In Cultural Intelligence courses, students explore and engage diverse cultures using a variety of methods and approaches. They build skills to communicate in a foreign language, develop a deeper understanding of modern American society and other cultures, and analyze systems based upon these diverse cultures. Through Cultural Intelligence courses, students learn to:

• Identify the plurality of world-views, perspectives, and/or values.
• Recognize the United States’ inheritance from other cultures.
• Compare mutual influences among nations, peoples, faiths, and/or cultures.
• Analyze relationships and inequality within and between societies.
• Analyze all cultures from a biblical perspective.

Why study Cultural Intelligence?

In a diverse world, students need a cultural vocabulary that enables them to grasp the presentness of the past and the dimensions of change leading to appreciation of the plurality of world-views and the means by which cultures are transmitted. They need to place their own culture in the context of those cultures that are significantly different from their own, and grasp the systems that organize peoples’ common life. To serve wisely, sensitively, and competently, we must be able to:

• Develop a cultural competence to engage in discourse of meanings and traditions.
• Communicate and collaborate effectively with diverse individuals.
• Communicate at a Novice-High level of competence in a Second Language.

Courses & Course Categories

• CATEGORY: Second Language (S)
• CATEGORY: Contemporary Western Life & Thought (L)*
• CATEGORY: World Cultures (U)
• CATEGORY: Comparative Systems (G)
• CATEGORY: Cross-cultural Experience (Z)

*This course is integrated into the Humanities Program for students in that track.