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Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication

Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations

Program Description

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Program Description

One of the primary challenges of the twenty-first century is to manage the increasing contact among the cultures of our shrinking planet. Greater mobility, diversity, and complexity are the hallmarks of every workplace and community, demanding intercultural skills as never before.

If you have a fascination with working across cultures, whether domestically or globally, we are pleased to offer you a distinctive Master of Arts degree in Intercultural Relations. Designed to prepare you for a stimulating career or to increase your skills in an existing job, our program offers a unique curriculum I a creative format for busy interculturalists.

An Institutional Partnership

To address students such as you, the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI) in Portland, Oregon, and the University of Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, California, have joined together to offer the Master of Arts in Intercultural Relations (MAIR). ICI has long been a leader in the field of intercultural communication, providing professional development and graduate education for practitioners in the field.

UOP, California’s first chartered university (1851), has a distinguished history in both graduate and undergraduate education. The strength of the MAIR program emerges from the School of International Studies’ (SIS) leadership in international education and graduate learning, and ICI’s theoretical and social action approach to intercultural education. Both appreciate the art of translating theory into practice, and share a vision of engaging, developmental learning.

To learn more about the University of the Pacific visit their website.

The Goals of the Program

The goals of the program are to bring the vitality of intercultural theories to the reality of professional practice, and to provide you with the skills to promote intercultural competence in a wide variety of settings.

Learning Objectives:

  • The MAIR program will help you develop the intercultural competence to:
  • Reflect on your own culture and its impact on intercultural interactions
  • Analyze cultural patterns both domestically and internationally
  • Synthesize interdisciplinary perspectives for professional applications
  • Comprehend strategies for adaptation to cultural differences
  • Solve complex problems in intercultural settings
  • Foster inclusive organizational cultures
  • Design culturally appropriate interventions for creating individual, organizational, and social change

Program Design

The program’s structure and design were created to facilitate your ability to undertake graduate education while still meeting work, family, and community responsibilities. The program incorporates a combination of short-term residencies and directed study completed at home. The directed study is based on texts and packets and is augmented with electronic communications among you, other students, and the faculty. The basic characteristics of the program include:

  • A set of nine core courses to provide a foundation for you to achieve your goals.
  • Three two-week residencies held six months apart in Oregon in January and July. The residencies offer intensive seminars for each of the core courses, along with guidance for completing the directed study portion of the courses.
  • Assignments for the core courses that are completed at home during the six months after the residency. Many of the courses are designed so that you may focus your assignments on work or volunteer experiences.
  • Electives (8 semester credits) that can be selected or designed around your personal and professional interests.
  • Rolling admissions with priority deadlines in the fall and spring for starting dates in January and July.
  • A distinguished faculty representing universities across the U.S. and abroad, and the world of intercultural consulting.

A Learning Community

The core faculty for the courses in this program includes some of the foremost scholars and practitioners in the field of intercultural relations. You will work with 18 different faculty members as you complete the core courses, a faculty advisor to oversee your program, and a thesis committee. Selecting among a network of ICI faculty and other professionals in the field, you will form a committee with a chair and a member to guide and support you during the thesis process as well as during other parts of the program.


Course Requirements

The program reflects the cultural issues that are salient both locally and globally, grounded in the conviction that “there is nothing as practical as a good theory.” To address these challenges, your degree program will be built around nine core courses. To reflect your individual interest, you will choose electives that may include courses from other institutions, courses from the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication, and independent study through UOP. Your degree program will culminate with a thesis.

First Semester (Residency) (8 credits)

IR 200 Concepts of Intercultural Communication (3 credits)
IR 201 Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations (3 credits)
IR 202 Research I: Ways of Knowing (2 credits)

Second Semester (Residency) (8 credits)

IR 220 Advanced Intercultural Communication Theory (3 credits)
IR 221 Research II (3 credits)
IR 222 Process of Change (2 credits)

Third Semester (Residency) (8 credits)

IR 240 Leadership and Adult Learning (3 credits)
IR 241 Change-Agentry (3 credits)
IR 242 Culture in the Organizational Context (2 credits)

Fourth Semester (No Residency) (8 credits)

Complete credits of electives at the graduate level.

Fifth Semester (No Residency) (8 credits)

IR 297 Graduate Research (4 credits)
IR 299 Thesis (4 credits)


Transfer Credits:

You may transfer into the program up to six semester credits of applicable graduate credit. The courses may be completed before or after admission. Transfer students currently enrolled in other degree programs should consult with UOP or ICI for applicable policies.


Timeframe for Core Courses:

There are three two-week residencies in Portland, Oregon, where you will attend lively, integrative seminars that provide a foundation for the assignments you complete at home. The intensive seminars and the course assignments have been intentionally designed to address all learning styles, and to apply concepts to a wide variety of personal and professional contexts. Therefore, your assignments may include interviewing, analyzing videos, creating projects, conducting research, and participating in other cultures, as well as reading and writing.


Basic Format:

All nine core courses have a standard format:

  1. Intensive work in class which includes lectures, discussions, exercises, and structured experiences.
  2. Extensive work outside of class, reading assigned books and articles, plus some student-selected options that can include video and audio as well as written materials, plus “participant observations” of various types.
  3. Production of several papers and projects for each class. The specific assignments are listed in the “Evaluation Methods” section of each syllabus, along with the “weight” of each project.


General Goals and Standards of Evaluation:

To be eligible for credit in a course, participants must attend the intensive seminars in Portland and complete all written assignments and other projects. The combined goals for the program as a whole are to develop in students: The ability to meet generally accepted standards of excellence in writing and methods in the field of intercultural communication:

  • A thoughtful and considered perspective both on the state of the discipline as a whole and on particular strategies and concepts within it; and
  • The ability to appropriately apply theoretical learning to practice, always developing and integrating a clear sense of one’s ethical stance in each case.

Basic standards for master’s level work, include:

  • Summaries, paraphrases, and description: Restate important ideas clearly, not merely in general, hitting on most of the important ones.
  • Analysis: Apply important features of the analytical frame (usually suggested by the question) in ways that seem fair to the issues and relevant to the problem.
  • Discussion and Evaluation: Explore all aspects of the material suggested by the question, generally linking ideas to the question’s focus. Evaluation expresses a thoughtful judgment, supported in most cases by reference to the material.
  • Relating and Synthesis: Demonstrate a clear understanding of similarities and differences among ideas and a useful sense of how ideas and theory influence practical decisions.
  • Participation: Involvement in the seminars, as indicated by attentiveness, constructive interaction (as culturally appropriate), and engagement in the material.

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