Intercultural Communication

Dr Fay Patel is a lecturer in Higher Education and academic developer at the Centre for University Teaching. Fay received her doctoral degree in mass communication and communication studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA. She is involved in a number of regional and local higher education projects in curriculum development and assessment, leadership in higher education, internationalization of the curriculum and cultural diversity. Fay has over 25 years of experience as a professor, researcher, academic developer, programme and project coordinator, and leader in higher education in five countries (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States of America and South Africa). Fay is South African by birth, a Canadian immigrant and a migrant worker in Australia. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning, enhancing student learning through teaching development, internationalizing the curriculum, international development and global cultural communication perspectives, diffusion of new media technology, and online research methods and communication. She is the co-editor of Working Women: Stories of Struggle, Strife and Survival published by SAGE India in 2009. Fay is also author of Role of Attitudes and Perceptions in Diffusion of Innovations: Implementation of the Internet and Email in South Africa. Her forthcoming publication is a co-edited book titled Diffusion of Innovations and International Development: Critical Perspectives in the 21st Century.

Dr Mingsheng Li is a Senior Lecturer in intercultural communication and business communication at the College of Business, Massey University, New Zealand. His doctorate is in the areas of intercultural communication and English language teaching. Prior to his arrival in Australia in 1995, he was an Associate Professor in English language and literature. He was Vice Dean and Acting Dean of Foreign Language School, Yunnan Normal University, China, for over four years. His current research interests relate to international education, migrant studies and teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL).

Dr Prahalad Sooknanan is an Associate Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago where he is responsible for the basic communication course. He also teaches at the Arthur Lok Jack, the Graduate School of Business, University of the West Indies, where he teaches the core course in communications to students in the Executive MBA programme. More recently, he has been serving as the local tutor in Trinidad and Tobago for the MA degree in Mass Communication for the University of Leicester's distance education programme. Dr Sooknanan formerly served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo and Assistant Professor at SUNY College at Potsdam. His research interests include topics in intercultural and mass communication.