click here for more pictures

We are excited to issue a call for any student or faculty interested in participating in the upcoming 2-week Cross Cultural Immersion Program (CCIP) in Taiwan, January 2-January 19, 2007 (inclusive of travel dates). 

In 2005 the Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology (ESCP) Department and the University of Missouri (MU) signed a formal agreement to promote student exchanges and research collaboration with the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling (EPC) at the National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).  In August 2005, we started a student exchange program in the form of a Cross Cultural Immersion Program (CCIP) and hosted 14 graduate students from the ECP Department at NTNU for 10 days; we arranged a broad array of professional, social, and cultural experiences for the students including presentations by ESCP faculty and students, a presentation of Taiwanese culture by the NTNU students, meetings with other programs in the University, and site visits. (For more details see  http://cmrtc.coe.missouri.edu/2005cultural.html.)  Overall, the students reported the immersion experience to be a very positive and powerful experience. 

The ECP faculty and students from NTNU (located in Taipei, northern Taiwan) are now very excited about hosting and organizing a reciprocal immersion experience for MU students; for more information about the department see: http://www.epc.ntnu.edu.tw/epcweb/. The CCIP will involve a wide range of professional activities, such as: (a) lectures offered by NTNU faculty on a range of current professional issues in counseling in Taiwan, (b) on-site visits to explore first-hand an array of professional counseling activities in Taiwan (e.g., University Counseling Center, Teacher Chang (a famous community counseling center), a private practice group, an elementary school counseling center, and (c) potential visits to a hospital to learn about health psychology interventions, and the internationally known Mandarin Language Center, etc. 

A variety of cultural activities will also provide additional glimpses into Taiwanese culture, such as tours to the world famous National Palace Museum (which houses some of the best examples of Chinese art and culture over thousands of years), the Native Taiwanese Museum, Jade Market (where you can buy loads of jade products), antique markets, the varied and colorful night markets (including Snake Alley), Tai-chi demonstrations, the spectacular Grand Hotel, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, and the awesome Lungshan Temple (as well as other temples). Participants will also have many opportunities to eat delicious and authentic Chinese food (quite different from typical Chinese food in the US restaurants), to see a wider array of Chinese art objects, to shop, and of course to interact with a wide range of people in Taiwan.  To see a few pictures of some of these places, please visit http://cmrtc.coe.missouri.edu/pictures.html

In addition, unstructured time will be available for exploration and additional immersion experiences.  The array of possible cultural activities and night life is vast.  In short, the experience will provide a multitude of professional and cultural activities; participants will receive an excellent overview of counseling in Taiwan as well as up close opportunities to learn about social, historical, cultural, and political issues about Taiwan.

To help participants to receive maximal benefit from the experience, the CCIP will provide a one-credit seminar in the fall semester of 2006 to prepare participants with basic cultural background and information, as well as small-group discussions during the two-week immersion to process and learn from the experience. 

The one-credit seminar will meet once a week (time to be arranged) during the Fall semester 2006 to provide participants with an introduction to the geography, history, economic and political arena of Taiwan as well as Chinese culture and an introduction to the language (enough to allow participants to “make it” on the street ). 

During the two-week immersion, regular times will be arranged for discussion in small groups to process the wide array of cognitive and affective reactions to the experience. 

We will keep the number of participants between 10-15 to maximize the impact of the cultural immersion.

Puncky Heppner, Ph.D. and Lisa Flores, Ph.D.

Yi-Jiun Lin, M.Ed. and Chia-Lin Tsai, M.A.

Note: Since this is our first CCIP in Taiwan it is difficult to estimate costs.  The costs below are considered to be maximum costs, and could well be lower.  But to be safe, we estimate the maximum costs. 

1. Airfare will be the largest expense, approximately $700-$900, depending on the availability of group rates, etc. 
2. Lodging will be minimal, approximately $10-15 a night living in a student residence hall.  There is a chance there could be opportunities to live with a host family, which would eliminate these costs as well as greatly enhance the learning opportunities. 
3. Miscellaneous organizational expenses, $200.
4. Although most meals will be the responsibility of the participants, the costs are relatively inexpensive; a few meals will likely be provided by NTNU.  Estimated costs averaging $10/day for around $120, but most likely lower.
5. Minimal transportation costs around Taipei and surrounding area, estimated to be around $50.
6. Entrance fees to museums, etc., anticipated around $25.
7. Personal costs, shopping etc. 

Maximum Total Estimated Costs (excluding personal shopping costs): $1215 to $1475.

Contact Puncky via email (HeppnerP@missouri.edu) as soon as possible to reserve a place in both the course and winter immersion. We will operate from a "first come, first serve" basis until we have the maximum number of participants.