SIETAR USA upcoming events

What is the cultural intelligent way to respond to profound ethical differences? (September 09, 2026)

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 15:30:00 GMT

What is the cultural intelligent way to respond to profound ethical differences?

Your Presenter:
Lucy Butters, Master Facilitator in Cultural Intelligence (CQ)

Wednesday, September 9, 2026 @ 11:30 AM EDT

Registration = FREE for current SIETAR USA Members
in good standing

(Must be logged in to see the member pricing, SIETAR International members must contact SIETAR USA office for discount code and verify that you are a current member.)

Registration = $25 for Non Members

What is the culturally intelligent way to respond to profound ethical differences?

Our world seems ever more divided and this topic about facilitating across ethical difference, or indeed working with peers who hold very different ethical stances to ourselves is a constant.

Through reflection, breakout out room discussions and facilitated discussion, as well as hearing some of what Lucy learned from her interviewees we will consider what does ethical difference mean to you? How do/could you respond to holding space? When is it hard? Can any framework ever fully help us prepare to respond to profound ethical differences in our training?

About Your Presenter:

Lucy Butters is a Master Facilitator in Cultural Intelligence (CQ), one of ten in the world, a CQ Fellow and the author of Cultural Intelligence in Practice. Lucy founded her company Elembee ltd in 2010 and provides training and coaching which supports and enhances leadership, international effectiveness and inclusion. A qualified trainer, one of Lucy’s passions is working with trainers and facilitators to develop and enhance their cross-cultural training capability. Previously she worked for the British Council in international cultural relations roles linked with developing and implementing strategy to support the international ambitions of universities in Scotland.

SIETAR USA Symposium: The Role of Risk-Taking: Looking Back to Move Forward (September 30, 2026)

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:30:00 GMT

The Role of Risk-Taking:

Looking Back to Move Forward

Your Presenters:
Nancy J. Adler, PhD
Carlos E. Cortés, PhD
Sandra M. Fowler, MS
V. Robert Hayles, PhD
Donna M. Stringer, PhD

Wednesday, September 30, 2026 @ 11:30 AM EDT

SIETAR USA Member = $45
SIETAR USA Student Member = $25

(Must be logged in to see the member pricing, SIETAR International members must contact SIETAR USA office for discount code and verify that you are a current member.)

Non Members = $65
Student Non Members = $35

This SIETAR USA Symposium invites participants into a reflective conversation with intercultural pioneers whose work helped shape the field. Together, they will consider how risk-taking has influenced their career paths, professional choices, and the continuing evolution of intercultural and DEIB practice.

The intercultural field emerged in a very different communication environment from the one professionals navigate today. In recent years the world has become riskier for those whose chosen career field is Intercultural/DEIB. In retrospect, perhaps the risks in the early days of the field were no greater than those of today except that the pioneers did not have the cushion of history to fall back on as they developed new methods and tried those developed by colleagues while consistently incorporating new research into their work.

By drawing on retrospective wisdom, this session will encourage participants to examine their own professional decisions: what risks have shaped their work, what lessons those experiences offer, and how those insights can inform the future. Whether participants are beginning their careers, working at mid-career, or approaching retirement, the conversation will offer a space to connect past experience with future possibility.

About Your Presenters:

Nancy J. Adler, PhD: S. Bronfman Chair Emerita in Management at McGill University, received her doctorate from UCLA, and as an artist and professor published 10 books and 150 articles. International companies and organizations use her pioneering work on cross-cultural management, global women leaders, and leadership artistry.

Carlos E. Cortés, PhD: Cortés was a pioneer in multicultural education and diversity in the media, including serving as Creative/Cultural Advisor for Nickelodeon’s "Dora the Explorer" and “Go, Diego, Go!” and Cultural Consultant for the Dreamwork’s film, “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.”

Sandra M. Fowler: MS: Former president of SIETAR International and SIETAR USA, editor of The Intercultural Sourcebook: Cross-Cultural Training Methods, and Director of the U.S. Navy’s Overseas Duty Support Program, she also was the Art Co-Director for the American Psychologist for 23 years.

V. Robert Hayles, PhD: Best known for guiding public/private, national/international organizations to achieve optimum results using research and evidence-based scientific knowledge, he specializes in customized diagnostics/strategies to enhance effectiveness of organizations whose participants have wide ranges of inherent and acquired characteristics.

Donna M. Stringer, PhD: Co-authored 52 Activities for Exploring Value Differences the first book focused solely on exercises to explore how cultural values translate to different behaviors across cultures leading to her concentration on helping organizations identify behavioral values for successful engagement of employees and clients.

Touching into Somatic Awareness: Tools for Building Cultural Empathy and Connection (October 14, 2026)

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 15:30:00 GMT

Touching into Somatic Awareness:
Tools for Building Cultural Empathy and Connection

Your Presenter:
Marcia Bonato Warren, MA, MA, LPC

Wednesday, October 14, 2026 @ 11:30 AM EDT

Registration = FREE for current SIETAR USA Members
in good standing

(Must be logged in to see the member pricing, SIETAR International members must contact SIETAR USA office for discount code and verify that you are a current member.)

Registration = $25 for Non Members

The body holds our personal experiences and our cultural legacies; the ways we survive, and the ways we thrive. Our sensations, emotions, and “gut feelings” offer us insight into the information we have received in our lives and continue to gather as we encounter new and challenging situations. The language of the body in this way is more subtle than our thoughts and minds and often calls for our attention in moments that we miss or ignore.

Based on the work of Marcia Bonato Warren, MA, MA, LPC and her book, Movement and Identity: Multiculturalism, Somatic Awareness and Embodied Code-Switching ®, this workshop will introduce foundational somatic tools that bring us closer to the ways we embody our identities and cultures, and through our own differences, develop empathy and understanding for the differences of others.

About Your Presenter:

Marcia Bonato Warren, MA, MA, LPC (she/her) is a trauma-informed Somatic Counselor/Body Psychotherapist, Interculturalist and author with over 30 years of cross-cultural experience in the fields of somatic counseling and education, international educational exchange and Native American policy and advocacy. In 2015, Marcia developed her own therapy practice called Embodied Code-Switching®, which focuses on developing the resilience and unique expression of multicultural identities through somatic awareness. She works with individuals and groups in the areas of cultural awareness, social justice, and intercultural communication through a trauma-informed lens, and is passionate about developing the potential in human beings to embrace diversity through cultural embodiment and the sharing of stories and creativity. Marcia is proud of her heritage and the gifts of her ancestors and identifies as an enrolled member of the Santa Clara Pueblo of New Mexico and as Brazilian-Italian.

Currently, Marcia holds a faculty position at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, in both the Somatic Counseling and Buddhist-Inspired Contemplative Counseling Graduate Programs and provides clinical supervision to pre-licensed counselors.

SIETAR USA 2026 Virtual Conference (November 04, 2026)

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 05:00:00 GMT

You are invited to attend!

This year, we’re gathering to honor the knowledge, values, communities, and practices that sustain our work while exploring where intercultural practice is headed next through our conference's theme ROOT & REACH: Grounding Intercultural Practice While Stretching Into What’s Next.

Join practitioners, educators, researchers, and community leaders from across the field for opportunities to learn, connect, reflect, and imagine what’s possible. Whether you’re looking to deepen your practice, exchange ideas with colleagues, discover new perspectives, or simply reconnect with the SIETAR USA community, there’s a place for you.

Sponsor Information

Full Agenda Information Coming Soon!

ROOT & REACH: Grounding Intercultural Practice While Stretching Into What’s Next What does it mean to be both anchored and in motion — to draw from the deep wells of cultural wisdom, lived experience, and hard-won practice, while remaining genuinely open to transformation, challenge, and growth? ROOT & REACH: Grounding Intercultural Practice While Stretching Into What's Next invites practitioners, educators, researchers, and community leaders to gather in a spirit of both reflection and possibility. This conference is a space to honor what sustains us — our values, our communities, our foundational frameworks — and to ask, with curiosity rather than anxiety, where our field must stretch to meet the complexity of this moment. We welcome proposals that take seriously both the stability of roots and the risk of reaching: work that is theoretically grounded and practically alive, culturally honest and forward-looking, personally meaningful and collectively relevant.

Thank You To Our Conference Sponsors!

Gold Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor

Maria del Pilar

Sustaining Sponsors
Monica Mumford
Sue Shinomiya