The Graduate Certificate in Multicultural Teamwork is designed to prepare people to lead, advise and train people from two or more cultures who work together toward a common goal. It is also useful for people who will work with those from other cultures but who will not be in a position of leadership or teaching. As a graduate program, the included courses study issues in depth, leading to more insight, creativity and adaptability than the usual short courses in this field.
Goals
To enable students to:
- Identify key features of a social environment that may affect the values and behavioral expectations different partners bring to a partnership.
- Explain how people who follow the same religious tradition can have different patterns of partnership depending on their cultural backgrounds
- Evaluate their own views on the relationship between their own religious viewpoint and those patterns.
- Assess their own ways of interacting with others in order to adapt their ways to partner more effectively across cultures.
- Evaluate cultural styles of leadership and develop a plan for working with a variety of styles.
- Pass on knowledge and skills needed for working in partnership with those of other cultural backgrounds.
- Contribute to the professional literature and ongoing discussions of this topic.
Curriculum
The prescribed curriculum for the Graduate Certificate in Multicultural Teamwork includes four courses:
- LD 5372 Social
and Political Organization: explores social and political structures and their cultural variants. These structures provide the underlying mental grid which guides each participant in how a team should accomplish its goals.
- LD 5374 Christianity
Across Cultures: explores the different expressions of Christianity in different times, denominations, and ethnic groups. Since the values and expectations Christians bring to a team or partnership are strongly perceived to be derived from their religion, participants must understand this topic in order to work effectively with others.
- LD 5321 Multicultural Teamwork: analyzes the many ways culture affects teams and partnerships. This course is the centerpiece of the Certificate curriculum, but without the other three courses it cannot provide enough for deep understanding of the issues.
- LD 5323 Multicultural Leadership: explores leadership of multicultural teams and partnerships. Because culture affects expectations and sets limitations on leadership, this course is designed for those leading or advising or training teams and groups of partners.
This Graduate Certificate may be earned in four months of work; since courses build on earlier knowledge, students are strongly encouraged to take the courses in the order offered.
Prerequisites
- LD 4370 Cultural Anthropology. Each of the courses in this program requires a previous cultural anthropology course (graduate or upper level undergraduate). The same course can fulfill this requirement of all four courses in the certificate.
- The leadership and teamwork courses also require either LD 4350 Language and Society or equivalent, or at least 3 years experience working in a different language and culture and the permission of the instructor.
LD4350 and LD4370, both of which are courses in the Undergraduate Certificate in Applied Linguistics, together fulfill the prerequisites for all courses in the Graduate Certificate in Multicultural Teamwork.
Waiver of Courses
This is a one-bimester certificate and includes only four carefully selected courses. It is therefore necessary for a student to take all four courses.
Courses similar to two of the included courses, “Social and Political Structure” and “Christianity Across Cultures,” are taught at other graduate institutions. It may be possible for these to be transferred in by the normal transfer process and to count toward the Graduate Certificate.
Equivalent courses will not be accepted for the “Multicultural Teamwork” and “Multicultural Leadership” Courses.
To apply, students should apply for graduate admission.
