Cultural acumen can be a dealbreaker -- Helena Bernald speaks at Rose-Hulman on how different cultural time perspectives can impact a business meeting.

In January 2012, cultural communications expert Helena Bernald visited Rose-Hulman. The Swedish native works with multi-national corporations as well as with Rose-Hulman CSSE students during their collaborative international projects. In the Rose-Hulman CSSE program, students join teams from schools in Sweden and Turkey, finding business solutions for clients in those countries. Remote project work culminates with a trip to the host country. There, students present progress reports, build team and client relationships and increase cultural skills they can bring into a globally-focused job market.

In talking to the Rose-Hulman community, Bernal pointed out that different cultural concepts can impact everything from team cooperation and project negotiation to the success or failure of individual project meetings. Even as a student, Bernal explained, ways of learning -- along with ways of interacting with classmates and professors -- will differ widely, depending on a student's native culture. So the process of learning "global awareness," a key mission of Rose-Hulman Global Programs, can begin with learning alongside people from a variety of cultures.