S-STEM Scholar Ruth Stowers's Blog

When we started talking about cultural intelligence, I immediately thought of this man. He is incredibly good at languages and learns new languages to visit with and surprise people from different countries and cultures. He not only learns the language, but also customs and traditions. What is amazing to me are the responses he gets from the people he talks with. In the video below, we see that the warriors of the Massai tribe are deeply touched by his effort to learn their language. Within minutes they not only welcome him to their tribe, but adopt him as part of their tribe (5:10). Other responses are not unsimilar, he often finds himself the recipient of food, clothes, and other gifts. People want to learn about him and how he came to learn about them, their language and their culture.  They feel important to him. They feel a kinship with him and they want to reciprocate in some way. Yes. This is what cultural intelligence looks like. As we continued learning about cultural intellig

What is cultural intelligence? Let's make this very simple. Love. Respect. Consideration. For everyone. Everyone we meet comes into our lives with their own backgrounds, experiences, customs, preferences, identities, the things that make them them. They have learned these things from the path they have walked.  When we take the time to forget about ourselves and love, respect, and consider other people, we are developing cultural intelligence. We learn more about them and their background. We become involved in their lives, in their troubles, in their struggles, in their joys, in their triumphs. We help them, we defend them, we celebrate them, we enjoy them. We enjoy us too. We share what we have. Our traditions, our customs, our beauty. Cultural intelligence is about both receiving and giving. A free flow of sharing; learning; developing. It changes us. We become more. We can't help it. It changes them. They become more. They can't help it. Everyone benefits. New foods, ne

Though not entirely accurate, the old adage of "it's not what you know but who you know" is grounded in truth. Having a network of contacts is a very valuable asset in the professional world. How you are known to that network is your professional identity. It is the space you carve for yourself in the career field. This starts out small, with peers and professors learning your work ethic and academic interests, then grows to include coworkers, collaborators, mentors, and other people in your sphere of influence.  With the recent increase in technology and communications, having a diverse and extensive network of professional contacts has never been easier, or more complicated. The world of networking is constantly evolving and though it is simple to step into, keeping on top the changes can seem like a daunting task. Finding the right balance between actively networking and allowing your professional work to speak for itself is a skill that will develop over time. A good

 I really enjoyed the TRAIN Mixer at ASU West last Friday. It was great to see a few people that I haven't seen for a while and meet with new people too. I was able to talk with professors who helped me to figure out some of my next academic steps. There were very few prospective TRAIN students, (two, maybe three). I was only able to speak with one of them, but she expressed concern about getting accepted to the scholarship. I was able to discuss my experience with her and how the process was extremely positive and helpful to me in my transfer process, Dr. Marshall is a super star! She also had questions about what was expected from TRAIN scholars during their time at ASU and I discussed with her the (easily met) requirements including the scholarship class and how it helps TRAIN students to build a STEM community of support for themselves. Last semester was a little different, but I'm hoping this semester will really open up the opportunities to build a strong supportive commu

This semester sees me taking my last STP class (with Dr. Broatch who I have been lucky enough to have a class with for three semesters in a row!), and three Math classes, each with a significant amount of modelling and coding. As someone who has minimal experience with modelling/coding, I am feeling out of my depth. I am trying to have a positive mental attitude about my semester, but in all honesty, I am struggling. I am having a hard time feeling that I have what it takes to be successful in mathematical education or in a mathematical career. One of the reasons for feeling that way is that I don't learn well from reading textbooks. I learn even less orally. I learn best by engaging and interacting with the subject I am trying to learn, and by taking and reviewing detailed notes so that I can remember what I learn. I am finding that a lot of higher level math classes rely heavily on the styles of learning that are weak for me. A current struggle that I am facing with note-taking i

  Over the years I have created many introductory paragraphs about myself, but the latest has been the most fun and representative of my personality. Perhaps that's because it wasn't a paragraph at all. A wordsmith I am not, but I can certainly slap a few photos together about the people and things that I love.