Goal 1
Intercultural campus: As we move to international/globalize Whitworth College and increase our domestic diversity, intercultural competence becomes a critical factor. Intercultural competencies are those skills that assist our students, faculty, and staff to operate effectively across cultures. Highlighting Whitworth as an intercultural campus will be a distinctive.

Actions steps include:

• Faculty will explore the possibility of having all students take an intercultural-communications course.
• Send six staff/faculty each year to the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication.
• Establish an intercultural committee that finds ways to foster, encourage, and potentially fund a variety of intercultural endeavors. Some oversight functions may be included, as well. Some duties for the intercultural committee may include:
  a. Pool of money for intercultural "good ideas"
  b. Creation of a place that welcomes all and allows for unique cultural/spiritual aspects of students
  c. Funding for art from non-dominant peoples, "welcome" murals in different languages, etc.
  d. Creating and administering a process for staff and faculty to go to the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (or other important intercultural programs)

Benchmarks:

• Utilizing the Intercultural Developmental Inventory will show positive movement toward greater levels of student intercultural sensitivity.
• Faculty and staff who go to the summer institute may be asked to talk with the intercultural committee for debriefing after the institute. People who make application and go to the institute are expected to show some demonstrated change. Examples: Faculty could submit changes in syllabi for the subsequent year to reflect their intercultural learning, while staff might be asked to demonstrate to their supervisors intercultural growth in a variety of ways (hiring of diverse candidates, participation in campus/community diversity programs, committees, etc.).
• By 2005 (spring or fall) an intercultural committee will be established. The president and diversity advisor(s) will give input. The first chair will be the special assistant to the president for diversity (as suggested by the diversity subcommittee of PPC).

Goal 2
Welcoming climate and learning community: With the goal of encouraging diversity here at Whitworth College, we will learn to be welcoming in a variety of ways. What works well for some cultures may actually be unwelcoming to others. Part of being an effective intercultural campus is to be open to learning from differences. Training and education will be key components.

Actions steps include:

• Training programs will be designed to see and value difference to be identified in Human Resources.
• Student Life continues to ask students to be open to people who are different from themselves through programming. As a learning community, Whitworth College should not shy away from controversial topics. The focus of such topical discussions is to increase community understanding and grace with the value that all students will have full access to the Whitworth community.

Benchmarks:

• By 2006, all new faculty and staff will have training that includes intercultural education.

Goal 3
Intercultural curriculum: For our students to graduate from Whitworth College, the intercultural campus and the curriculum will play a key role. Thinking about courses that encourage our students to be involved in the community locally, domestically, and internationally will be critical.

Actions steps include:

• Develop a deliberate, intentional curricular and co-curricular plan to guide students' openness toward diverse viewpoints during their academic years at Whitworth.
• Create a strong comprehensive intercultural orientation and re-entry program for all off-campus multicultural/international-oriented courses.
• Provide first-generation college students, as well as students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, additional academic advising programs to address concerns not experienced by the general campus population.

Benchmarks:

• Each year administer the IDI to entering freshmen. Each freshman advisor will have the composite score and the overall score of the freshman class. Curricular and co-curricular decisions may be made with the IDI scores as a useful tool. An annual progress report shall be made to the intercultural committee.
• Off-campus programs, Academic Affairs, and the Communications Department, in association with Student Life, will create a model orientation/re-entry program by 2006.
• In 2006, the freshman-advising program will include a section (or an infused program) to address the unique needs of first-generation college students and those students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

Goal 4
The community: Students, staff, and faculty are encouraged to participate and to create programs that continue to foster Whitworth's intercultural endeavors. The college will continue to nurture Whitworth's intercultural activity as a positive distinctive.

Actions steps include:

• Identify and nurture key ethnic-minority and international alumni and other alumni that are doing significant work in domestic or international diversity.
• Focus efforts in advancement and admissions toward creating new programs that foster Whitworth's positive intercultural distinctive.
• Encourage faculty to attend, create, and support efforts that foster intercultural events, speakers, and curriculum. This should be reflected in tenure-and-promotion guidelines.

Benchmarks:

• By 2007, the Alumni and Parent Relations Office will have established a program to identify key ethnic-minority and international alumni. The staff will find ways to highlight these alums and bring them back to campus. Annual reports will be presented to the intercultural committee.
• By 2007, Institutional Advancement and Admissions will submit to the president a plan to increase donor and student diversity.
• By 2006, the president will encourage his direct reports to factor "fostering diversity" into all performance reviews