By participating in this program, students agree to attend meetings, facilitate workshops, and plan events to increase the GT student body's knowledge, awareness, and skills regarding belonging and community on campus and worldwide. After completing their two-semester term, Ambassadors have the option to remain in the program until graduation.
Why Participate?
Career Advancement
Become better positioned for the job market upon graduation. Corporations are interested in hiring people who work well with others, understand how to appreciate all cultures, and operate effectively and efficiently in a global environment. Participation in the program will enhance your relevant work experience. By hiring an Intercultural Student Ambassador, corporations know they have an employee who has been educated to live, learn, lead, and work in a global world.
Leadership
Become better positioned to assume campus leadership roles. Program participants will have the opportunity to engage in personal development, intercultural competence, and critical thinking. Research conducted by Dr. Alexander Astin, the Founding Director of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, revealed that involvement outside the classroom has been linked to students’ learning and development as well as persistence and retention.
Creating and Leading Successful Teams
Become better positioned to build cohesive teams. With the academic curriculum requiring more and more group projects, students should expect to work with team members from different backgrounds and with various perspectives. The Intercultural Ambassador Program prepares students to work well in those groups. Tom Lencioni, author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, states that teamwork is almost always lacking within organizations that fail, and often present within those that succeed.
It’s Fun!
Become better positioned to have a balanced life. Life Coach Martha Beck reminds us that successful people have fun being successful.
Ambassador Application
The Ambassador Program is an initiative housed within Intercultural Student Programs. Our primary goal is to develop student leaders who are interested in learning about intercultural competency and belonging while also being in community with other students.
Applications for Spring 2025 will open soon. Please check back for requirements and timeline.
Current Ambassadors
Cedric Kamaleson
Diversity is not a problem to be solved, but rather a reality to be understood and celebrated.” - Jared Diamond
Deri Barnes
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Joshua Weems
"Intercultural work is not about blending differences into sameness, but about embracing the richness of diversity to create something more meaningful and transformative together."
Kamryn Townes
“Strength lies in differences, not similarities.” - Stephen R. Covey
Marylene Innocent-Ike
"We all share the same basic values. And this is what human culture is really about — our creative ability to transcend our differences and find common ground." - Kofi Annan
Nithil Nagappan
“Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” - Martin Luther King Jr.
Okeoghene "Ari" Emoghene
“Why be a star when you can be a constellation?” - Mariam Kaba
Rachel McBride
“A garden’s beauty never lies in one flower.” - Matshona Dhliwayo
Samantha "Sam" Bolton
“To leave something behind us is to move the world forward.” - Samantha Bolton
Son’je Taylor
"Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they need." - Rick Riordan
Thomas Jones
"I’ve learned in life that what you give to others is what provides the most value to your life. There I was, a mess myself, yet I still had something to offer that would have an effect on another person’s world." - Jenifer Lewis