The InterCultural House was a modest, two-story home near the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus established in 1968 where African American and White male students lived together to encourage interracial dialogue.
While the house concept ended in 2015, its mission to navigate and overcome cultural barriers across the Pitt community lives on through the new “Leading Inclusive Organizations” initiative, funded by a $300,000 grant from the InterCultural House Fund.
Paul T. Harper, Associate Dean for Inclusion, Engagement, and International Affairs of Pitt Business, will lead the efforts to equip undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students with the skills as business leaders to transcend cultural barriers and foster inclusive organizational cultures.
“Through innovative learning experiences and community engagement, Leading Inclusive Organizations aims to redefine leadership in the modern business landscape,” Harper said. “This initiative will be a rigorous course of study completed both inside and outside the Pitt Business classroom to overcome the barriers that can impede collegiality and community within business organizations.”
He added: “With the 2023-24 academic year being Pitt’s Year of Discourse and Dialogue, we want to create more productive intercultural talking, and just as importantly, listening to each other.”
The idea for the leadership initiative grew out of Harper’s experience designing and teaching the “Race & Business Ethics” undergraduate course. For Harper, who received the University’s 2021 Provost Award for Diversity in Curriculum, the course has served as a sandbox with which to test novel pedagogical approaches that “serve to create a community of trust within the class that is then leveraged to support difficult or uncomfortable conversations about the past, present, and future role businesses play in society.”
Leadership and Organizational Cultures
The new initiative’s overall objectives include the development of relationship-oriented leaders and effective organizational cultures. Use of the grant includes scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students to participate in the initiative along with funding for: experienced-based learning, i.e., internships, activities outside the classroom; faculty research; and support of faculty and staff to design and run the efforts.
The activities will continue the mission of the Intercultural House at 272 N. Dithridge St. in Oakland. The house, funded by the Gertrude Stein Family Foundation and supported by Pitt, accommodated 20 male undergrads, half White and half African American, that were provided with room, board, and tuition. Founder John Tyler, an assistant professor of political science, was a trustee for the Stein Foundation and served as spokesman for the project. The house also hosted seminars and lectures.
“The Intercultural House is excited to be working with Dr. Harper and Pitt Business on this timely project that adheres to our mission to foster empathy and intercultural competence within our future leaders,” said Carlton Scott, executive director of the InterCultural House and associate director of advising in Pitt’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.According to a 1969 press release, “The three main purposes of the intercultural experience were (1) to provide a group of students with the opportunity to explore and develop innovative programs for themselves, the university community and the urban community; (2) to provide a center for creative thinking outside the classroom; and (3) to give the participants an opportunity to understand and appreciate different cultural backgrounds and ethnic values on a one-to-one basis often not possible in a dormitory.” These objectives will continue to guide the Leading Inclusive Organizations initiative.
