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The Joan and Larry Cimino Award

2011 Cimino Award winners 

2011 Award Winners Michelle Hamstra and Amanda Snell with Larry Cimino

The Joan and Larry Cimino Award for Excellence in Intercultural Communication

The Joan and Larry Cimino Award for Excellence in Intercultural Communication is awarded each year to the best paper and/or thesis on intercultural communication submitted by a graduate student in the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts. Larry Cimino, President of ProConsult, LLC., and a former Manager of Global Relations and Advocacy in Neuroscience for Eli Lilly & Company, is Chair of ICIC’s Board of Advisors and has generously funded the scholarship program since 2005.

The deadline for 2012 scholarship applications is February 1, 2012. Additional information about application requirements is available at: http://liberalarts.iupui.edu/scholarship/.

Graduate students Michelle Hamstra and Amanda Snell received the 2011 awards at a campus awards ceremony in April.

Hamstra received her Master’s Degree in 2010 and is interested in teaching English as a second language.  She would like to pursue her doctorate degree and teach abroad before returning to the United States to teach at a university.

The awards committee noted that Hamstra’s thesis, "‘The Impact of Service-learning on Second Language Writing Skills’ deftly addresses a gap in research on the burgeoning service-learning aspect of many classes today."

The Cimino Award is based on a belief that a disciplined approach to the study of intercultural communication can provide valuable insights toward achieving understanding between cultures, and Amanda Snell, the award recipient for the best paper, personifies that idea.

"My studies are dedicated to understanding the best ways to teach English to non-native English speakers, particularly immigrants," she writes. "I consider it important to learn about the cultural background and experiences of learners in order to be an effective teacher."  She plans to reach English to Hispanic immigrants in her community, south of Indianapolis.