Remembrance for SIETAR USA

Dr. Leslie J. Thornton II

September 15, 1946, to December 5, 2023

 “Leslie Thornton II, age 77, died peacefully at home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 5, 2023. Les earned an undergraduate degree in interdisciplinary studies from Michigan State University and a Master of Social Work and Ph.D. in education from the University of Michigan. He was a beloved professor at UM-Dearborn from 1991-2013. He was a professor of multicultural education and served as an academic adviser for countless graduate students.“

The quotation above is the beginning of Les’ official obituary. It goes on to describe his passion for teaching, his students, and his love for travel. These are the facts. However, I believe SIETARians deserve to remember and celebrate the essence of Les, not merely the facts.

I met Les when our sons were kindergarteners. He was deeply involved with a group of parents attempting to begin an “open education” program within the traditional school system. He was already a seasoned interculturalist and educational professional. I was a newbie, but he always listened to my ideas respectfully. We eventually succeeded in beginning the program. I continued working to assist with molding the school, but Les backed away. He was more interested in creating the change…seeing how something could be better, working to get it moving, and, if he was successful…going on to something else. That desire to improve education, society, and the world was a driving force in Les’ life.

For several years I heard Les speak about an organization called SIETAR. He raved about a conference in Ireland and mentioned being on the Governing Board. It sounded exotic and fascinating but not relevant to my professional life. In the early 90’s, when Les served as the chair of the conference in Jamaica, he convinced me to attend. Thus began my involvement in SIETAR International. Les challenged me to incorporate what I learned at the various conferences with my own nascent training/teaching career. In those days, leaders didn’t understand how intercultural practices and knowledge could be useful in a “not multicultural” environment. To combat their resistance, I created what I called “stealth training,” incorporating interculturalism in a manner so no one knew that’s what they were learning. Les, of course, was delighted by the guerilla methodology. For him, the key was to always tell the students the unvarnished truth, no matter how it was accomplished.

As the years progressed, academia changed, funds for multicultural programs got cut or eliminated and it became increasingly difficult for Les to travel or be involved with SIETAR USA. He eventually made peace with that. After all, his passion was in nudging, visioning, and doing the difficult intellectual work of creating, not in the day-to-day minutia of running that creation.

During his memorial, family, friends, colleagues, and students spoke about Les’ intellectual prowess. Of how he changed their lives by challenging them while always staying true to who he was. His belief in a multicultural society never diminished. SIETAR USA’s Mission Statement says we are an “interdisciplinary community that supports transformational growth, intercultural understanding, and professional interchange with a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice.” Those core values resided deep in the soul of Les Thornton and guided his life.

A SIETAR International Board and Council meeting at the Boston Conference, 1994. Les is 3^rd from the left in the back row.

Long before most of the professional world even knew what being intercultural meant before diversity, equity, and inclusion were a goal, Dr. Leslie J Thornton was a living and breathing embodiment of them. SIETAR and the professionals within created an intercultural and emotional home for him. The intercultural field and SIETAR are a bit smaller losing one of its lions. My life is a bit smaller losing my North Star. Les’ love of SIETAR rubbed off on me and, I believe, changed both our lives. He was a mentor, friend, and colleague who relished nothing more than a good battle of ideas. I miss those spars. I suspect many of us do. Thank you, Les. Your memory lives in us all.

Written by Dr. Deborah Orlowski 

SIETAR USA member, Chair of the SIETAR USA 2020 Conference

While the world may seem to be spinning out of control over divisive politics, a strong unseen undercurrent of training that builds respect and understanding has been running through global organizations.

The article linked below provides two cases of cross-cultural and diversity training that take place outside the USA. These cases can stimulate

interest in training programs in and outside the US. There are six additional shorter cases that exemplify (mostly) non US companies or training issues. Please address any questions or comments to the author at their new email address Neal@NealGoodmanGroup.com https://trainingmag.com/going-global-with-training-and-development/

For your viewing pleasure you are invited to watch a video conversation between the new SIETAR USA President, Sue Shinomiya and Sandy Fowler, Communications Director. Recorded on the day celebrating the Lunar New Year, Sue explains this Asian custom and shares a story. Sue also talks about her plans for her first year as president. View Conversation Here!

EMBASSY SUITES: Our SIETAR USA Conference Hotel in PORTLAND, OR

This hotel conveniently located at 319 SW Pine Street in downtown Portland will serve as home for the 2025 national conference. A very reasonable nightly rate has been negotiated. The long list of amenities make it a user friendly venue for our conference.

The hotel is centrally located in Portland, within a 10-minute walk of Lan Su Chinese Garden and Pioneer Courthouse Square. This historic hotel is 0.8 mi (1.3 km) from Portland Art Museum and 0.9 mi (1.4 km) from Portland State University.

 

This LGBT friendly hotel offers free breakfast and fitness facilities. The fireplace in the lobby would be cozy place to meet and mingle with SIETAR USA friends, old and new. It is a no-smoking hotel. Free wifi is provided to hotel residents. We need to meet our room-night obligation so please stay in the hotel which makes conference attendance easier (you can easily run to your room for something you forgot or just to take a break).

The hotel has a Conference Center that puts participants in the same place as we go from one session to the next, encouraging se serendipitous conversations that are such an important part of the in-person conference experience. The conference center clusters meeting rooms to make navigating the conference program easy. Conference lunches and invited speakers will be in the ballroom near the breakout rooms.

 

The Ballroom will also be the location for the closing gala and dance, two well-liked traditions for SIETAR USA conferences.

Make yourself at home in one of the 276 air-conditioned rooms featuring refrigerators and LCD televisions. Your bed comes with down comforters and premium bedding. The spacious rooms with living area provide comfort, spreading-out room, a place for a private conversation, relaxing in between conference activities.

This Hilton Embassy Suites hotel is ideal for all the aspects and activities you have learned to expect at a SIETAR USA conference. Newcomers, we are sure this will become your favorite conference.

Join us in Portland November 11-15, 2025. See you there!

Are you stressed by the reduced emphasis on globalization and DEI initiatives?  The article linked below provides two cases of cross-cultural and diversity training that take place outside the USA.  These cases can stimulate interest in training programs in and outside the US.  There are six additional shorter cases that exemplify (mostly) non US companies or training issues.  Please address any questions or comments to the author at their new email address Neal@NealGoodmanGroup.com

https://trainingmag.com/going-global-with-training-and-development/

“Mom! Stop saying ‘thank you’ so much!” “We do say “thank you” a lot in the United States,” I thought. I never realized how much until that moment. I knew in Mongolia, unlike the U.S., ‘thank you’ was saved for truly important events. Thanking someone for holding open a door or giving directions was close to an insult. (“Why are you thanking me? Of course I’d do that. Any decent person would!”) Yet those words viciously found a mind of their own and slipped effortlessly off my tongue.

I remembered that conversation as I read John Condon’s brilliant and engaging new book, It Goes Without Saying: Culture as Communication. Presumably a volume that highlights the theories of Edward T. Hall, it expands and reaches far beyond Hall’s work. Condon uses Hall, a good friend and colleague, as a foundation to both remind us of Hall’s seminal work and update it. He half-jokingly suggested an alternative title might have been, Variations on Themes  By Hall.

In conversation in January 2025, I asked Jack (the nickname for John, which he commonly uses) why he felt the need to write about Hall, and why now? He stated Hall’s work extended far beyond what is commonly remembered, Hall’s concepts of “high” and “low” context. He wanted to remind readers that Hall’s work was much more. For instance, in the chapter “Sensing and Making Sense” Jack notes the intersection of the work of neuroscientist David Linden on how we interpret the world with that of Hall’s sense of what “was at the heart of ‘culture.’”  Hall spoke of culture as what we individually experience; Linden of the fact that science has shown there is no objective experience, only that which is perceived and colored by individual expectations and comparisons.  The mention of Harvard’s Explicit Bias Test (IAT) and discussion of how neuroscience discoveries assist in understanding our notions of bias, culture, education and policing seems especially pertinent in the current atmosphere of fear and forbidding of diversity and equity programs. Condon approaches these topics with a clearheaded and compelling analysis. 

One of the joys of this book is that, even though Jack Condon is an exceptional scholar and professor in his own right, he isn’t selfish. He recognizes the best in many fields and doesn’t hesitate to include them. For instance, I’ve been fascinated by what neuroscience research has shown us about the brain’s functioning. So I found the reflection of neuroscientist David Linden’s musing on how his untreatable cancer was (or was not) impacted by meditation re-enforcing, moving and provocative. How much does our brain impact the physical aspect of healing? And if our brains are malleable enough for prayer, mediation or exercise to impact them, does the same hold true for culturally influenced behaviors? 

The chapter From Spaces to Places was especially intriguing for me. Thinking back to the visit to Mongolia I refer to in the opening paragraph, I remember my bewilderment at their use of space. A stretch of highway intermingled modern high-rises with gers (aka “yurts” in Russia), with junk yards, with grazing lands, with Soviet style apartments and back to another high-tech high-rise office building. As one guest in our party stated, “In the U.S. you know if you’re in a good neighborhood or not but here, everything is all mixed together.” The apartment we were lent was as large and modern as any I’ve seen in the U.S, (with a spa-like bathroom) yet the family happily went, as they called it, “to the country” to stay in a small unheated cabin without running water, sleeping on benches or the floor. When we traveled, I shared our approximately 270 square foot ger with others in our party; in my case a family friend I barely knew and two Russian women who spoke no English. Until I read It Goes Without Saying: Culture as Communication, I’d never considered how these three spaces and buildings shape and reflect modern Mongolian culture or the Mongolian people.   

I challenge anyone reading this book to not find a story, anecdote or insight that they can relate to. Jack’s inclusion of  experts from a myriad of fields assures us we will.  Hospital chaplain Sharon Waller’s reflections on how her patients experience time after a terminal diagnosis; David Linden’s poignant musings on mortality, seen through the lens of  neuroscience; and Thomas Kochman and Jean Marvrelis’ study of Corporate Tribalism especially struck home.

I did find one problematic issue. Because one need not read the chapters in order, I found myself skimming the book, getting caught up in a sentence or idea, and then I was hooked. “OK, I’ll just read this paragraph. Fine! This section of the chapter. Ok, the entire thing!”  Suddenly whatever I was going to do slipped in importance and I was glued to the book. What a delightful problem to have!

It’s a rare day when scholars of note such as Deborah Tannen, Georgetown University  and author of You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation and Matthew Liebmann, Chair of the Department of Anthropology at Harvard, give glowing reviews of a book in a field not their own. They’ve used words such as “incisive” and a “treasure trove.” I’ll add required reading for anyone who is serious about learning what it means when they see the term ‘intercultural.’  That being said, whether you are new to the field, an expert who wishes to “update” Hall, or the random reader interested in a “good read,” Jack Condon has given us a wealth of experts, viewpoints, and an update of Hall’s work, woven together in a highly readable, often humorous, reminder of the importance of Edward T. Hall’s work. Go read it. You won’t be sorry.

Condon, John. (2025) It Goes Without Saying: Culture as Communication, 535 pages. Randon Mouse Press. $38.00 Softback

Deborah Orlowski,

Founder, Dahlia Keynotes and Workshops,

Intercultural Links, Inc. U.S.A.

Past Conference Chair, SIETAR USA

Hearing that Rita Bennett was terminally ill was a reminder that bad things happen to good people. Graceful and elegant, Rita was a strong woman, a role model for demonstrating what a woman can be at her best. She made a difference in the world.

Rita was very active in SIETAR International at a difficult time in its history. She was treasurer when the extent of SIETAR International’s debt to Georgetown University was revealed. She was initially appalled but rolled up her sleeves and got to work. SIETAR has always needed a lot of help, and she was there to ensure that it survived and kept it running. Ironically, she was financially successful against the Jesuits of Georgetown University and saved SIETAR from a terrible mess but decades later Rita, in her partnership with the Jesuits, helped them expand their mission and efforts to care for refugees and displaced people.

Prior to and during her active years in SIETAR International Rita, after partnering in the early years of IOR, founded and presided over Bennett Associations, a thriving intercultural consulting and training organization in Chicago, IL. It blossomed under her leadership and provided a training ground for many mid-career interculturalists. Leaving Bennett Associates in the hands of Cartus, she moved on to work with a group very dear to her heart: the refugees in the world.

Rita and her husband Marty were active in JRS (the Jesuit Refugee Service) for many years.  After many decades living in Asia, Illinois, Northern California, and the Boston area (within driving distance of many extended family members—children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, and nephews) their life paths took them to some of the poorest parts of the world. They continued their life’s work with JRS traveling to refugee sites around the globe.

When asked what difference JRS had made in her life? Rita responded, “JRS transforms our lives each day. It was, of course, the mission and global footprint that drew us in as donors, but it’s been the refugees themselves and the dedicated JRS staff who called us to give more deeply and more personally of ourselves and our capabilities. I’ve been blessed to serve not only on the JRS/USA Board, but along with Marty as members of the International Development Group, a worldwide group of faithful and enthusiastic donors and volunteers.”

Alvino Fantini, a giant in multiple fields with a breadth of work that would circle the globe multiple times. This profile focuses on Alvino’s specific contributions to our intercultural field which is only a part of his professional work--and at the same time all of it.

To the reader:

• Have you participated in a study abroad program, a student exchange or hosted a student?
• Studied or taught a “foreign” language that integrated culture lessons?
• Accessed commercial materials to deliver cross-cultural training or to receive it?

If “yes” to any of these, chances are Alvino Fantini, PhD, Professor Emeritus of the School of International Training and past President of SIETAR International, contributed his expertise either directly or indirectly to the training of the trainer and/or to materials. As an educator-linguist-interculturalist Alvino has greatly influenced the development of intercultural professionals globally with the breadth and depth of his lived experience, his academic research and his practical fieldwork. And at 89 years old, his work continues to our benefit so let’s find out more about one of the longtime heroes in our intercultural world.

How Did This All Start?

Born into an Italian family in the U.S., Alvino grew up in a bilingual/bicultural environment and as a teenager participated in a study abroad program in Mexico with The Experiment in International Living. A new language, a “new” family and a new view of his Italian heritage.  This experience deepened his own self-awareness and fostered a lifelong curiosity for other cultures and for the connection between language and culture. In college this attracted him to the International House and friendships across many cultures. After college Alvino’s next cultural experience was in Military Intelligence, U.S.-based but also a cultural experience where he sometimes used his Italian and Spanish language skills.

Once out of the military Alvino took his cultural interest and experience back to the Experiment in International Living (EIL), the origin of the original intercultural-language spark. Under the umbrella organization of World Learning, EIL and later the School of International Training (SIT) would become his career “home.” This eventually necessitated graduate school so that he could be full time faculty. Thus began the search for a school that would allow him to combine all of his interests expanded and influenced by a course in sociolinguistics. The course specifically helped Alvino “understand the significance of the interconnection between language communication and intercultural dimensions. Both are part of the same phenomenon….” The reality however was, and still is, separate fields, separate departments, separate professions.

Eventually Alvino found a PhD program at University of Texas-Austin that broke these barriers and allowed him to build a cross-disciplinary program that combined education, linguistics and intercultural into his studies. This interdisciplinary approach has positioned him to be among the very few in the intercultural field who span both language education and intercultural communication. One of Alvino’s goals has been to get the two fields--language education and intercultural communication communicating more consistently with each other.

The Language-Culture Thread Through a Decades-Long Career

From the standpoint of the intercultural field perhaps Alvino’s greatest contribution is bringing language into the field, or more accurately, not allowing language to be left out. He has observed that in contrast to language educators who have been actively incorporating intercultural practices into the language classroom, the intercultural field has not reciprocated.  Very seldom are the cultural elements of language or the experience of communicating in a non-native language being incorporated into intercultural work. Especially noteworthy is the absence of a competence measurement for “communicating in a non-native language.” Almost all of the assessment instruments typically used for Intercultural Competence omit this skill of communicating in a non-native language with speakers of that language in their cultural environment, “on their own terms.” For Alvino core to this experience isn’t proficiency in the language but the self-learning and empathy that come from grappling with the language without becoming proficient.

Putting “Communicative” into Intercultural Competence = ICC

To fill this “Communicative” gap Alvino with the Federation of the Experiment in International Living (EIL) collaborated on a 2-part project carried out in 2005-6 and 2014 and resulting in two major outcomes: 

• A definition of Intercultural Communicative Competence “developed collectively by colleagues in 8 countries, who researched ICC definitions in 8 languages covering a period of 50 years.”

ICC is a complex of abilities (including host language proficiency) that are needed to perform effectively and appropriately when interacting with others who are linguistically and culturally different from oneself. 

• With this agreed definition the group developed the “Assessment of Intercultural Competence: A Research Project of the Federation EIL.” (available upon request) The Assessment was then administered on 2,200 participants in international educational exchanges. Of the seven Parts one of the survey components is Language Proficiency.

The work of this group continues by expanding the languages-cultures researching their definition for ICC Competency and continuing to translate and administer the Assessment.

Continuing To Contribute

Alvino continues his work to include more cultures and to collaborate more globally in order to increase the international reach of our work as interculturalists. We benefit from his uniqueness spanning both language education and intercultural communication.

By Carolyn Ryffel, Communications Committee

In these challenging times, when certain policies and actions have deeply affected marginalized groups and have directly impacted many within our community, SIETAR USA reaffirms our unwavering dedication to fostering inclusion, equity, and intercultural understanding.

Especially to those among us who are feeling unsafe and targeted right now, we stand in solidarity beside our members, their communities, and the communities that we serve.  We need all of us.

As an organization committed to bridging divides, we stand firmly against any efforts that promote harm or exclusion. Our work is rooted in the belief that every person has inherent worth and deserves to live in a society that values their voice, their humanity, and their contributions.

Together, we continue the work of breaking down barriers, building bridges of understanding, and sparking meaningful change that leads to lasting inclusiveness, social justice and peace for all.

In community, we keep moving forward,

SIETAR USA

Contact us at info@sietarusa.org

Sue Shinomiya at president@sietarusa.org

How do you move corporations to focus on their human resources?  How do you get them to grow their DEIB and intercultural consciousness?  Transformational learning builds on the premise that human beings need to understand the meaning of their experience. For some, an experience can be so transforming that the old patterns or ways of perceiving are no longer relevant. Learn from Lewis Griggs what happened to him and how he has applied that to his work with others to grow their DEIB and intercultural consciousness.

Webinar

Growing DEIB and Intercultural Consciousness

November 13th, 2024 @ 11:30AM ET

Presenter, Lewis Brown Griggs, co-founded Griggs Productions in 1982, a venture that resulted in 23 training videos and guides, an interactive e-learning program, The first National Diversity Conference, and two books: Going International and Valuing Diversity. His training videos and services span over 6,000 corporations, academic institutions, and government agencies, benefiting individuals, teams, and organizations. In a TED Talk, the Gift of Near Death, he shared his wisdom and insights gained from near-death experiences. A pioneer in diversity he has a career as an Active Leadership Coach.

Register Today!

MEMBER REGISTRATION

NON-MEMBER REGISTRATION