Intercultural Communication Institute

Dear 2008 Summer Institute Participant:

On behalf of the faculty and staff of the 2008 Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC), we wish to extend a warm welcome! We are delighted that you have decided to attend the Institute, and think that you will find the informal, interactive environment of SIIC intellectually stimulating, professionally rewarding, and (dare we say it?) fun.

The location of the 2008 Summer Institute is the campus of Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Reed is situated on 108 acres in the middle of the residential Eastmoreland neighborhood in southeast Portland. It has a beautiful wooded campus, with a stream running through the canyon. It is only 5 miles from downtown Portland, and 12 miles from the Portland International Airport.

You probably have several questions as you make plans to attend SIIC, especially if this is your first time at the Institute. We have tried to address as many questions as possible and, as a result, not everything is relevant to everyone. Please take a moment to skim through this information, and if you don’t find the answers you need, give us a call.

To contact staff or participants at SIIC use our regular phone number at the Intercultural Communication Institute (503-297-4622). We will forward our phones on Saturday, July 5, when we move our office to Reed, until we move back on Saturday, July 26. In case of an emergency when the SIIC office is closed (11:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Pacific daylight time) call Reed College Community Safety (503-777-7533).

The Intercultural Communication Institute & the SIIC Office at Reed College
Phone: 503-297-4622 Fax: 503-297-4695
(Our phone and fax will be forwarded to the SIIC Office
at Reed from July 5 until July 26)

SIIC MAILING ADDRESS:
Participant’s name/SIIC
Reed College
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd
Portland, OR 97202

EMERGENCY ONLY – Community Safety: 503-777-7533
(Please contact Campus Community Safety only if the SIIC Office is closed,
after 11:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m., Pacific daylight time.)

Transportation

Information about transportation between the Portland International Airport (PDX), the train station, or bus station and Reed College is included.

Arrival and Check-In

When you arrive on campus check in at the Sullivan Residence Hall, near the North Parking Lot (see your campus map). While you are welcome to arrive anytime, we will be most prepared to greet you after 4:00 p.m. on July 8 (for Session I), July 11 (for one-day workshop), July 13 (for Session II), and July 20 (for Session III). Due to participants coming and going for various sessions, your room may not be ready for you immediately upon arrival. You are welcome to check in, leave your luggage, browse the library and bookstore, and chat with other participants until your room is ready.

On Tuesday, July 8, Friday, July 11, and Sundays, July 13 and 20, someone will be waiting up until 12:00 p.m. to welcome you and check you into your room. If you are arriving at the airport after 10:30 p.m., or absolutely must arrive on campus after midnight, please call us ahead of time to make arrangements for someone to let you into the residence halls. If you are planning to arrive a day early or stay late and did not indicate this on your registration form, be sure to let us know so we can have a room ready.

Accommodations

Accommodations on campus are in student residence halls. Most participants (and all faculty) stay on campus, and find “dorm” life quite tolerable, due to the hectic schedule of the Institute. After all, how bad can a dorm room be when you’re too busy to be in it? Visualize living at SIIC by remembering back to living on a campus with a Spartan but lively environment, shared (but private) shower facilities, and adequate but not luxurious furnishings.

Towels and sheets are provided in the residence halls so you need to bring only your own personal soap, shampoo, etc. Alarm clocks are not provided, so you may want to bring one. In addition, several folks have reminded us to mention not to forget to bring a bathrobe!

We will do our best to accommodate your housing preference, although we can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests for single rooms. If you would like to share a room and have no specific person in mind, we will be happy to pair you with a fascinating roommate (gender is matched).

There are elevators in some of the residence halls and a limited number of first-floor rooms. If you have special accommodation needs, we can help you more easily if we know in advance.

Off-campus accommodation information is included for those who do not want to stay in the residence halls, need facilities we cannot provide (such as air conditioning in the dorm rooms), or are bringing families. (We have some room in the residence halls for spouses/partners not attending the Institute, but unfortunately, the residence halls cannot accommodate children.) If you are planning to stay in Portland and commute to SIIC, you should anticipate a drive of 15-20 minutes, depending on your location and the traffic. Please note that the off-campus fee includes tuition, materials, and lunch each day of your workshop, as well as evening programs.

Schedule

Session I begins Wednesday, July 9, at 9:00 a.m. with the General Opening program. Session I ends about 5:00 p.m., Friday, July 11. Participants who are staying on campus should arrive on Tuesday afternoon or evening, July 8. As an on-campus participant, your fee covers tuition, materials, housing, and meals from Tuesday evening through breakfast Saturday.

A Sample of SIIC: One-day workshops begin Saturday morning, July 12, at 9:00 a.m. and conclude at 5:00 p.m. Participants who are staying on campus should arrive Friday afternoon or evening, July 11. As an on-campus participant, your fee covers tuition, materials, housing, and meals from Friday dinner through breakfast Sunday.

Session II begins on Monday morning, July 14, with a Newcomers’ Session at 8:30 a.m., followed by the General Opening program at 9:00 a.m. Session II concludes about 5:00 p.m. Friday, July 18. As an on-campus participant, your fee covers tuition, materials, housing, and meals from Sunday evening through breakfast Saturday.

Session IIIa is structured like Session II, beginning on Monday, July 21, and ending Friday, July 25, about 5:00 p.m. As an on-campus participant, your fee covers tuition, materials, housing, and meals from Sunday evening through breakfast Saturday.

Session IIIb is structured like Session I, beginning on Monday, July 21, and ending Wednesday, July 23, about 5:00 p.m. As an on-campus participant, your fee covers tuition, materials, housing, and meals from Sunday evening through breakfast Thursday.

The daily schedule is designed to make good use of your time while attending SIIC – translate that as “you will be quite busy!” The workshops run from 9:00 a.m. to around 5:00 p.m., with lunch and breaks. (During Sessions II and IIIa, workshops are not held on Wednesday afternoon – our experience is that you’ll be glad we built this break into the schedule!) After dinner, there are evening programs from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., followed by an informal social gathering from 9:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. In addition, we move a major portion of our 29,000-item intercultural resource library to SIIC for participants’ use, and we also set up an intercultural bookstore. As you might gather, there is very little free time for tourist activities during SIIC. We strongly suggest that if you want to spend time sightseeing, you plan to arrive in the area early or stay after the Institute.

Academic Credit

Academic credit is offered through Portland State University at the graduate and undergraduate levels. If you decide to take a workshop for credit, you may pay the academic credit fee either before arriving on campus or when you register. During each session of SIIC, a credit information table will be available for participants who have questions. The Academic Credit page included here also has more information.

Recreation

Recreational opportunities include a sports center on campus with a swimming pool, basketball courts, weight and exercise rooms, and tennis courts. There is no fee for SIIC participants and the center is open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Friday. The tennis courts are separate from the sports center and are available during daylight hours. Although there are no structured exercise activities scheduled, we notice that like-minded folks often find each other for an early morning run or tennis game.

Staying in Touch

Telephones are available upon request when you check in. Just ask and we’ll be happy to give you one. Sorry, but due to last minute housing changes, we cannot give you your number ahead of time. You may use any telephone credit card to make long distance calls.

Computer and email access on campus is available for those who bring their own wireless-capable laptops, although signal strength may not be equally strong in every residence hall. For those with dial-up ISP accounts, there is a telephone line in your room. There are four computers in the Cyber Café located in the Commons for checking email and performing other brief tasks.

The Weather

Weather and clothing for the Institute are variable and interrelated. July is generally very pleasant, fairly warm, and sometimes even hot, or it may rain. We all dress rather casually for SIIC (shorts and t-shirts are very acceptable), but it wouldn’t hurt to bring a light jacket in case the weather cools off or you have the opportunity to experience some Oregon “liquid sunshine” first hand.

The faculty and staff of SIIC are looking forward to another exciting and rewarding Institute, and your enthusiasm and ideas will add to everyone’s experience. If you wish to bring resources to share with other participants, please feel free to do so.

Janet Bennett
Executive Director

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We are including a “Participant Information for Workshop Faculty” form. Our faculty members appreciate knowing in advance about those who have registered in their workshops.

Please take a few minutes to fill out the form by writing a short paragraph about yourself and your reasons for taking the workshop(s) – but please do not send your resume.