Letter From the Chair

Nichole McVeigh, PhD, University of Richmond, VA, USA

Dear Intercultural Communication Members and Friends,

Welcome to the pre-convention edition of the InterCom Newsletter!

Since our last newsletter in December, we have organized the December Solstice event to celebrate the rebirth and the return of light—with a focus on intercultural communication grounded in hope, peace, nonviolent interaction, and empathy. In early February, we hosted a webinar with Boelo van der Pool on “Communicating with families of neurodivergent learners in language programs” in which he explained how neurodivergent conditions are seen and approached differently around the world, how understanding this is important when communicating with the students’ families, and how, with the right strategies, we can build rapport with the families. In late February, we held our Lightning Talks where we highlighted emerging scholars in the field of intercultural communication.

As this is a Pre-Convention newsletter, your ICIS team wants to share information and invite you to attend the three panels we have organized for the 2026 TESOL Convention in Salt Lake City.

ICIS Convention Presentations

From Past Lessons to Future Possibilities: Rethinking Interculturality in TESOL will be held onThursday, March 26, from 8:00-9:15 am (academic session). The presenters are Roxanna Senyshyn (Pennsylvania State University, Abington College); Ryuko Kubota (University of British Columbia) ; Kristen Lindahl (University of Texas); Daniela Silva (University of Texas); Joan Shin (George Mason University).

Bridging Worlds: Culturally Responsive Communication With Families of Neurodiverse Learners will be held on Friday, March 27, from 10:00 -11:15 pm (ICIS is primary and partnering with Supporting Students with Disabilities IS). The presenters are Nichole McVeigh (University of Richmond); Aneesha Batool (English Access Scholarship Program); Jill Hakemian (New York University); Nicole Bell (Mid-West RBERN, Canisius University); Maria de Lourdes Gutierrez Aceves (Autonomous University of Chiapas); Fatima Aldajani (University of Toledo).

Rethinking Success: Implications of Global Power Shifts for ELT will be held on Thursday, March 26, from 1:00-2:15 pm (ICIS is partnering with Higher Education and Program Administration IS). The presenters are Vasiliki Bessie Karras-Lazaris (California State University, Northridge); Joyce Kling (Lund University); Andy Curtis (City University of Macau); Brad Teague (Duke University); Melanie Vandenhoven (Sorbonne University); Mark Algren (University of Kansas); Leslie Bohon (University of Richmond); Pamela Smart-Smith (Virginia Tech).

And please join us for our ICIS Networking Lounge on Wednesday, March 25, from 2:00-3:00pm. In addition, the ICIS Open Meeting will happen on Thursday, March 26, from 5:30-6:30. Locations will be revealed closer to the date. We would love to chat with you and get you involved in the ICIS!

We thank all our collaborators who made all of these events possible, and we would like to invite you to attend our next event:

• Coffee Hour “Pre-convention Highlights-ICIS activities” on March 11 at noon EST

As always, we invite our membership to be involved in planning, envisioning, and proposing events (or leading them!). We are interested in learning what intercultural communication interests and needs you have. So please, do not be shy about making suggestions or contributing ideas. You can contact me at [email protected].

I look forward to continued interactions with you and hope to see you at the upcoming ICIS events and the TESOL Convention!

Nichole McVeigh

Nichole McVeigh is the current chair of ICIS. She serves as adjunct faculty at University of Richmond (USA) and as Executive Director of the Richmond Peace Education Center. She holds a PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University for Peace (Costa Rica) and a MATL from the University of Southern Mississippi (USA). Her areas of interest are intercultural communication, education for sustainable development and the intersections of language and peace education.