Intercultural Engagement in Short-term Faculty-led Study Abroad: A Practitioner’s Guide with Multiple Perspectives from a Public University (MT Open Press, Middle Tennessee State University, 2023) is the title of a new book coedited by former DEALL graduate student Priya Ananth, professor of Japanese at Middle Tennessee State University.

This practitioner’s guide offers creative ways of integrating intercultural competencies into class activities, tasks, and assignments in short-term faculty-led study abroad programs across disciplines. The intercultural competencies, categorized in the areas of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, include characteristics such as awareness about self and other cultures, creative thinking, problem-solving, empathy, tolerance towards ambiguity, and withholding judgment. By purposefully embedding these characteristics in their course activities, faculty leaders can better assist their students in deepening intercultural and global competencies.

This book is arranged into three sections. Section I provides the basic framework to understand short-term faculty-led study abroad programs from a theoretical as well as administrative perspectives. Section II showcases 11 contributions from faculty leaders across six disciplines who share program details demonstrating how intercultural competencies were strategically incorporated into the activities, tasks, and assignments of their study abroad curricula. Section III presents the conclusions with recommendations for faculty and administrators to plan and design short-term faculty-led study abroad programs.

The main purpose of this book is to encourage the creation of new short-term faculty-led study abroad programs at the university level as well as empower current faculty leaders to strengthen or adapt their programs. It will be of interest to a broad readership of multidisciplinary study abroad educators, including faculty leaders, faculty leaders-in-training, faculty scholars, and administrators.

Book Link: Book Link: https://openpress.mtsu.edu/index.php/mtop/catalog/book/3