Interculturalizing the Curriculum
Interculturalizing the Curriculum – Faculty PD Program
Dates
May 19 - 22, 2025
- May 19 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
- May 20 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- May 21 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- May 22 from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Since 2008, The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has offered a unique and intensive professional development opportunity for faculty members to enhance culturally responsive teaching strategies and incorporate intercultural learning outcomes in curriculum. Over 100 faculty from 18 departments have completed the program; they have enhanced their teaching and confidence working with culturally diverse learners, revised curricula, initiated SoTL projects, presented at conferences, and published in education journals.
On practical and ethical levels, intercultural development is an increasingly important objective for faculty. Our campuses and classrooms are becoming more and more culturally diverse. International student enrolment has increased exponentially in recent years. New and first-generation Canadians comprise a growing population of students in an already culturally diverse context. Moreover, we are called to action by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which will “require skills based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism” for public servants (Call 57). Educators are also tasked with “Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect” (Call 63iii). TRU’s Interculturalizing the Curriculum seeks to provide a foundation in intercultural theory, inclusive pedagogy and learning outcome design to bring us closer to the goals of developing pedagogical approaches and curricula that will help to prepare students as effective professionals and citizens in increasingly complex and diverse global and local contexts.
Facilitators
Intercultural Coordinators Dr. Kyra Garson & Dr. Amie McLean, and Educational Developer, Indigenous Teaching and Learning Laura Grizzlypaws
Facilitators bios
Dr. Amie McLean
Amie is a sociologist, writer, educator and parent whose academic interests are on equity and social justice issues in Canadian post-secondary education and work. Her perspective is rooted in anti-racist, anti-colonial feminist thought, with an expanding focus on disability studies. She has published on post-secondary funding policies for Indigenous students, neoliberalisation and trucking industry regulation, and the racialized politics of mobility among long haul truckers. Amie previously served as Co-Chair of the Learning at Intercultural Intersections: Towards Equity, Inclusion, and Reconciliation international conference and co-edited a resulting special issue in the Journal of Intercultural Studies. She sits on a wide range of committees focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion and engages in community advocacy work related to these topics.
Laura Grizzlypaws
Grizzlypaws was born and raised in Lillooet, British Columbia in the Interior Plateau region, she is of St’át’imc descent. Her ancestral name is "Stálhalamcen – Grizzly Paws," She belongs to the people of Xwisten the Bear Clan. She is an independent mother of four children. At the age of sixteen, Grizzlypaws began to relearn the St’át’imc traditions. Her passion grew stronger in education and the heritage of her people; it became a way of life. She is a dancer, drummer and singer/songwriter, an academic, educator and a language/cultural advocate.
The experiences in her education provided her with knowledge and skills with a focus on providing her recipients with the highest quality of cultural education based on the values and needs of the community while meeting the deliverables of the organization or project goals. Grizzlypaws worked at the St’át’imc Government Services office as the Education and Training Manager to strengthen the collective organization and capacity of the St’át’imc; collaborate with the St’at’imc and partners to exercise greater control over education skills and training and to establish a knowledge-based foundation to inform St’át’imc decision-making. She taught extensively through the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology and the St’at’imc Education Institute. She has many years of work in curriculum development with the Gold Trail School District, the St’át’imc Education Institute and St’át’imc Government Services. She is currently a faculty developer working in the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at TRU.
Dr. Kyra Garson
Kyra is an educator and faculty developer who is passionate about intercultural learning, inclusive pedagogies, and combating discrimination in educational spaces. Her research interests include critical pedagogies, multicultural group work and critical internationalization studies. Kyra’s doctoral study entitled “Are we graduating Global Citizens?” received the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education’s dissertation of the year award in 2014. In 2011, the Canadian Bureau for International Education selected her to receive the Internationalization Award for her work with faculty to intercuturalize the curriculum. In 2017, she was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award by the British Columbia Council for International Education. In 2020 she received TRU’s Excellence in Interculturalization Award.
Participants can expect to:
- Increase awareness of their own cultural identities and appreciation for the diverse cultural backgrounds.
- Develop a deeper understanding and respect for indigenous cultures, histories, and worldviews, fostering inclusive and culturally responsive educational environments.
- Acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices and work collaboratively towards reconciliation, decolonization, and indigenization within educational contexts.
- Apply intercultural development theories to their own and students' development
- Review cultural values dimensions related to learning and teaching in diverse contexts.
- Develop learning outcomes, assessments, and learning activities to support intercultural learning for all students.
- Become part of an interdisciplinary community of practice at TRU and beyond.
For more information, email intercultural@tru.ca
Registration commitments
- Commit to attending all sessions:
- May 19 from 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (30 minute additional meeting with a facilitator in the pm)
- May 20 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (lunch included)
- May 21 from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. (lunch included)
- May 22 from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
- Commit to some additional pre-reading and reflecting.
- Contribute $75 of PD funds toward program expenses.
Impact of Program
Check out what past participants have to say about the Interculturalizing the Curriculum Program and the documented research findings.
What Participants Have Said
Research: Faculty Perceptions
As published in: Garson, K., Bourassa, E., & Odgers, T. (2016). Interculturalizing the curriculum: Faculty professional development. Journal of Intercultural Education. Routledge, Taylor and Francis
Link: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14675986.2016.1240506