Introducing a New Course: Asian Perspectives of the Self

The Department of Communication is pleased to offer a new 3-credit course that fulfills the GE/Humanities requirement — and is a nice elective! Please see the attached flyer and brief descriptions below. It is taught by Prof. Lauren Mark in Fall 2024, Tuesday/Friday 12:30 PM-1:45 PM.

CMM 275 Asian Perspectives of the Self: Understand how native language(s) and cultural expectations influence our perception and communication. Draw on relational dynamics in multiple Asian traditions to explore dynamic connection and mutual respect. Students conduct personal research and do partnered teaching.

Full Course Description: This course invites students to examine how our cultural norms such as our native language(s) and cultural expectations influence our perception and orientations toward one another. We will explore how to create opportunities for connection and mutual respect while communicating across cultures, drawing from relational dynamics from multiple Asian traditions, beginning our exploration with Chinese philosophers. By moving through intercultural communication in these ways, we will strive to expand our toolbox of interpersonal skills through conceptual and discursive knowing, via reflection journals, personal research, and partnered teaching.

Faculty Profile: Introducing Dr. Lauren Mark, Communication Professor

Lauren Mark (Ph.D., Communication, Arizona State University, Hugh Downs School) is delighted to join New Paltz as an Assistant Professor of Communication and Culture. She originally hails from Wisconsin, and has previously called Taiwan, Israel, Arizona, and North Carolina home. She has taught and developed coursework at Wake Forest University and Arizona State University, after working in Taiwan and Israel as a cross-cultural community builder, translator, educator, and artist. She explored Asian theories and philosophy to develop a new methodology for her PhD scholarship. She studies, writes, and performs about intercultural communication, acculturation, affect, relationality, and racial representations in the media and lived experiences. 

     

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