91´ÎÔª

Personal Summary

Dr. Phyllis Ngai has been teaching university courses about diversity and inclusion issues for 17 years. Currently, Dr. Ngai teaches courses in cultural humility, difference/oppression, just practice for social justice work, and intercultural/transboundary competencies. Her research and teaching interests lie at the crossroads of culture, communication, Indigenous perspectives, social justice, social change, and sustainable development. She has taught both in the United States and Asia, and conducted research and delivered guest lectures/workshops at universities in countries on four continents, including Norway, Finland, China, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India, Ethiopia, and Canada. To contribute to the local community, Phyllis implemented multi-year grant projects to support the implementation of Indian Education For All in Missoula public schools. Recently, she co-directed a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on Indigenous Literary Perspectives in Global Conversation. Her research interests include (1) nongovernmental organization approaches to Indigenous, ethnic-minority, and women’s issues in the United States and S.E. Asia; (2) global discourses about Indigenous peoples’ rights and women’s empowerment, (3) culturally grounded health-communication approaches for improving American Indian health in Montana, and (4) migrant health and resilience as the context for a global framework for supporting displaced people. Dr. Ngai is the co-author of Migrant Health and Resilience: Transnational Competence in Conflict and Climate Displacement Situations published in the Global Public Health Series by Routledge and the author of Crossing Mountains: Native American Language Education in Public Schools published in the Contemporary Native Communities Series by AltaMira Press. She also is the author and co-author of 40+ monographs, book chapters, and journal articles on social-justice education, partnerships with Indigenous communities, rural development, and intercultural-communication training. While actively involved in teaching, research, and community service, Phyllis still finds time to appreciate the beautiful Montana outdoors. Her favorite pastimes include reading and writing with a mountain/lake view, lake kayaking and paddle-boarding, cross-country skiing, and gourmet cooking.

Education

Doctorate in Education, The 91´ÎÔª-Missoula, 2004 (Specializations: Indigenous education & community development; multicultural & multilingual education; social justice education)
Master of Arts, The 91´ÎÔª-Missoula, 1996 (Specialization: cross-cultural communication and intercultural studies)
Master of Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994 (Specialization: English literature and linguistics)

Courses Taught

SW 464 Cultural Humility in Social Work Practice: Valuing Diversity

SW 511 Human Behavior in the Social Environment II: Difference, Diversity, and Oppression

SW 521 Advanced Research and Program Evaluation

SW 505 Foundations of Social Work Practice

SW 500 Orientation to Online MSW Program

COMX 415 Intercultural Communication 

IDS 491/591 Communication for Social and Behavior Change 

GBLD 194 Global Leadership Seminar: Sustainable Development Goals 2030: Global Vision and Local Actions

Projects

Institutional Grants:

• 2014-15: National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars and Institutes Grant ($190,119).  A Summer Institute in Indigenous Studies for High School Teachers Indigenous Literary Perspectives in Global Conversation. Grant co-author/co-director.
• 2013-14: Indian Education For All Grant, Montana Office of Public Instruction ($14,700).  Mapping Integration of IEFA into K-12 and Professional Development for high-school teachers on Linking Indigenous Studies to Global Education. Grant author/project co-director.
• 2010-11: Indian Education for All Progressive Grant, Montana Office of Public Instruction ($22,500).  Professional Development for Middle-School Teachers through Indian Family/Teacher Partnerships.  Grant author/project co-director. 
• 2006/07: Ready-to-Go Continuation Grant, Montana Office of Public Instruction ($25,000).  Place-based Multicultural Education: Indian-education Integration in a Urban Elementary School. Grant author/project co-director.
• 2005-06: Ready-to-Go Grant, Montana Office of Public Instruction ($25,000).  Place-based Multicultural Education: Professional Development for K-5 Teachers via Partnerships with Tribal Educators. Grant author/project co-director.
• 2005-06: American Association of University Women Community Action Grant ($7,000). Indian/Non-Indian Women Partnership Project for Enhancing Place-based Learning among Girls & Boys in Montana Public Schools. Grant author/project co-director.
• 2005-06: Montana Committee for the Humanities Grant ($3,000). Partnership Building Among Indian Women Educators and Female School Teachers. Grant author/project co-director.

Field of Study

• Social Justice Education
• Social Work Education 
• Intercultural Studies
• Global Indigenous Studies 
• International Development Studies
• Communication for Social and Behavior Change 
• Cultural Grounded Communication / Culturally Sensitive Communication
• Indian Education for All
• Multicultural Education
• Intercultural Communication Training for English Learners

Publications

• Research in Higher Education Series. Routledge, 2025 (in press). Co-author.
• . Global Public Health Series. Routledge, 2023. Co-author.
• Contemporary Native American Communities Series. AltaMira Press, 2012, 298 pages. Sole author.
• A Process Guide for Realizing Indian Education for All: Lessons Learned from Lewis & Clark Elementary School, 75 pp.  2000 copies printed and distributed by Office of Public Instruction, Helena, Montana, 2007. Lead author.
• Organizational Communication in Refugee Camp Situations. New Issues in Refugee Research. Working Paper No. 71, December 2002. Monograph published by UNHCR, The United Nations Refugee Agency, Evaluation and Policy Analysis Unit. Lead author.

• Global Agreement and Local Perspectives on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights: Indigenous Organizations Bridge the Gaps in Cambodia. In Neyooxet Greymorning (ed.), Be Indigenous. Routledge, 2024 (in press). Sole author. 
• Teaching Critical Interculturality to Social Work Students. In The Routledge Handbook of Critical Interculturality in Communication and Education, edited by Fred Dervin of University of Helsinki. Routledge, 2025 (in press).
• Internationalization and Indigenization in U.S. Higher Education: Contemporary Social Justice Education. In Critical Intercultural Perspectives on Higher Education: Characterizing, Critiquing and Unsettling, edited by Fred Dervin of University of Helsinki and Mei Yuan of Minzu University of China. Routledge, 2025 (in press). 
• Intercultural Humility. In New Concepts for Decolonizing Interculturality in Research, edited by Fred Dervin, Hamza R’boul, & Ning Chen. Routledge, 2025 (in press). Sole author.
• Indigenous Partnership. In New Concepts for Decolonizing Interculturality in Research, edited by Fred Dervin, Hamza R’boul, and Ning Chen. Routledge, 2025 (in press). Sole author.
• Indigenous People Organizations’ Approaches to Social and Community Development in Cambodia. International Journal of Social and Community Development, 2023, v5, #4, pp. 352-374.
• Discourse Analysis for Intercultural Competence Development. International Journal of Bias, Identity and Diversities in Education, 2021, v6, #1, 17-30. ​
• Local Interpretation of the Global Discourse of Sustainability and Sustainable Development in Rural Cambodia. Environmental Communication, 2020, v14, #8, 1079-1096.
• Organizational Communication in (Indigenous) Ethnic Tourism Development: Participatory Approaches in Southwest China. Tourism, Culture, and Communication, 2021, v21, #2, 123-142. Co-author. 
• NGO Interpretation of Participatory Communication for Rural Cambodia: What is Lost in ‘Translation’? The Journal of International Communication, 2017, v23, #2, pp.231-251. 
• Adapting the Participatory Approach for Poverty Reduction in Rural Cambodia: The Need for Creative Hybridization. Asian Development Perspectives, 2019, v10, #2, 100-113.
• Teacher/Family Partnerships for Student Learning: Lessons from Indian Education for All in Montana. Journal of American Indian Education, 2016, v55, #1, pp. 23-28. Lead author.
• Indigenous Education in the Norwegian and U.S. Contexts. In Mapping Indigenous Presence: Sami and Native American Studies Perspectives, co-edited by Kathryn Shanley and Bjorg Evjen.  Tucson: University of Arizona Press.  Lead author. 2015, pp. 78-119.
• Indigenous Education for Critical Democracy: Teacher Approaches and Learning Outcomes in a K-5 Indian-Education-For-All Program. Equity & Excellence in Education, 2011, v44, #2, pp. 249-269.  Lead author. 
• Implementing Montana’s Indian-Education-For-All in a K-5 Public School: Implications for Classroom Teaching, Education Policy, and Native Communities. Journal of American Indian Education, 2010, v49, #1 & 2, pp. 44-62.  Lead author.
• Indigenous Studies and Intercultural Education: The Impact of a Place-based Primary-school Program. Intercultural Education, 2010, v.21, #6, pp. 597-606. Lead author.
• An Emerging Indian-language Education Framework for Reservation Public Schools with Mixed Populations. Journal of American Indian Education, 2008, v.47, #2, pp. 22-50.
• Community-based Indigenous Education for Global Competence. The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations, 2007, v.7, #2.
• Indian Education For All in an Urban Public School. Phi Delta Kappan, 2006 November, p. 211. Lead author.
• Grassroots Suggestions for Linking Native-Language Learning, Native American Studies, and Mainstream Education in Reservation Schools with Mixed Indian and White Student Populations. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 2006, v. 19, #2, pp. 220-236.  
• Meeting Diversity the Midst of Adversity: An Intercultural-communication Training Framework for Refugee Assistance Crisis Management. In Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management (2nd ed.), edited by Ali Farazmand. NY: Francis & Taylor, pp. 13-30. Lead author. 2014.
• Managing Refugee-assistance Crises in the Twenty-first Century: The Intercultural-communication Factor. In Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management (2nd ed.), edited by Ali Farazmand.  New York: Taylor & Francis, pp.285-311.  Co-author.  2014.
• The Impact of Teachers’ Communication Approach on Children’s Co-Cultural Adaptation. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 2015, v37.
• Bilingual Education in Rural Schools with Native and non-Native Students: Indigenous-Language Program Elements for an Inclusive Model. Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2007, v.10, #6, pp. 723-751.
• Bilingual Education for All: A Benefits Model for Small Towns. Bilingual Research Journal, 2002, v.26, #2, pp. 269-294. 
• Online Social Networking and Transnational Competence Development among International Students. Journal of International Students, 2019, v9, #2, 432-459.
• Professional Development for TESL Teachers: A Course in Transcultural Pragmatics. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second Language, 2018, v22, #3, online. Lead author. 
• Intercultural Competence Development via Online Social Networking: Japanese Students’ Experience of Internationalization in U.S. Higher Education. Intercultural Education, 2020. Lead author.
• Intercultural Communication Training for English Language Teachers: A Case Study of an Immersion Program for South Korean Teachers. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 2015, v44,  #4, pp. 1 – 24.  Lead author.
• Multicultural Teaching Competence for Glocal Education: A Professional Development Model. International Journal of Education for Diversities, 2013, v2, pp. 76-90.
• Partnership for Knowledge-based Development in Asia. Box in The SAGE Handbook of International Higher Education edited by Darla K. Deardorff, Hans de Wit, John Heyl, and Tony Adams. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2012.
• Growth with Sustainable Development? Impressions of Addis Ababa at the Start of 2011. Afrikan Sarvi, Horn of Africa Journal, 2011, v.1, #1, online. Co-author.
• Citizenship Education for an Age of Population Mobility and Glocally Interconnected Destinies. Finnish Journal of Ethnicity and Migration, 2006, v.1, #1, pp. 26-33. Co-author.
• Organizational Communication and Globally Displaced Perimeter Populations: A Neglected Challenge for Intercultural-communication Training.  In International and Multicultural Organizational Communication, co-edited by George Cheney and George Barnett.  Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2005, pp. 225-267. Lead author.
• A Reinforcing Curriculum- and Program-reform Proposal for 21st Century Teacher Education: Vital First Steps for Advancing K-12 Multicultural Education. Equity and Excellence in Education, 2004, v. 37, #4, pp. 321-331.
• Linking Distance and International Education: An Educational Strategy for Developing Multicultural Competence Among Distance Learners. Journal of Studies in International Education, 2003, v.7, #2, pp. 157-177.  
• Nonverbal Communication Behavior in Intercultural Negotiations: Insights and Applications Based on Findings from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Hong Kong, and the China Mainland. World Communication, 2001, v.29, #4, pp. 3-35.
• Preparing for Diversity in the Midst of Adversity: An Intercultural-communication Training Program for Refugee Assistance Crisis Management. In Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management, edited by Ali Farazmand. NY: Marcel Dekker, 2001, pp. 23-38. Lead author.
• Managing Refugee-assistance Crises in the Twenty-first Century: The Intercultural-communication Factor. In Handbook of Crisis and Emergency Management edited by Ali Farazmand. New York: Marcel Dekker, 2001, pp. 737-765. Co-author. 
• Cross-cultural Management: The Pitfalls of Unspoken Signals. World Executive's Digest–English edition, 1998 January, pp. 49-50. Lead author.
• Nonverbal Hints for Successful Intercultural Negotiation. World Executive's Digest --Chinese edition, 1997 November, pp. 58-60. Lead author.

• Beyond Reversion: Hong Kong in the Year of Transition. The Montanan, 1998, Spring, v.15, #3, pp. 22-23. Lead author.

Honors / Awards

• Distinguished Service to International Education Award, 91´ÎÔª (2022).
• Humanities Institute Individual Faculty Research Grant, 91´ÎÔª Humanities Institute (2022). Project focus: Global Discourse of Indigenous People’s Rights and Local Interpretations in Southeast Asia
• Outstanding Performance Award for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty, 91´ÎÔª (2017-18).
• Professor of the Week, honored by the Grizzly Athletics Department, 91´ÎÔª (September 2018).
• Senior Research Fellowship, Center for Khmer Studies-Member of Council of American Overseas Research Centers (2018).
• Office of Vice President for Student Affairs Faculty Recognition Award, 91´ÎÔª (2010).
• Minority Achievement Recognition Award, 91´ÎÔª (1996).