Dear Colleagues,

You and all faculty, staff, and students are cordially invited to attend the Chancellor’s Distinguished Lecture for International Education and discussion by Dr. Derald Wing Sue as part of International Education Week at UTK. Chancellor Cheek will introduce the speaker. His talk will be held at 7 pm on Thursday September 25, 2014 in the University Center Auditorium. The talk is free and open to the public. The lecture is sponsored by the Center for International Education, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, the International House, the College of Business, the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences, the Department of Psychology, The Confucius Institute, and Multicultural Student Affairs.

Please share this opportunity with your faculty, staff, students and Knoxville community. If you have questions, contact Pia Wood, Associate Provost.

Lecture Topic:  International Education: Dangers and Challenges

Few would argue against the belief that our educational systems must transcend national borders and instill in our citizenry the awareness, knowledge and skills necessary to function in a global world where understanding of other regions and cultures are paramount to our planet’s survival and its world population.  Ethnic wars and conflicts, pollution, widespread poverty, and the need to increase mutual understanding and respect are challenges that confront the world at large.  Yet, international education in the United States continues to play a secondary and often invisible role in the curriculum and experiences of our students.  When instituted and implemented in institutions of higher learning, for example, international education often appears to be ethnocentric and culture-bound.  Rather than free and liberate students to expand their awareness and respect of other cultures, it has often been misguided in importing and exporting ignorance and misunderstanding.  In this respect, it may represent cultural oppression as expressed by many of our international students.  Professor Sue will address the (a) dangers and challenges of cultural encapsulation of knowledge, (b) lessons learned from the challenges of domestic multiculturalism, (c) importance of lived experience in understanding people who differ from us in terms of nationality, race, culture, ethnicity, religion, etc., (d) harmful impact from the invisibility of worldviews and biases, and (e) strategies for institutional change.

Biography:

Dr. Derald Wing Sue is Professor of Psychology and Education in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College and the School of Social Work, Columbia University.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, and has served as a training faculty member with the Institute for Management Studies and the Columbia University Executive Training Programs.  He was the Co-Founder and first President of the Asian American Psychological Association, past presidents of the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (Division 45) and the Society of Counseling Psychology (Division 17).  Dr. Sue is a member of the American Counseling Association, Fellows of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology. Dr. Sue has served as Editor of the Personnel and Guidance Journal (now the Journal for Counseling and Development), Associate Editor of the American Psychologist, Editorial Member to Asian Journal of Counselling, serves on the Council of Elders for Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, and has been or continues to be a consulting editor for numerous journals and publications.

Derald Wing Sue is a pioneer in the field of multicultural psychology, multicultural education, multicultural counseling and therapy, and the psychology of racism/antiracism.  He has done extensive multicultural research and writing in psychology and education and is author of over 150 publications, 17 books, and numerous media productions.  In all of these endeavors, his commitment to multiculturalism has been obvious, and his contributions have forced the field to seriously question the monocultural knowledge base of its theories and practices.  With the help of many colleagues, he chaired committees for the Society of Counseling Psychology and the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development that resulted in laying the foundations for the cultural competency movement in the delivery of mental health services to an increasingly diverse populationDr. Sue has presented and traveled in Asia (China, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Macau, the Philippines, and Singapore), New Zealand and Europe.  He has worked with UNESCO on their “Teaching Respect for All” project that uses education to combat racism and xenophobia in countries like Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and the Middle East. His current research involves the relationship of microaggressions and difficult dialogues on race, and he is currently working on a book titled: Race Talk: The Psychology of Racial Dialogues. 

As recognition of his outstanding contributions, Dr. Sue has been the recipient of numerous awards from professional organizations, educational institutions, and community groups.  He has been honored by the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development with the Professional Development Award and the Research Award; by the Asian American Psychological Association with the Leadership Award, Distinguished Contributions Award and President’s Award; by the Third World Counselors Association with the Leadership and Distinguished Contributions to Cross Cultural Theory Award; by The Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues with the Mentoring and Leadership Award; by Center for the Study of Teaching and Learning Diversity with the Diversity in Teaching and Learning Lifetime Achievement Award; by the California Psychological Association with the Distinguished Scientific Achievement to Psychology Award; by the American Counseling Association with the Professional Development Award; by the Society of Counseling Psychology, Sage Publications and The Counseling Psychologist for the Outstanding Publication of 2001; by California State University, Hayward, Alliant University and Teachers College, Columbia University for Outstanding Faculty or Teaching Awards; by the American Psychological Association with the Career Contributions to Education and Training Award and a Presidential Citation for Outstanding Service; by the National Multicultural Conference and Summit with the Dalmas A. Taylor Award; by the University of Oregon with the Outstanding Alumnus Award, by the American Psychological Foundations with the Rosalee G. Weiss Outstanding Psychologist Award, by the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues with Lifetime Achievement Award and by the Los Angeles County Psychological Association for the Distinguished Service to the Profession of Psychology Award.  In a 2012 study titled “Legends of the Field: Influential Scholars in Multicultural Counseling, Dr. Sue was identified as the top-cited scholar across multicultural textbooks and his influence was described as “profound.” He is the 2013 American Psychological Association recipient of the Public Interest Award.  As evidence of Dr. Sue's stature in the field, two studies (1989 and 2012) of multicultural publications and scholars concluded that "Impressively, Derald Wing Sue is without doubt the most influential multicultural scholar in the United States."