Living, Working, and Volunteering Across Cultures: What’s Really Needed to Succeed

What makes us effective at engaging across cultures? While some people don’t cope well in unfamiliar environments, others seem to adapt with surprising ease and agility. Why is that? Likely to rattle some of our collective assumptions, this workshop explores a profound shift that is underway in the fields of international development and tourism, and what the next generation will need to help transform these industries. In this interactive presentation, Caliopy Glaros, founder of Philanthropy without Borders, will link concerns about global inequity and social injustice to the desire for meaningful engagement across cultures, as well as provide tools participants can apply to their future experiences abroad. The first hour will involve a short lecture followed by experiential activities and group discussion. After a ten-minute break, participants are invited to return for a deep-dive into international career planning and how to apply their intercultural skills to the ever-changing job market.

About the Speaker:

Since graduating from PSU’s International & Global Studies program, Caliopy Glaros held positions in almost every sector of the job market (for-profit, non-profit, government, and higher ed) before launching her own company in 2018. Her consultancy, Philanthropy without Borders, provides strategic guidance to nonprofits and travel operators on philanthropic and volunteer travel. Her work is informed by a decade of on-the-ground experience in over 30 countries, as well as designing and facilitating programs in more than 50 nations on five continents.