2024-2025 Undergraduate & Graduate Catalog
Intercultural Communications Certificate
Website: gvsu.edu/itc
The intercultural communication certificate prepares graduates with skills in effective communication within and across diverse international organizations. Core courses ground students in cultural competency, written and spoken discourse, and experiential learning. Graduates of this program will demonstrate effective multi-modal persuasion and messaging that can be applied within a range of workplace, digital, and societal settings. Skills development is enhanced through interdisciplinary electives that situate global communication skills within particular job sectors and/or contexts.
Students wishing to earn the certificate can do so either as free-standing certificate or as part of a major in integrative studies (B.A. or B.S.). This program also supports students to earn an intercultural competence digital badge, creating stackable credentials that bolster your dossier. Most students complete this program in one year or less.
Courses within this program are offered in both conventional and fully online, six-week accelerated formats for degree completion students. Any GVSU student can earn an intercultural communication certificate by completing the required courses listed as follows. These courses are offered in traditional, hybrid, and fully online formats.
We encourage you to contact the Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural Studies Department (IRIS) to speak with a faculty advisor who can help you plan the best and most direct course to complete the certificate requirements: (616)331-8020 or email: [email protected].
Requirements for the Certificate (14 credits)
Core Courses (8 credits)
- ITC 100 - Introduction to Intercultural Competence (3 credits)
- ITC 490 - Practicum: Intercultural Learning Experience (1 to 6 credits)
- WRT 354 - Writing in the Global Context: Culture, Technology, and Language Practices (3 credits)
Electives (6 credits)
Students are required to select one course from each category as follows.
Media, Modes, and Methods (choose one)
- COM 378 - Intercultural Communication (3 credits)
- DS 314/ENG 314 - Digital Literacies (3 credits)
- EDF 316 - Global Perspectives on Education (3 credits)
- INT 331 - Person and Profession in a Global Environment (3 credits)
- REL 335 - Sacred Words, Global Understanding (3 credits)
- MLL 300 - What's Language Got To Do With It? Exploring Identity Through Language, Culture, and Literature (3 credits)
Theory Into Practice (choose one)
- AHS 310 - Equity in Health Care (3 credits)
- COM 438 - Communication Ethics (3 credits)
- DS 335/CJ 335 - Digital Crime, Media, and Culture (3 credits)
- DS 360 - Ethics of Digital Culture (3 credits)
- SW 333 - Community Work with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community (3 credits)
- SW 351 - Cross-cultural Service Learning (3 credits)
- WRT 350 - Business Communication (3 credits)
- WRT 351 - Writing for the Web (3 credits)