Council of Communication Associations Establishes Center for Intercultural Dialogue

by Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, U of Wisconsin-Parkside

A new Center for Intercultural Dialogue has been established by the Council of Communication Associations. The Center is designed to serve members of any of the eight associations that jointly make up the Council (NCA, ICA, AEJMC, ASJMC, BEA, ABC, AJHA, and BCCA) by facilitating connections between Communication scholars interested in intercultural dialogue, serving as a source for grants and as a clearinghouse for information. The goal of the Center is to approach intercultural dialogue at two levels: to encourage research on the topic of intercultural dialogue, but to do so through bringing international scholars interested in the topic together in shared intercultural dialogues about their work.

Databases have been established for the following:

• Associations including intercultural dialogue as one of their major topics.
• Blogs including intercultural dialogue as one of their main topics.
• Centers of intercultural dialogue, and other organizations interested in the topic.
• Grants for international travel and research opportunities.
• International conferences on topics related to intercultural dialogue.
• Podcasts on topics related to intercultural dialogue.
• Publications on intercultural dialogue topics.
• Research opportunities for international collaborative investigations of intercultural dialogue topics.
• Study abroad opportunities on Communication topics.
• International teaching opportunities for Communication faculty.

If you have information to share on any of these topics, please go to the website (http://centerforinterculturaldialogue.org) and post a comment on the appropriate page. When you want to discover information about any of these topics, go to the website and read what others have posted there for you.

The Center will be applying for grant funding to support international travel by members of any of the Council's associations. The goal is to distribute micro grants for cultural research. These will be available for a wide range of international opportunities related to research: to conduct research in another country, meet potential collaborators for future research in another country, attend a conference in another country, present a paper in another country, or take a course in another country. Essentially the goal is to pay for the first flight to facilitate connections between scholars in different countries as a way to encourage future international research collaborations. These will be small grants (always under $2000), in order to provide easily accessible funding to help scholars begin a dialogue about research across international boundaries, and with the assumption that larger grants to fund major projects are available once such dialogue has begun (and many possibilities for further grants opportunities are listed on the Center's site).

For further information about the Center or its programs, contact the Director, Dr. Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz (intercult.dialogue@gmail.com).