On April 11, English Learning Center professor Andrew Petersen presented Etiquette Without Borders, an interactive and discussion-based workshop. The event served to educate its attendees on both personal and business etiquette across a variety of cultures.

Members of the audience were divided into groups at the beginning of the workshop. Each member of the group was then given a world map and asked to label the countries they had visited or lived in. Then, the group was collectively asked to guess which country each member was originally from. The audience comprised diverse individuals from countries such as Japan, Mexico, Oman and Romania among others. Each individual was given a nametag and asked to write his or her name in English. Any group members that could write in a different language wrote the name, in the respective language, of each person in their group. At the end of this activity, one individual’s name was written in several languages including Japanese, Spanish and Arabic. Many participants were impressed with the scripture of different languages and commented that they would be keeping their nametags.

This activity stretched further than just following the directions given out. Each group actively engaged in conversation, deeply intrigued by the different ethnicities that members of the group were representing.

“I was afraid to stop the audience from talking among themselves because I heard so many great conversations going on between them,” Petersen noted.

Next, the workshop focused on stereotypes of different cultures.

“When you first meet them, what do people from this country seem to be…?” Petersen asked the audience.

The first country discussed in this manner was Malaysia. The audience responded with a consensus of “supremely friendly.” Some answers for countries such as Turkey (“exuberant, very friendly, and loquacious”) and Romania (“emotionally reserved, and hard to read”) were based on only people the audience knew from that country. Other responses were humorous. The audience described the Japanese as “cute” and “five minutes early is late,” Mexicans as “tequila,” “loud and friendly,” and “outgoing,” and lastly Omanis as “rich.” Overall, audience members examined what the most prominent social aspects of these different cultures were and what came to mind when each culture was brought into context.

Former Triangle opinion writer and pre-junior Talha Mukhtar was encouraged by the discussion of cross cultural awareness at the event, noting, “It is important to maintain a cross cultural awareness. If you don’t, how will you build yourself as a person?” Many audience members were excited to implement their learnings from the workshop into their own careers or educational disciplines. “Part of my philosophical discipline is ethical philosophy. Ethics and etiquette has a lot to do with each other and has a real ethical impact in how you choose to view yourself and interact with others,” Talha explained, a double major in political science and philosophy with a minor in economics.

“As a nursing student, I come across many different backgrounds and it is crucial as a good nurse and a good citizen to be aware of different aspects of all cultures,”  sophomore Janette Angel stated, illustrating the importance of being culturally aware in her career field.

Petersen explained that viewing culture can be described as an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is the aspects of different cultures that we only see: words, tonality, body languages, and gestures. But beneath the surface, there are deeper aspects to culture than what meets the eye– beliefs, values, feelings and prejudices.

“We need to know what effect our actions have on other people and be aware of how they think and how we come across as the world gets more globally connected,” Petersen explained.

Petersen then discussed the importance of cultural etiquette specifically for Drexel students.

“As Drexel gets more connected and students travel for exchange programs and co-op, we have to know how to act when we travel overseas – not just assume that since English is the global language we can take our normal American cultural etiquette overseas,” he stated.

Petersen gave the audience a list of common cultural misunderstandings. Participants learned about many new cultural idiosyncrasies and laughed at how confusing these misunderstandings could be.

In India shaking your head does not indicate a disagreement, but rather an agreement. Similarly, in Bulgaria the conventional head movements for “yes” (nodding) and “no” (shaking) are reversed. “Yes, yes,” in Japanese culture indicates an acknowledgment, not agreement. In Japan, it is the norm to respond to a negative question with a positive answer, unlike in the United States.

Another example Petersen presented was that if a Japanese student were asked, “You didn’t do your homework did you?”; the student will respond with the positive answer “yes,” indicating that they did not do their homework, whereas a student in the US would respond with “no” to indicate the same message. Differences like these could easily create cross-cultural confusion. The audience laughed particularly hard when informed that in Italy it is more polite to give the wrong directions to anyone asking rather than admit that they do not know the answer.

Mustafa Akben, a graduate student in business and organizational dynamics, mentioned  how in America we generally greet or acknowledge anyone we make eye contact with. But in Turkey, randomly greeting strangers is considered awkward, confusing, and not the social norm.

“There is a book written by Gareth Morgan and in one of the chapters he explains that a ‘Psychic Prison’ is an individual constricted or ‘imprisoned’ to only his culture without being able to see other cultures, therefore regarding your culture the best. The world is so different and there are many differences on the outside. I am just trying to broaden my horizon by learning about other cultures and people,” Mustafa explained detailing why he chose to attend the workshop.

Last term, Petersen hosted “One Voice: A Linguistics Workshop,” showcasing the diversity in languages spoken around the world, which marketing major Taiki Akabane attended and enjoyed.

“These events bring me a lot of interesting interactions with other international and American students, providing a great opportunity to improve my English skills. As a business major, we have to understand what the social norms are for people from different cultures and cultural barriers,” Akabane explained.

“There is so much value in bringing together people from across the campus who may not have had the chance to meet each other before,” Peterson noted at the end of the workshop.

Petersen currently teaches Linguistics 102. He has been teaching at Drexel for four years, but has taught subjects in English all over the world. Fluent in Spanish, French, Turkish, and English, Petersen has a wealth of knowledge about different cultures across the globe. He plans on leading similar workshops in the future, themed around global competency.

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In late January 2016, Best College Reviews ranked Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences as number two among the top 30 “Most Amazing Higher Ed Natural History Museums” in the nation, coming in behind Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. Drexel’s Academy proudly beat many prestigious university natural history museums such as Harvard University’s Harvard Museum of Natural History and University of Kansas’ Natural History Museum, that held spots three and four, respectively.

Natural history museums display exhibits that feature animals, plants, ecosystems, geography, paleontology and climatology. These museums bridge curiosity and science by allowing visitors to be engrossed in the complexity of the planet. Many universities in the United States have natural history museums with fossils, scientific records, and several displays of Earth’s history.

The criteria for this award was based on the number of artifacts and specimens in the museums’ collections, opportunities at the museums for college students to participate, availability of the museum to the general public, and the museum’s overall community involvement.

Drexel’s Academy of Natural Sciences offers access to students and visitors to renowned collections containing more than 18 million specimens. These include John James Audubon’s birds, Lewis and Clark’s plant collection, large dinosaur skeletons, and an indoor tropical butterfly collection. The Library and Archives at the Academy are globally recognized for their unique and historic collections. These collections contain over 250,000 volumes stretching back to the 1500s.

Academy President and CEO George W. Gephart, Jr. said, “We are proud to be recognized for being a top university museum that connects the wonder of natural science with our students and also the region.”

The Academy of Natural Sciences was founded by naturalists in 1812 and is the oldest natural history museum in the Americas. The founders built the museum on the mission of “the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences.” For over two centuries, the Academy has sponsored expeditions and has conducted original environmental and systematics research on the study of the diversification of living forms.

Best College Reviews stated, “There is no doubt that the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University is one of the top natural history museums in the nation.”

The academy also has a tradition of hosting educational programs for both Drexel and the general public. In 2011, a partnership with The Academy of Natural Sciences and Drexel University formed an innovative affiliation that lead to the creation of the Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science. Faculty in the department are famous scientists who lead participants into research with the motto of “Field Experience, Early and Often.” BEES provides college students with a complete understanding of the environment through interactive scientific education and applied research beginning even before the start of their freshmen year. Students can access more information through the academy’s online website.

David Velinsky, head of BEES said, “The connection with Drexel has widened up the research and science at the academy with students working behind the scenes in various labs studying biodiversity, environmental science, and systematic biology.”

Michael Stahler, a freshman theater major at Temple University started volunteering at The Academy of Natural Sciences at just 13 years old, the youngest volunteer at that time. Stahler worked in the laboratory until he was 18 years old on one of the largest creatures on the planet, the Dreadnoughtus, by cleaning the matrix of the dinosaur fossil. The matrix of a fossil is the rock or loose sediment covering the fossil when it arrives from the dig site to the laboratory.

When asked about his overall experience at Academy, Stahler said, “Working at the museum was a fantastic introduction of how the world of science works and how critical it was to embrace the sciences, particularly active involvement. If I did not jump into paleontology, I would not have made some of my closest friends or learned as much as I have. It is very critical that we do not stand back and let science work its magic. We need to not only observe but also be active. Every single person involved in science is involved in the science of discovery.”   

The most popular exhibits at the Academy of Natural Sciences are Dinosaur Hall and the Butterfly exhibit. Dinosaur Hall is one of the first exhibits visitors see, containing a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton measuring up to 42 feet in length and 7.5 tons in weight. The butterflies exhibit features a tropical garden full of colorful plants and numerous live butterflies from Central and South America, East Africa and Southeast Asia. Visitors can view all the remarkable aspects of the museum 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays starting from $13.95 and up per person. Drexel students can visit the museum for free after presenting their Dragon Card.

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Drexel University Campus Activities Board presented “One Voice: A Linguistics Workshop” on the second floor of Gerri C. Lebow Hall Jan. 19. The event was led by professor Andrew Petersen, a linguistics 101 teacher and a member of Drexel’s English Language Center. Petersen has been with the University for four years and has taught subjects in English all over the world. Fluent in Spanish, French, Turkish and English, Petersen coordinated this workshop hoping participants would realize that language learning is fun, interesting and doable.

The program was organized in an interactive way to engage the audience in a variety of different languages. The event started off in groups with participants introducing themselves without using any words. Many participants had difficulty without using words, ultimately realizing the central power and importance of language. The audience was full of linguistic diversity, with people fluent in different languages such as Arabic, Malaysian, Japanese, German, Danish, French and Chinese.

The program continued with participants in set groups of diverse cultures. Each group had a leader who was an expert in his or her language. The leader proceeded to teach the group three phrases in his or her language. The three phrases were “I love (a capital city),” “May I have a cup of coffee please,” and “It is cold outside.” The phrases were taught in Icelandic, Italian, Arabic and Chinese. Then, members of the groups were able to express the phrases in the taught language. Volunteers then proudly demonstrated to the audience the learned phrases.

Audience members were enthusiastic throughout the entire session.

“The professor had a lot of energy so it makes it easy to participate and we have a nice diverse population so it makes the experience overall engaging and interesting,” Ali Malick, a pre-junior civil engineering major, said.

Petersen continued the workshop by explaining the complexity of English after introducing an excerpt from Richard Lederer’s “Crazy English.” The excerpt pointed out the many abnormalities and paradoxes in English words such as how there is “neither apple nor pine in pineapple,” and how “writers write, but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce, and hammers don’t ham.”

Next, three Japanese speaking participants spoke Japanese phrases that sounded like English words to the audience. The audience then guessed what the words meant in English. Many phrases such as salary man, key holder, and cup of coffee had a similar sound to English and could be easily guessed. The audience was then given a paper containing Japanese “wasei-eigo terms,” similar sounding English words and asked to guess the English meaning. Japanese words such as “furaidpoteto” (French fries) and “hanbagu” (hamburger) were easy to guess. Others proved more confusing. Many participants guessed the Japanese word “bagen” to mean bagel but the word actually meant bargain. Others guessed “bata” would mean bat but it actually meant butter.

Petersen’s interest in linguistics is fueled by the patterns different languages offer.

“Language is using your mind in a fun way, almost like a logic puzzle,” Petersen said.

He continued, “You get a reward when someone understands you in a foreign language and it makes life much more interesting when you get to meet so many more people.”

Participants were also given a lesson on how British English differentiates from American English. Reading off of a list, the participants were asked to guess what British phrases such as “bloke” (guy), “courgette” (zucchini), and “dummy” (comforter) meant in American English.

To conclude the event, Petersen presented language trivia. Among these were tidbits like “7000-8000 languages in the world exist,” and “a language goes extinct every two weeks.” A particular favorite fact of the audience was that a language exists in Mexico where only two people speak the language, but oddly enough the two individuals dislike each other and, in turn, do not speak to each other.

“If you talk to a man in a language that he understands, it goes to his mind. But if you talk to a man in his own language, it goes to his heart,” Petersen wrapped up the workshop.

Mick Girasco, a fluent French speaker and senior gave her opinion on the workshop, “I learned that many of the languages are similar to other languages. I learned a lot of things I didn’t know and overall it was a very enjoyable experience,” Girasco said.

Petersen plans on leading additional linguistics workshops in the near future. To find information regarding any future events visit the CAB’s official Facebook page.

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Donna DeCarolis, Drexel University’s founding Dean of the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, was the 14th honored recipient of the Iris Newman Award during the Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs annual gala at the World Live Cafe on Nov. 16.

The Alliance of Women Entrepreneurs is the Mid-Atlantic region’s largest organization dedicated to promoting prominent businesses led or established by women. The AWE annually awards a woman entrepreneur the Iris Newman Award in honor of Iris Newman, a founder of AWE. Each year, the award commemorates a leading woman in business who has a strong commitment to helping women entrepreneurs.

This is the first year AWE recognized an educator, emphasizing their belief of the power of education. DeCarolis empowers all university students with the belief that they can be entrepreneurs. “Education has a responsibility to teach college students how to be entrepreneurs in their life and career profession,” she said.

DeCarolis acts as a proponent of entrepreneur education through her roles as founding Dean of the Close School of Entrepreneurship, Associate Dean and Management Department Head at Drexel’s LeBow College of Business, and Associate Vice Provost for Entrepreneur Education, overseeing all academic entrepreneurial offerings and student activities at Drexel. In 2003, she received the Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching. DeCarolis also discusses trends in entrepreneurship and leadership as a weekly business commentator on KWY Newsradio in Philadelphia. She has also contributed to the publications including Forbes, Business Week, The Philadelphia Business Inquirer, and The Philadelphia Business Journal.

DeCarolis said that the establishment of the Close School of Entrepreneurship is the biggest accomplishment in her career so far. The school, announced in January 2013, is the nation’s first freestanding and degree granting school of entrepreneurship. The founding of the Close School represents a different business model in that it teaches students both the process of entrepreneurship and how to be an entrepreneur, compared to business schools that just focus on the process of entrepreneurship. Studies have shown that millennials have an increased interest in entrepreneurship and strive to work for companies they have a passion for. The Close School prepares its students for the real world by addressing demand in a more modern way than what has been traditionally been done. The school contains 35 brand new courses such as Mitigating Risk and Dealing with Failure.

Historically, there used to be a lack of funding for women entrepreneurs. DeCarolis believes that both internal and external factors contribute to women entrepreneurs lagging behind men. Externally, studies have shown that men are constantly preferred over women in the business realm for promotions and higher-level positions. Internally, there is a constant lack of confidence. Women tend to be more critical of themselves than men, believing that they may not be good enough, and thereby preventing them from further success. The Close School encourages as many female students as possible to take classes from its school and broaden their interests. “In my view,” DeCarolis said, “It’s a wonderful experience to start something. The Close School is not just confined to business, but is all over the university from designers and gamers, to writers and nurses. Through programing, my vision is to encourage, inspire, and attract men and women to come to The Close School to help them experience entrepreneurship.”

Speaking on the Iris Newman Award, DeCarolis said, “Getting this award was never expected and I think it is probably one of the most significant and meaningful things that has ever happened to me because it validates my beliefs in entrepreneurship and what we’re doing here in the Close School. And I think in a larger scale it just says education is a powerful force in shaping the entrepreneurial mind.”

DeCarolis commonly presents on leadership and innovation and has had her research appear in journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, the Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. Prior to her career at Drexel, DeCarolis served as a lobbyist and a strategy consultant. She earned a doctoral degree from Temple University in strategic management and an MBA from Villanova University.

Photo courtesy: Drexel University

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Over the past year, Drexel students have been collaborating with the Philadelphia Media Network to develop an innovative iPhone application called Follow Philly, which is set for release in early 2016. Made possible by a grant from the Lenfest Foundation, Follow Philly enables the user to follow certain topics to determine what Philadelphia news content will be displayed on their feed. Follow Philly aims to offer PMN content in a different way than it is offered now, especially to millennials, and change how PMN news currently can only be obtained through individual newspaper outlets.

Follow Philly offers a personalized selection to the reader when viewing news content. Users follow certain topics, which determine what content is displayed. For example, if a student followed the topics “Drexel University”, “college basketball”, “food” and “travel”, then the app would personalize their news feed with only articles pertaining to these selections.

Follow Philly began as a collaboration between PMN and Drexel. Selected undergraduate Drexel students on co-op worked with two lead managers and media entrepreneurs, former Drexel student Ari Winkleman and Jordan Motzkin. The project developed from a Drexel classroom in January 2015 through the Charles D. Closed School of Entrepreneurship with a group of top undergraduate Drexel students. The course focused on understanding millennials and how they engage with news and different types of digital news outlets.

The team’s extensive research found that millennials are completely aware of the news around them and consistently want to engage with and know what is going on around them. They concluded that the majority of millennials are “news seekers” who seek out news sources to follow. They used this information to establish the basis for Follow Philly. Millennials regard PMN news as trustworthy and positive, especially when it is securing a beneficial partnership with Drexel.

“It was interesting to see the project from the initial phase and then be asked to continue with the project and watch it grow and develop.” Julia Casciato, associate project manager of Follow Philly (and former Triangle’s editor-in-chief), said in recounting her experience thus far.

Philadelphia Media Network: Eric Ulken

Currently, the app is in the private beta stage targeting a select demographic of users to invite into the app for a test through a team of Drexel co-op students and PMN workers in the LeBow College of Business. Through the beta stage, the team will be able to better improve the app. The beta stage will also serve as a push-off for promoting the app since most beta users will download the finalized version. The ultimate goal for the app is to functionally and efficiently present the first Philadelphia centered news app. Other news app such as Apple’s “News” functions on a more global scale whereas the more local Follow Philly app better connects the user with the city that they are living in.

Upon the completion of the app’s beta period in fall, the Drexel team will work at PMN to finalize the app. Stan Wischnowski, Vice President of News Operations at PMN emphasized his belief in the project, saying, “[Follow Philly is a] real-world, real-time research and development process that we plan to use as a template for the future.” The app provides assurance that PMN continues to evolve along with rapidly growing technology providing a perfect partnership with Drexel’s technologically advanced tools.

Casciato expanded on her experience, “I think [this] is a really unique experience that goes along with Drexel being a different university that affords you all these opportunities. It’s been wonderful to work with so many people that are experts in their fields. I’m really excited to see where this is going to go down the line when we finish.”

Opportunities like these are what helps Drexel students truly “Be Different.”

Students are encouraged to go to followphilly.com to request an invitation to download the app during the beta period here.

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