Eurocampus – Center for Intercultural Dialogue

Peter Praxmarer Profile

Peter Praxmarer, lic.oec.publ. (University of Zurich, 1977) and Docteur ès sciences politiques (The Graduate Institute, Geneva, 1984), is, since 2003, Executive Director of EMICC (European Masters in Intercultural Communication), a network of ten European universities specializing in intercultural communication, at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) Lugano, Switzerland.

For a number of years he taught international politics and relations in the United States (Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University and University of Rhode Island). He also was a consultant for UNITAR and the United Nations University on issues of social development, and has worked in the private sector (publishing, agriculture, art and antiques). During the wars in ex-Yugoslavia he participated in a fact-finding and assessment mission visiting UN peacekeeping forces in the Krajina region (Croatia), and served as Field and Training Coordinator with the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, for which he has also developed training programs in the field of democratization and good governance.

His main research focus is on epistemological issues (conceptualizations) in IC studies and the social sciences in general. His teaching is mainly on conceptualizations of “The Other”, as well as on intercultural communication in international organizations, and in particular peace communication in post-conflict and emergency contexts. He also works on academic cultures.

During the past ten years he has taught and lectured at more than two dozen universities in Europe and the US, and supervised a number of Bachelor and Master theses for students at different universities.

He also gives workshops and training courses in intercultural communication for different publics, including teachers at various levels, tourism professionals, immigration officials, paramedical personnel, healthcare professionals and managers.

NOTE: Peter Praxmarer passed away quite suddenly on November 5, 2017. He was a good friend to CID and will be sorely missed. A few concrete results of our frequent conversations follow. He wrote Key Concepts in Intercultural Dialogue #39: Otherness and the Other(s), translated it into both German and Italian, compiled a reader with study materials on intercultural communication competence, and prepared a poem, Languages of Peace. He wrote a guest post on Charlie Hebdo and intercultural dialogue, and responded at length to a guest post by Dominic Busch on refugees in Germany. During a Skype call with me, he came up with the concise definition of intercultural dialogue that was turned into CID Poster #3.
– Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz

Università della Svizzera italiana job ad

Università della Svizzera italiana
Faculty of Communication Sciences

The Institute for Public Communication of the Faculty of Communication Sciences invites applications for a full time tenure track position as Assistant Professor of Intercultural Communication.

The Faculty of Communication Sciences is characterized by its emphasis on research and commitment to the highest teaching standards. It offers a young and dynamic context which is highly international and interdisciplinary, studying Communication from many complementary viewpoints, both as disciplines and as fields of application.

Research and teaching carried out within the Institute for Public Communication cover different fields, ranging from public communication and political communication to social marketing, communication law and psychology. So far intercultural communication has been part of the public communication area. It has now been decided to develop this growing field as a specific area of research and teaching within the Institute.

The new chair of intercultural communication will be multi-disciplinary in nature and address both the theoretical and practical dynamics linked to intercultural communication. The core areas of interest are intercultural competence, communication in and with intercultural communities and organisations as well as the challenges of internationality and plurilingualism. The research orientations should be developed in collaboration, and where possible in synergy, with the other research projects underway in the Institute and the Faculty.

We look for candidates in particular from the field of communication sciences, but also from political science, sociology, public administration, anthropology, linguistics and other related fields. A strong commitment to research and solid methodological grounding should be demonstrated by publications in international peer-reviewed journals and other significant publications in the field. A demonstrated ability to address the theoretical and practical issues of intercultural communication will also be valued. Prior professional experience in intercultural contexts, whether in government, administration, NGOs or international organisations, as well as multilingual proficiency are significant asset for this position.

Job description and responsibilities
The successful candidate will be expected to:
*promote and develop the area of intercultural communication within the Institute for Public Communication;
*teach introductory courses at the Bachelor level and more specialized courses at the Master level, notably as part of the Master in Public Management and Policy (the teaching workload encompasses 9 ECTS for an assistant professor);
*develop and carry-out a research agenda centred on Intercultural Communication, including the obtention of research grants, the publication of academic contributions and the active participation to and contribution in international academic forums;
*assume the academic responsibility of the Executive Master in Intercultural Communication and of the Eurocampus programme;
*co-ordinate research assistants’ activities and supervise PhD candidates;
*participate actively in the work of the Faculty Council and related ad-hoc bodies notably within the Institute for Public Communication. The candidate could, for example, take the direction of the Laboratorio di Studi Mediterranei.

The ideal candidate will have:
*a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication or in a field related to intercultural communication;
*a documented contribution to research in the field, notably through publications and
conference presentations;
*adequate experience of teaching academic courses on the subject at various levels;
*experience of designing, developing and coordinating educational programmes in the field;
*experience of, or at least the willingness to address the issue of intercultural communication in the Swiss context;
*professional experiences in intercultural contexts;
*active participation in the field’s international research and educational networks, as well as demonstrated leadership and commitment to service to the institution and to the profession.

The application is for an assistant professor rank position.

Since USI aims to increase the percentage of women in research and teaching, women academics are particularly encouraged to apply.

Residence and language
The professor should reside in Ticino (Italian-speaking part of Switzerland); he or she is expected to be present at the university for no less than four days a week. The University’s graduate programmes are mainly taught in English, while Bachelor classes are taught in Italian. Fluency in Italian, while beneficial, will be required from the second year. Knowledge of other languages, in particular an official language of Switzerland (French or German), is a valuable asset for this position.

Required documentation
Applicants should submit:
*a letter of application addressed to the Dean of the Faculty
*a detailed CV/resume and list of publications, together with documentation of relevant academic qualifications, teaching and professional experience
*copies of a minimum of 3 and maximum of 10 publications of relevance for the position

Please send copy of the application in digital form.

Deadline
Application received by end of September 2014 will be given priority.
Please send your complete application file to the Faculty Dean:
Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni
Facoltà di scienze della comunicazione
Università della Svizzera italiana
Via Giuseppe Buffi 13
CH-6904 Lugano

For further information, please contact the Director of the Institute for Public Communication
Prof. Bertil Cottier

Università della Svizzera italiana 2014

From May 20-30, 2014, I had a wonderful invitation to stay in Cimo, Switzerland (a village just outside Lugano), with Peter Praxmarer, the executive director of the European Master in Intercultural Communication (EMICC), which is coordinated through the Università della Svizzera italiana (known in English as the University of Lugano). He also collaborates with, and teaches for, the Master of Advanced Studies in Intercultural Communication (MIC), as well as a number of other European universities.

My goal was to learn more about the EMICC, an intensive and international semester-long study of intercultural communication jointly offered by ten European universities since 2002. This program is a model of international collaboration for graduate education, and an innovative form of what in the USA is called “study abroad,” ensuring that students not only learn about intercultural communication at a theoretical level, but also practice it. We were able to discuss not only some of the logistics of this program, but also shared interests in intercultural communication more generally, as well as inventing future possibilities for collaboration.

While in Lugano, I was able to connect also with Prof. Bertil Cottier, Director of the Institute for Public Communication at USI. Trained as a lawyer, one of his current interests is in data protection and new technologies. As it turns out, the Institute will be conducting a search for a faculty member specializing in intercultural communication shortly – keep an eye on this website for the details.

I also met with Alexandra Stang, a graduate student at the University of Duisburg-Essen (in Germany) currently studying the Intercultural Campus platform, “an international university network created for intercultural learning.” She was in town to interview Peter Praxmarer, and took the opportunity to interview me as well.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz, Director
Center for Intercultural Dialogue

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