The Institute of International Student Life allows students the opportunity to gain exposure to a global community without taking one step off campus.

The institute was founded last year and focuses on different styles of leadership and international service learning.

It was created to be “open to any student at this University to learn about global leadership styles,” said Leigh Poole, director of International Student Life.

“We wanted to create a series of seminars to inform students and help them with their cultural awareness,” she said.

Tonight’s seminar, Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands – Exploring Cross-Cultural Communication, is the third in a series of four hosted by the institute.

Students will be exposed to the communication styles of cultures such as Peru, India and China. Video clips will show people from different cultures communicating with one another. Students will also participate in an activity where they can experience how it feels to be from a different country where English is not the first language.

“We want students to have some kind of engagement with the global community in addition to studying abroad,” said Jessica Wells, an employee at the International Student Life office.

Interacting with someone when there is a language barrier and working with those who speak the same language but have different cultural practices are two of the most common struggles with cross-cultural communication.

Todd Goen, a graduate teaching assistant, said if there is a language barrier between people, it is the most difficult thing to overcome.

“If there isn’t a language barrier,” Goen said, “then [our biggest struggle] is the tendency for us to be ethnocentric. We’ll look down on others and judge them against our own understandings of our own cultures.”

Tonight’s seminar will allow students a glimpse into the rich worldview that helps with any form of global communication.

“The more you are exposed to experiences with people from different backgrounds,” Goen said, “the more at ease you will be when operating in different cultural settings.”

In addition to tonight’s Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands session, the institute will host another seminar Thursday. It will focus on how students can create an internationalized college experience through working, volunteering and studying abroad.