Vol. 19, No. 3 - Summer 2003

Continuing Professional Studies

Cultural competency training gets a fresh look

Workshops aimed at developing intercultural proficiency often focus on specific cultures and practices. But local educators had the chance to attend a different type of intercultural training workshop this spring through the office of continuing professional studies (CPS).

Thirty-six administrators, curriculum specialists, diversity trainers, and elementary and secondary classroom teachers from about half a dozen metro-area school districts took a fresh look at managing cultural diversity in their schools during two half-day workshops held at the Intermediate School District 287 PREP Center in Plymouth in April.

The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), developed by Milton Bennett, offers a new way of understanding intercultural issues. The DMIS model assumes that as your experience with cultural differences grows, your competency in intercultural relations increases in subtle and sometimes surprising ways. Understanding this process can assist in tailoring diversity training to foster greater cultural sensitivity.

“This model gives people an understanding of how to deal broadly with difference and diversity, not so much how to deal with group X,” said CPS administrative fellow Karen Lokkesmoe, who assisted Michael Paige in presenting the DMIS model and administering the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) for which she is a certified trainer and consultant. Paige, educational policy and administration professor, is coordinator of the college’s comparative and international development education program.

Based on the enthusiastic response of participants, an expanded workshop on cultural competency will be offered next year. Participants will receive an introduction to the DMIS model, take the IDI inventory, and participate in training exercises and coaching on how to design and implement strategic intercultural training in their schools. For more information about attending next year’s workshop, please contact continuing professional studies at 612-625-5060 or cpstudy@umn.edu.

CPS Urban Leadership Academy members win state and national recognition

Bill Dunn, principal of St. Paul Arlington High School and member of the college’s Urban Leadership Academy Advisory Council, has been selected by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals as the 2003 Senior High School Principal of the Year.

Bill Sommers (Ph.D., ’90, educational policy and administration), senior fellow, Urban Leadership Academy, and principal at Eden Prairie High School, has been elected to the National Staff Development Board.

—Suzanne Miric

New scholarship winners announced

Congratulations to the 2003–2004 recipients of this year’s Gladys Smith Award Scholarship, a special scholarship program for St. Paul Public School teachers administered through the CPS program. The recipients are:

• Abdisalam Adam, Highwood Hills Elementary School
• Maureen Elwell Peltier, L’Etoile du Nord French Immersion School
• Bryce Fornes-Bates, Humboldt Senior High School
• Alice Moersch, Professional Development Center for Academic Excellence
• Daryl Parks, Johnson Senior High School
• Chong Xiong, Phalen Lake Elementary School

Find additional information about professional development opportunities at the College of Education and Human Development.