The Graduate Certificate in International Cultural Studies offers an interdisciplinary course of study that enhances existing degrees in Arts and Sciences, area studies, and the professional schools. Given that the language of culture is increasingly heard in debates about issues as diverse as nationalism, human rights, immigration, trade, the environment, education, media, and the arts, the certificate program develops tools for a more informed and critical understanding of the role of culture in public debates and policy. The International Cultural Studies Graduate Certificate Program (ICS) is to promote a critical inter-disciplinary understanding of culture at the University of Hawai‘i, in the East-West Center, and in the local community. Through the Certificate Program, and other courses that ICS offers, such as in the Honors Program, students will receive theoretical and practical training in order to be able to interpret cultural products and practices in diverse media and to research into the creation, dissemination, and reception of these products and practices. Through its Speaker Series, co-sponsorship of campus seminars, organized conferences, and other occasional activities, ICS will also provide a forum for presentations on the theory and practice of cultural studies. Through these activities the program also seeks to enhance communication and collaboration between disciplines and departments in the University and East-West Center. ICS focuses particularly, though not exclusively, on cultural and cross-cultural processes in Asia and the Pacific.The certificate program brings together faculty whose research and teaching focus on the politics and production of culture in the context of local, national, and international relations. Faculty research methods and styles emphasize the interpretive approaches of the humanities and social sciences.