Amy McHugh-Cole is an academic with record of teaching and service to the field of higher education. She is skilled in the development, coordination, implementation, evaluation, and facilitation of programs which train cultural competence for students, academics, and staff.
Amy is passionate about teaching, learning, researching, and practising the theories and ideas surrounding the field of communication studies, particularly intercultural communication
and cultural competence.
She is an academic facilitator and lecturer for the National Centre for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at The University of Sydney. She creates and facilitates workshops delivered to both the University of Sydney community and external groups, and is part of the teaching team for the NCCC’s open-learning environment (OLE) units of study.
Working towards her PhD in curriculum, instruction and the science of learning through the University at Buffalo, Amy also teaches intercultural communication online for the State University of New York at Oswego. She earned her BA in communication studies from Marist College in New York State, as well as her MA in international communication from Macquarie University.
Amy brings her years of teaching experience and conducting research in the area of collaborative online international learning (COIL) and its effects on cultural competence to the centre. She is also interested in how technology and motivation play a role in our ongoing journey towards cultural competence.
Amy seeks to work with colleagues and others to help educate about cultural competence, and how that can be operationalised to help affect positive change across the higher education landscape and society more broadly.