Develop Intercultural Skills, Earn Your Global Partner Certificate

The Center for Global Engagement (CGE) offers the Global Partner Certificate (GPC) to FSU’s faculty, staff, or graduate students who are interested in developing a well-rounded understanding of diverse cultures and enhancing cross-cultural communication skills.

The certificate requires participation in four Bridging Cultures workshops and three additional intercultural events, programs or activities to engage with our diverse community outside of the classroom.

Through these workshops, participants learn about intercultural communication differences across a variety of cultures, how to effectively manage intercultural conflict, and examine their intercultural fluency using the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale (IES). This tool helps each person to analyze their current values, attitudes, beliefs and actions, as well as to identify areas to develop in order to be more effective at cross-cultural engagement.

“The Global Partner Certificate is a very important learning tool for faculty, staff, and graduate students because they are at the frontline of interactions with domestic and international students at FSU," said Tanu Kohli Bagwe, Ph.D., CGE teaching faculty. "When we associate with someone in a culturally appropriate manner, the interaction stays with them for a long time; it makes or breaks their impression of FSU as a diverse and inclusive space."

Tom Mendoza, ERP analyst for FSU's Enterprise Resource Planning, recommends the certificate and found the courses were very insightful, enjoyable and useful.

"Working within agile and collaborative environments is a huge part of my current position," Mendoza said. "Acknowledging multiculturalism by gaining a greater understanding and a Global Partner Certificate is part of my personal career development goals. Being able to apply these concepts is how we build diversity and strengthen our relationships at work."

The Global Partner Certificate, designed and facilitated by the Center for Global Engagement, is a professional development opportunity recognized by FSU's Office of Human Resources.

"I earned my Global Partner Certificate last September. The experience that I gained through the training provided me both with personal and professional tools," said Barbara Austrui, admissions officer with FSU's College of Medicine. "I really enjoyed learning from the other participants as everyone brought their own stories and analysis while fostering diversity, respect, empathy, compassion and understanding. I moved to the United States a couple of years ago, and I have always been eager to discover different cultures. Evolving in a new environment, I completed the training with the Center for Global Engagement as part of my quest to understand cultural differences.

Participants can sign up for the CGE's Global Connections newsletter to receive a list of eligible intercultural events. Additionally, in-person Bridging Cultures workshops are held at The Globe on Global Café dates to help participants fulfill the requirements of the certificate.

The CGE is offering in-person and Zoom workshops in Spring 2022.

*For all Zoom workshops, the login information will be sent to registrants two days before the workshop.