Internationalization Initiative

Comments from the Global Business Speaker Series

From Chris Chairsell, PCC Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs

“Thank you so much for the Nike and Intel presentations at Cascade Campus. It was so informative and really ignited some thought concerning IT security vs. the freedom of creativity and doing business. Also, I was struck how John, the marketing director for Intel, is so involved with creative marketing firms around the world – in order to ensure that Intel’s brand/message is presented in a culturally competent way in countries like Vietnam. Being “global” is very complex, yet very necessary for economic success of any business.

I also was taken with L.J. of Nike who shared her big “mistake” of developing a brand/message about IT security that strictly was “American Centric (baseball)” and was totally lost in other cultures around the world.

I guess the other piece I took home was how Nike allows social networking (Face Book) on the job because their workforce comes there with that expectation. I guess Face Book has replaced the Gates “early years” of waste paper basketball!!

Here is the PCC value I have gained from this one speaker event:

  1. While IT security is necessary – it should not be the tail that wags the dog – we need to be creative in how we process and protect student, financial, and HR information in Banner.
  2. Our International Curriculum Initiative is right on the mark in that the Global Economy is real and we must prepare our students to be culturally competent and culturally aware – as they will probably be hiring firms all over the world to establish messages or sell products in hundreds of different cultures/countries.
  3. So many of our faculty/staff are on Face Book – it’s not a luxury or alternative activity – it is a way that we communicate – our students expect it and so do our faculty/staff.
  4. We have another grant through the State in which we are building Second Life – as a tool for teaching – we have had some eyes rolling over that – but teaching to the future means being out there on the edge in development and technology. This is a lot of fun!!

Again, this is a very long email just to say thank you. However, you have tweaked my “natural curiosity” and I have really enjoyed processing this presentation. Thank you so much. Chris”