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Language and Intercultural Learning Center

LINC

Explore languages and discover intercultural perspectives at the Language and Intercultural Learning Center. LINC is a gathering, learning, and study space for the entire Valpo campus community. The center provides essential support to language learners and also facilitates intercultural learning for students, staff, and faculty.

First Things First

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Visit LINC

LOCATION – ASB 240
Arts & Sciences Building, main level

HOURS through January 23:
Mon – Fri • 9 am to 4 pm
Regular semester hours begin January 26

DIRECTOR – Carol Goss, M.A.
ASB 240, (219)464.5764

RESERVATIONS
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Get to know US

LINC Staff

LINC is powered by a passionate team of professional and student staff dedicated to language study and intercultural exploration. Meet the individuals who make LINC a vibrant welcoming space for the Valpo community.

LINC Director Carol Goss ’92, M.A. is in her 28th year working at Valpo and is also an alumna. She is deeply passionate about serving students in their language learning and intercultural development.


tutoring appointments

German Tutor — Abbi is in her senior year and is majoring in German with minors in Secondary Education and Humanities. She spent last year in Germany.

A person in a purple hoodie and gray cap stands outside the LINC Language and Intercultural Learning Center, sunlight creating a rainbow glare across the image.

Spanish Tutor — David is new to the LINC tutoring staff this semester. He is working toward majors in Spanish and English and a minor in History.

French Tutor — Mary is minoring in French to complement her major in Digital Media Arts.

Spanish Tutor — Rebecca is pursuing a degree in Education and Spanish.

LINC is for All students

You are welcome here

Seven smiling students from different language groups sit around a table playing a card game in a colorful classroom setting.

LINC Supports

Intercultural Learning

LINC facilitates intercultural learning to help students, faculty, and staff develop intercultural competence. If you are curious about intercultural perspectives, or are already committed to developing your intercultural competence, we invite you to explore!

A group of women sit at a table, listening and smiling during a meeting in the brightly lit Language and Intercultural Learning Center.

For Students — Language groups, programming, and engaging activities for reflection.

Learn More
Valpo reading group

For Faculty & Staff — Professional development opportunities include IDI Planners Groups, seasonal reading groups, and monthly Podcast Parlor.

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IDI Intercultural Assessment

The Intercultural Development Inventory®, or IDI®, is a cross-culturally valid instrument for measuring intercultural competence. The IDI is a launchpad for students, faculty, and staff to explore intercultural perspectives. At LINC, intercultural competence refers to a person’s capacity to effectively and appropriately experience cultures and with people across cultural, reflecting a person’s capacity to:

  • shift perspective and behavior
  • based on commonalities and differences
  • by experiencing cultures and individuals
  • with greater levels of complexity.

Intercultural competence is relevant in a variety of settings – both global and local, personal and professional – and can be developed over time and with focused effort. Intercultural learning refers to the actions an individual explicitly takes in order to build their own intercultural competence. Intercultural learning is purposeful, developmental, and challenging. This learning process is unique to each individual who intentionally commits to furthering their intercultural competence.

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LINC objectives

2025 – 2026

LINC will broadly support the Valpo campus by:

  • Facilitating impactful opportunities supporting the intercultural development of Valpo students, faculty, and staff (see below),
  • Providing engaging resources and spaces for individual reflection about intercultural development,
  • Promoting campus conversations and healthy dialogue about intercultural topics, and
  • Strengthening robust support for language learners including tutoring, student-led language groups, and programming

   LINC will offer unique intercultural learning opportunities including:

  • An intercultural inventory called the IDI, an assessment that measures intercultural competence. The IDI serves as a tool for individual development and as a springboard to advance campus conversations surrounding intercultural practices.
  • Professional development opportunities for faculty and staff such as the monthly Podcast Parlor and seasonal reading groups. New this fall is the IDI Planning Group for faculty and staff who have completed the IDI and want to grow their intercultural competence within a community of practice.
  • Programming with an intercultural focus, such as CIRCLE STUDIO, Matters of Language, and other ways of engaging students with intercultural topics. Engaging displays are integrated into the LINC’s space, prompting small moments of individual reflection that aim lead to informal conversation and healthy dialogue.

Carol Goss, M.A.

Director, Language and Intercultural Learning Center

contact

ASB 240 (Arts & Sciences Building)

219.464.5764

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