Best Practices Conference, June 14-17, 2001

Milton Bennett, Keynote Speaker

The Global Partners Project was pleased to host Dr. Milton Bennett, co-director of the Intercultural Communication Institute in Portland, Oregon, as keynote speaker at the June 2001 Best Practices Conference, "Integrating Liberal Learning and Intercultural Education: Theoretical Frameworks and Best Practices."

The topic of Dr. Bennett's talk was "Developing Cultural Context and Intercultural Competence."

Dr. Bennett holds a B.A. in English from Stanford University, a M.A. in language arts from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in intercultural communication from the University of Minnesota. From 1968-1970, he served in Micronesia as a Peace Corps volunteer. For 15 years, Dr. Bennett was a faculty member at Portland State University, where he created a graduate program in intercultural communication.

Currently, he is the Director of Graduate Studies of the Individualized Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations, a non-residential graduate program for non-traditional students sponsored by ICI and Antioch University. As co-director of the Intercultural Communication Institute, he develops and conducts intercultural courses and training sessions for universities and corporations in both domestic and global diversity.

The co-author of the revised edition of American Cultural Patterns and editor of Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication, Dr. Bennett has published extensively on intercultural theory and the development of intercultural sensitivity.

In 1992, he received the Senior Interculturalist Award of Achievement from the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR International). In 1995, he and his wife, Janet Bennett, received the M. Houlihan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Intercultural Education and Training from NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

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