In Leadership and Storytelling, I learned about the impact stories have on our psychology, organizations, and cultures. Telling stories is how cultural scripts are passed on from generation to generation. Stories also serve as a means of developing connections with others. 

In this class, I studied the Adaptive Leadership Theory in detail. We learned how to identify technical versus adaptive issues. The reason most attempts to solve problems fails is that groups apply technical solutions to much more sophisticated culture-level Adaptive issues. The tools provided in the class have prepared me to address adaptive issues.

In this class, we learned the basics of Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language with an emphasis on creating a student-centered learning environment with a communicative approach that focuses on comprehensible input (i + 1), negotiable interaction, and time to practice.

Throughout the class, we created lesson plans, practiced teaching with real ELLs (English Language Learners), and developed our teaching philosophies. 

Leadership Across Cultures focuses on how leadership needs and expectations vary across the United States and globally. We addressed issues of lack of diversity on teams and intercultural conflict. 

My interest in researching cultural scripts across different cultures developed from this class.

In this class, I learned about how the WEIRD (western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic) demographic in psychology research has left us with incomplete data on human psychology. As it turns out, psychological functioning varies dramatically across cultures. Sometimes what is healthy in one culture is considered unhealthy in another. Even more important, is that treatments that work for one culture can be harmful to other cultures.

Through this class, we learned about cultural scripts which are the foundation for our psychological existence and how to be cognizant of these went addressing mental health concerns.

I participated in Dr. Vinai Norassakunkit's research team for three semesters at Gonzaga University. This involved attending weekly meetings, reading relevant journal articles, running studies with participants, and presenting research at conferences. I learned how to build studies from scratch, receive IRB approval, and analyze data in SPSS.