“That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet” Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliette. 

To help me brainstorm ideas for an intercultural strategy I had a go at creating a word cloud. Roughly half the words that came to mind are not included, but these are the main ones that kept popping up. I also began researching what other institutions are doing in terms of intercultural work. I found this interesting video from UBC:

I need to watch it a few more times, but a key point that stands out is that, “Being a diverse place is not enough […] You can be a multicultural campus and not be inclusive, or an intercultural place.” Intercultural, diverse, inclusive – these words have power and are laden with meaning, and it’s important that any approach we devise at NIC, ensures these adjectives embody actions. 

I’ve drafted out some preliminary ideas for an intercultural strategy and focused on concrete small projects. We’ll see how this develops. As always, it’s important to identify ‘where we are now.’ It’s hard to plot a journey if you’re not sure where you are, starting out. 

The BCCIE Summer Conference is rapidly approaching and I’ve done some work / had conversations with my co-presenters. I’m doing two different presentations on different but related themes. One will be pre-recorded (although we will be present for a live Q & A session after it’s been aired) and so I’ve been brushing up on my Kaltura skills this week by attending PD sessions on the functions of Kaltura (I like the new playlist option) and how to use it for teaching and learning. 

New funding is now available through CiCan. I had an inspiring conversation with Romana in OGE about how the project work I’ve completed so far can be taken further. We’ll see where this goes. 

Also this week, we’re moving forward with the next phase of Program Review for one of our programs. I wasn’t there at the beginning of the process, but have been working with the department since shortly before the external review. Time has elapsed and much has happened in the department / the country / the world since the Self-Study was written. The faculty face the challenge of integrating their initial recommendations, made pre-pandemic, with the external review recommendations – based on the Self-Study and written mid-pandemic, and creating action items that reflect the ever moving target of what we all hope will be a post-pandemic era. There is some resistance and in that I see seeds of opportunity for exploring how diversity and inclusion can become an integral part of their plans moving forward. With support. 

This week feels a little like I’ve been in the middle of a spider’s web, spinning different projects that ultimately are all connected. While I’m not usually  a fan of spiders, I’ve come to appreciate the strength of their webs, the beauty of the interconnected patterns they weave, and their tenacity at starting over, each time a thread is broken. That seems a good metaphor to live by.