Since 1995, US presidents have issued a series of annual proclamations designating the month of March as “Women’s History Month.” These proclamations recognize the specific achievements women have made over the course of American history in a variety of fields. In honor of Women’s History Month (WHM), the HubICL curators are highlighting female authors of intercultural learning (ICL) activities in the Toolbox with the hashtag #WHM followed by the first name of the tool’s author. You’ll find that we are honoring both the pioneers of our field and newer interculturalists who embed ICL in their curricula and programs. If you go here, you’ll find work by the following:

Janet Bennett—Janet’s teachings about stage-based pedagogy at the Summer Institute of Intercultural Communication (SIIC) guides our curation of each new tool in the Toolbox. Look at the Frameworks tab for any tool in the Toolbox, and you’ll see our recommendations for how stage-based pedagogy might guide your choice of an ICL activity.

This month we are highlighting Janet’s Mindsets activity. Click the Links tab to see how Purdue’s CILMAR staff use Mindsets to bring fun and discussion to a group IDI debrief. You might also be interested to know that Janet’s Language Envelopes, an activity adapted from John Conlon, was the fourth most viewed tool in the HubICL Toolbox in 2021.

Donna Stringer and Patricia Cassiday—When we began putting tools in the Toolbox four years ago, some of the first to go in were from the 52 Activities series by Stringer and Cassiday. We were pretty sure that ICL practitioners might have at least one of these books on their shelves. Being careful not to violate their copyright, the HubICL does not provide information—with the exception of learning objectives--already in the books. Rather we promote the books by including them in our search engine, so you can compare them with other ICL activities.

This month we are highlighting D-I-E, which Donna and Patricia published as “A Value to D-I-E For” in 52 Activities for Exploring Value Differences (2003, pp. 17-19) and adapted from Milton and Janet Bennett’s work at the Intercultural Communication Institute. This activity had the second most pageviews in the HubICL in 2021. In the Downloads link, you will find the PowerPoint that Purdue’s CILMAR uses when facilitating D-I-E with large groups of students.

Looking for a fresh take on the D-I-E? We invite you to take a look at I DIVE, which provides a worksheet in both German and English, by Susan Schaerli-Lim, the head of international relations at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

Kate Berardo and Darla Deardorff—When we were first stocking the HubICL, the other book that we hoped was on every interculturalist’s bookshelf was Building Cultural Competence. Again, as with the 52 Activities series, it is our pleasure, without violating copyright, to include the activities from this book when HubICL users search for an exercise with a specific purpose.

This month we are highlighting Voices from the Past by Kate Berardo, which was the third most viewed tool in the HubICL Toolbox in 2021.  If you take a look at the Links tab, you will find two videos of Voices from the Past being facilitated. In addition, we are highlighting Kyoung-Ah Nam’s D-A-E, published as “Framework: Describe-analyze-evaluate (DAE)” and Building Utopiastan” by Lisa Nevalainen and Maureen White. Voices from the Past, D-A-E, and Building Utopiastan are published in Building Cultural Competence.

Tara Harvey—When the HubICL was little more than a dream, Tara Harvey was the 43^rd person who created a HubICL account. If you’ve been in the HubICL very much, you probably realize that her name pops up in the Tools, the Collections (We love her blog!), and in the new HubICL Professional Development Zone. We appreciate Tara’s support so much in telling those who attend her Facilitating Intercultural Learning workshops about the HubICL!

There is a free course--Beyond the Comfort Zone--by Tara Harvey curated into the HubICL Toolbox.

Stella Ting-Toomey—You won’t be surprised to find Stella’s research referenced in more than one tool in the Toolbox. Her book Communicating Across Cultures is cited as inspiration for at least two tools by Kris Acheson-Clair—Adapt or Be Yourself and Analysis of an Intercultural Interaction.

In addition, you’ll find that we have highlighted:

A Place Called Home by Beth Tucker, an intercultural learning specialist who oversees the International Friendship Program at Purdue University.

Adapt Your Pitch by Heider Parker, an assistant director in Global Engineering Programs and Partnerships at Purdue University, who embeds intercultural learning into everything she does, especially study abroad.

IDC Stage Videos by Jacquelyn Wiersma-Mosley and Margaret M. Butcher, professors at University of Arkansas, who have created an on-line package of easy-to-use materials for explaining the stages of the Intercultural Development Continuum.

Happy 10^th Birthday by Jennifer Miskec, a professor at Longwood University, who shared this delightful activity with the CILMAR staff at the 2020 WISE conference.

Herox's Journey by Jen Wiley a founder of CoreCollaborative International, whose activity helps students to move into an imaginational, narrative space as they consider what it means to become interculturally competent.

Digging Deeper Diversity Questions by Maura Cullen, a favorite speaker when she came to the Purdue campus and shared her book 35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say.

Self-Care 101 by Michelle Campbell who began writing her own ICL activities when she was a graduate assistant at Purdue University and has continued to embed ICL into each job that she has had since, first at Duke University and now at the University of Michigan.

Addressing Microaggressions by Virginia Cabrera whose exceptional work in increasing student leader awareness of microaggressions at Purdue University’s orientation programs serves as a model for other orientation program leaders nationwide.

We salute each of these women for increasing their own and others’ intercultural competence!

1. intercultural competence
2. intercultural learning
3. Intercultural Learning Hub