Acknowledgements

The funding for the development of this website was provided by a three-year Department of Education FIPSE (The Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education) grant. Further generous financial support came from both the School of International Studies, University of the Pacific, Stockton, California, and the Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer of Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.

This on-line support material is a product of many people's contributions and we would like to recognize them here. The entire project grew out of earlier cooperation between the University of Southern California and the University of the Pacific when they initially partnered on an previous FIPSE grant designed to produce materials relating to Study Abroad as part of their SAFETI (Safety Abroad First - Educational Travel Information) Clearinghouse projects.  Dr. Gary Rhodes, Director of the Center for Global Education in the Rossier School of Education at USC, was instrumental in securing both grants and providing administrative assistance throughout the projects.

In the early stages of developing the content, an advisory board was constituted to conceptualize what the site might contain and how it might be used to promote and support cross-cultural training and intercultural communication as part of the study abroad experience. Its members were: Dr. Janet M. Bennett, Dr. Milton J. Bennett, and Margaret (Peggy) Pusch of the Intercultural Communication Institute (ICI), Portland, Oregon; and Dr. R. Michael Paige, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The bibliographies are based upon the excellent resources of the ICI Library and the meticulous work of Janet Bennett. Special thanks to Peggy Pusch who, in the final writing stage, took on an additional important role in editing and critiquing the entire manuscript with her usual professional competence and organizational skills. Finally, our deep appreciation to Kathryn Stillings for her thorough, detailed, and multiple proofreading during the final stages of production. Her attention to detail considerably improved the website's appearance and readability.

Two years into the project, we were delighted to have been given permission to draw upon the excellent materials that were developed for the Peace Corps’ first extensive cross-cultural workbook for volunteers, Culture Matters.  The resulting inclusion of Peace Corps exercises and activities has greatly added to the interactivity of the final version. Although Culture Matters was a project that also involved the contributions of many individuals, we would especially like to acknowledge Craig Storti for his research and writing in collaboration with Laurette Bennhold-Samaan, Peace Corps Cross-Cultural Specialist. 

The transformation from text to internet was handled by the web wizards at the Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer at Tulane University, New Orleans. Much appreciation goes to Dr. William E. Bertrand, Payson Center Director and Wisner Professor, and to Maria F. Trujillo for their conceptual ideas and practical advice. A special recognition to Gloria I. Toro for her technical skills in implementing this project as an e-version product. To all of them our appreciation for their hospitality.

We would like to gratefully acknowledge Margee Ensign, Dean of the School of International Studies, University of the Pacific (Pacific), Stockton, California, who enthusiastically supported the project in every way possible at every stage. And, finally, thanks to the study abroad students from Pacific who have taken our Cross-Cultural Training courses since 1976 and provided almost 30 years of feedback and constructive criticism on what we do in our orientation and reentry courses. They couldn’t have known it then, but they were contributing valuable insights into what does, and what does not, assist study abroad students to make successful adaptations abroad and at home.

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