Intercultural Communication professor grateful to help shape China’s burgeoning IC discipline

As a young boy growing up in the U.S., Steve J. Kulich first became aware of China after seeing Chinese characters on the wrapping paper of fireworks. In college it was his Chinese classmates who fostered his interest in seeking a teaching job on this side of the world. After working for a number of years among Chinese, he met his German wife, and their shared interests led the newlyweds to study Chinese at tranquil Xiamen University. Later, the young family moved to Shanghai with their two daughters, where they have now lived for 25 years. Multicultural at home and embracing cultures in his work life, he has actively engaged in intercultural communication to bridge the increasingly dwindling gap between China and the world.

As a scholar, Steve is now Executive Director of Shanghai International Studies University’s (SISU) Intercultural Institute (SII) and engages in research on intercultural values and identity. In a modest library room at SISU, we met Steve – the same room where the first segments of the SISU-FutureLearn “Intercultural Communication” MOOC course were filmed, taught twice a year and to date enrolling 45,000 online learners around the world. Through him and the SISU Educator team, Chinese students meet the world and the world gets to know more about intercultural aspects of Chinese cultural identities, values, and communication styles.

(Steve J. Kulich, Executive Director of the SISU Intercultural Institute)