The purpose of the course is to enhance students’ understanding of intercultural communication and its utility to impact individuals and societies. The population of the United States has become increasingly diverse, as the world has become increasingly interconnected. It is important to understand how an individual’s background, worldview, and value systems affect his/her capacity to communicate effectively with people from other cultures. Students in this class will embark on a journey of change from the inside out. First, by understanding their own potential biases and apprehension, challenging themselves to become more open, and improving skills as communicators with diverse populations. Then, they will attempt to use the theories they have learned to develop ideas and strategies of how to impact the world around them.

Week 1:  What is Intercultural Communication?  
Week 2:	 Cultural Variability: Individualism and Collectivism
Week 3:	 Cultural Variability 2  
Week 4:	 Cultural Variability 3: Ethics
Week 5:	 The Self Across Cultures	 
Week 6:	 Language: High/Low Context    			
Week 7:	 Language II   
Week 8:	 Nonverbal Functions and Patterns
Week 9:	 Nonverbal II: Time, Space and Synchrony
Week 10: Adaptation: Short term and Sojourner    
Week 11: Adaptation and Assimilation II: Immigrants
Week 12: Social Identity and Attribution Theories
Week 13: Ethnocentrism
Week 14: Intercultural vs. Intra-cultural Conflict	 
Week 15: Group Presentations
Week 16: Group Presentations
Finals week: Final Exam

“Academic honesty is – defined broadly and simply – the 
performance of all academic work without cheating, lying, 
stealing, or receiving assistance from any other person or 
using any source of information not appropriately authorized or 
attributed” (From the Preamble to “A Culture of Honesty”). The 
University, the Department of Communication Studies, and I 
personally take academic honesty very seriously. Every student 
at the University of Georgia should be familiar with the 
booklet, “A Culture of Honesty: Policies and Procedures on 
Academic Dishonesty.” If you are not, please obtain one of 
these booklets and read it carefully. This document has a 
thorough presentation of four types of academic dishonesty, 
including plagiarism, unauthorized assistance, lying/tampering, 
and theft, as well as the procedures that are in place to 
adjudicate alleged incidents of academic dishonesty. The 
policies and procedures described in “A Culture of Honesty” 
will be strictly followed. University Mandated Statement 
Concerning the University Honor Code & Academic Honesty All 
academic work must meet the standards contained in “A Culture 
of Honesty.” Students are responsible for informing themselves 
about those standards before performing any academic work. More 
detailed information about academic honesty can be found at
http://www.uga.edu/ovpi/honesty/acadhon.htm.