Bio:
For many years, Simone Schlichting-Artur has held many positions at Drexel University, primarily that of faculty of German and Intercultural Communication. In that capacity, she has engaged with a large and diverse student body; developed new language programs; promoted collaborative efforts with other departments university-wide; focused on building partnerships at the local, national and global level; fostered experiential learning partnerships (i.e., neighborhood communities); helped to articulate university-wide policies, and supervised, hired and trained a multi-cultural faculty body.
Facing the challenges of a German Language Program, has led her to focus research and professional practices on two major paths: first, how to understand and practice leadership best in a multicultural context and secondly, how to develop better teaching and learning tools for the demands of a global classroom. The first path took her back to school to gain more theoretical knowledge and to provide her with good leadership skills. The second one helped her to initiate an alignment of the German Program with the mission of the university at large and to assess the German Program’s curriculum. This resulted in new course offerings, revision of courses, assessment and many more positive changes.
On a personal level, her research and engagement with global entities evoked an interest in building closer bridges to her international partners and students at the global and local level. Hence, she started developing “global classrooms” a couple of years ago. These classes have brought with them new challenges as one is teaching to a multicultural student body with a diverse understanding of our complex world. These classrooms have taught her that there is a vast world of values and beliefs to be appreciated and navigating intercultural adjustments happens wherever you teach.