International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) and American students: the importance of intercultural competence in Higher Education

May 2, 2023

International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) and American students: the importance of intercultural competence in Higher Education

LA GRANDE, Ore. – Eastern Oregon University’s May Colloquium will showcase the work of Dr. Sandra Nava Nieto as she presents her research on the importance of intercultural competence in Higher Education.

Dr. Nava Nieto’s presentation will take place on May 11 from 4-5 p.m. via Zoom using this link. Dr. Nava Nieto is a Senior Instructor II at EOU and teaches Spanish for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

“We live in a global world. People around us were not necessarily born Americans. Within this global context, universities have the opportunity to provide undergraduate students with the essential tools so that they can understand and empathize with experiences other than their own,” Dr. Nava Nieto said. “Because research 1 universities have the economic power to attract and support large numbers of international students, both undergraduate and graduate, as well as faculty, this creates an ideal environment on a smaller scale of what the real world is.”

This presentation will explore the following questions: how can we make these students develop the necessary skills to be empathetic with the other realities that surround them? What type of aid exists in the universities that promote relationships between the different realities that we can find on campus? And finally, what pedagogical strategies can we use in our classrooms so that these students develop these skills? 

“In this case, we are going to analyze the relationships between two very specific groups that exist in all research 1 universities: international teaching assistants (ITA) and American undergraduate students (AUS). We will examine the interactions between these two groups within the University of Kentucky, the issues they face, and some strategies to solve them,” Dr. Nava Nieto said. 

For more information visit eou.edu/colloquium/