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, or adaptation.
Our ICC keynote speaker, Phyllis Braxton-Frierson, will then deliver aggregate results to ICC participants (this does mean that this year’s keynote address is open to ICC participants only). These results will offer a perspective on where we are as a collective that is journeying towards intercultural competency. For example, strategies for thriving in a community where most people are in denial about cultural differences will be very different than in a community where most people are more accepting of cultural differences.
During the fall semester, participants will have the opportunity to receive their individual IDI results in a confidential setting, and they will also be given an individual development plan that can help them increase their cultural awareness.
I look forward to seeing the fruit that this intercultural tool bears at VTS!
The Rev. Joseph D. Thompson, Jr., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Race and Ethnicity Studies
Director of Multicultural Ministries