Cynthia Seelhammer, ICMA-CM, professor of practice at Arizona State University, joined us to speak about the benefits she has gleaned through her various global experiences.

Throughout her career, Cynthia has participated in an ICMA manager exchange to Slovakia, been selected as a Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR) and McCloy Fellow, hosted several Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) fellows, served on ICMA’s International Committee, and hosted U.S. State Department visitors.

“All of our communities are becoming more multicultural. Some cities have strong ethnic identities, some are home to new immigrants, others are tourism locations with visitors from around the world. From my international experiences, I have come to see that it can be important to be aware of the perceptions through the eyes of people of another culture.”

“To me, the success of building and nurturing a sense of community comes from knowing other people and building trust. I like to think of positive interactions as threads that connect people. Having international visitors meant I was able to connect to people and organizations in my community that I might not have otherwise connected with.”

“The communities where I was manager benefited from the experience [of hosting international fellows] because it helped educate, inform, and build trust. Some of my department heads were able to make return exchanges or participate in fellowship programs. Some visitors presented to school classes, others connected with people from their religious institutions, and all of them made useful professional contacts with people from other cultures.”

“If your community has ethnic or cultural social groups, get to know the people involved. Go to the festivals. These groups are part of the history and fabric of your community. If there is an employer or factory with roots in another country, get to know more about that country and it can help with getting to know the management and what will make success in your city easier.”