Cultivating Cultural Intelligence for Serving International Students

Presenter(s) Information

Wendy Doucette, East Tennessee State UniversityFollow
Mandy Havert, University of Notre DameFollow
Kyunghye Kim, Florida State UniversityFollow

Start Date

3-22-2018 1:15 PM

End Date

3-22-2018 2:15 PM

Author(s) Bio

Wendy Doucette is an assistant professor and the Graduate Research and Instruction Librarian at East Tennessee State University. She is the lead instructor and developer of the Sherrod Library Graduate-Level Academic Workshop series and an embedded librarian for the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Boot Camp. She holds an MS in Library and Information Science from Florida State University and a PhD from Stanford University. Her research interests center on 360-degree literacy, visual literacy, problem-based learning, and serving first-generation and international graduate students. Mandy Havert is the Digital Research and Outreach Librarian and the interim supervisor for the Center for Digital Scholarship at the Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame. Mandy builds relationships with graduate students to encourage the use of the Libraries' new and existing services and to strengthen research and scholarly output for students at all levels. Her work includes planning and implementing workshops, providing library instruction for students in the Writing and Rhetoric classes as well as in graduate seminars. She is interested in connecting people to resources, how organizations work and leadership development. Kyung Kim earned a PhD in Library & Information Science at Rutgers University. Prior to joining the FSU Libraries as Business & Communication Librarian, Kyung taught at the iSchool of the Florida State University over nine years. Kyung has expertise in User Studies, and database & Internet searching. Her research interests include innovative information services for faculty and graduate students, scholarly communication, curriculum development, embedded librarianship for distance learners, and information support for entrepreneurs and global business researchers. She is one of the three liaison librarians for the international students and faculty on campus.

Description of Proposal

We are proposing a 50-minute panel.

Presenters: Dr. Wendy Doucette, East Tennessee State University; Ms. Mandy Havert, University of Notre Dame; Dr. Kyung Kim, Florida State University

The number of international graduate students continues to rise at American universities nationwide. While academic librarians wish to serve this student population effectively, few of us have received formal training or meaningful exposure to this sector of our student populace. This panel will provide first-person experiences from academic librarians who are actively engaging with and researching international students. Acknowledging and encouraging cultural diversity fosters the awareness of building inclusivity into graduate programming. Rather than viewing international students as a challenge to be resolved with a one-size-fits-all approach, cultivating cultural intelligence makes us more thoughtful and effective instructors and service providers for all students. This panel will discuss

• Tailoring services and support from the perspective of inclusivity for all students.
• Empirical best practices and lessons learned from focus groups with international students
• Tips for providing sessions tailored to multicultural audiences across the disciplines
• Partnerships with International offices, programs, and groups on campus
• The problem of academic writing
• Shared aspects of the graduate student experience
• Plagiarism and the academic honor code
• Thoughts about future engagement

A current list of professional resources will be provided.

We anticipate audience discussion will be generated by this topic and will encourage participation through informal polling and direct questions.