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When I was about to leave Stanford, the director of the Bechtel International Center invited me to move there into a full time position as his associate. I worked for six years at Stanford University in foreign student counseling, intercultural communication program development and developing an international student residence. I also began teaching one theory and one training course in intercultural communication, which both continued for eight years.
While at Stanford I founded the Stanford Institute for Intercultural Communication (SIIC) in 1975, which I directed for ten years. I designed the SIIC for the professional development of people who were working in various fields or careers wherein they wished to incorporate the principles and skills of Intercultural Communication. People came from all over the world each summer for deeply engaging workshops that were held on weekly bases for multiple industries, such as, education, counseling, business, health care, etc.
I was very excited that so many people from Japan were interested in studying intercultural communication in these summer institutes. Teruyuki Kume was one of those. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with his work in the development of intercultural communication in Japan.
I changed my position at Stanford in 1977 to enter my Ph.D. program in the Stanford School of Education. I was 37 years old. Three years after I entered my Ph.D. program, my friend at P&G (Procter & Gamble Company) visited me. P&G is a worldwide major company that produces consumer goods such as soap and toothpaste.
My friend was responsible for recruiting foreign students on campuses around the country. He visited my campuses (Cornell and Stanford) twice a year to find qualified foreign students to work for his company in their own countries. Every time he had interviews with foreign students, he invited me to dinner to get my perspective on each of his candidates. In 1980 at one of these dinners this friend told me a story about his company’s plans in Japan.(5/9)