Many parallel histories came together in developing an interest and focus at SISU that established the foundations of intercultural teaching and research. Awareness of the need for teaching and studying culture and developing intercultural approaches to teaching and research were noted early by distinguished professors like Dai Weidong, He Jiaoxiong, Wang Dechun, Hu Shuzhong, Zhang Yonghua and others. This converged with national developments in the field arising out of the “culture interest” of the late-80’s and early 90’s to the development of intercultural textbooks and the first international conferences by the mid 1990s by proponents like Hu Wenzhong, He Daokuan, Guan Shijie, Jia Yuxin, Gao Yihong, Lin Dajin and many others.
Concurrently Steve Kulich began his tenure in 1993 at SISU teaching in what was then called the “Overseas Study-Abroad Scholars Preparatory Department” (Later to become the Overseas Training Center, OTC). With over 10 years of Asian experience and a MA in intercultural communication, he quickly realized that scholars going abroad and state-run company employees dealing with international business needed more that CET 4 or CET 6 language proficiency, and worked with Prep. Dept. leaders to teach an intercultural communication orientation course to advanced level students in 1994.
In developing IC materials and experiential methods relevant and useful to Chinese students, Kulich’s work attracted the attention of Zhang Hongling who was finishing her dissertation (1999) on incorporating IC into foreign language teaching, of Fan Zheng, who was teaching a course on intercultural applications in international business, of Wang Enming who was focusing on research on American culture and others on campus thinking about developing culture studies. Prof. Zhang Zuxin, then dean of the CJC, and Zhang Hongling invited Kulich to teach a course to Communication major undergraduates in 1999, and concurrently host a seminar for several post-graduates and young faculty, among them Zhu Ye.
Response from the first several courses were so positive that Feng Qinghua, then Dean of the Graduate School, invited Prof. Kulich to offer an elective course to all post-graduates in 2000. With attendance of over 80 each year and high student evaluations, Dean Feng, President Dai, and Foreign Affairs Office Director Sun Xinwei created a teaching position in the Graduate School for Prof. Kulich to focus his teaching on developing IC, and the major was first offered to MA students in the “Culture” direction of the College of English in 2002 (“the cultures of native English speaking countries). Kulich developed three courses, and in his first term, seven students signed up to work under him as their thesis advisor, among them Chi Ruobing. Enrollments continued to grow such that IC was made an independent direction in 2005. How these steps affected the development of an institute is covered in the continuing essay.
>>Continue with the next page
>>Return to the SII History & Status lead page
