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While there are many services and programs aimed at welcoming the over 4,000 international students, faculty and scholars who live, work, and study in the Brazos Valley annually and the many international visitors and guests who visit for short periods, there are few programs to prepare U.S. community members to interact successfully with these international guests and their families. A Community of RESECT was designed to do just that.
A Community of Respect is the product of months of collaboration of community partners to secure grant funding to create a coordinated set of learning modules that address cross cultural understanding and communication that can be used throughout our community. Trainers from across the community deliver the program, tailoring it to the needs of the many constituent groups who interact with our international community members.
“A Community of Respect” Curriculum
The curriculum includes three modules:
Module I is a cultural-awareness learning experience that includes a simulation called Albatross. The main goal is for participants to identify their own culture, how it differs from others and to develop an understanding of how culture influences behavior.
Module II focuses on how other cultures process information, create relationships, and communicate. It prepares individuals from a wide range of positions relate to and work with people from other countries. Both verbal and non-verbal cross cultural communication is examined.
Module III includes application of the knowledge and skills, learned in Modules I and II, to real-life encounters in different contexts, by examining case studies and exercises on cross-cultural misunderstanding.
Bring A Community of RESPECT to your department
The Community of RESPECT program can be tailored to the needs of your student affairs department. Contact Merna Jacobsen at mernaj@tamu.edu.
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