Our Mission

NCITRP at The University of Arizona was established to meet the needs of a state and nation experiencing dramatic growth in the number of limited- and non-English speaking minorities requiring language-mediated services. Because these numbers will continue to increase well into the next century, intercultural/interlingual communication is one of the newest and most critical areas of scholarly interest and public service opportunities for institutions of higher education.

NCITRP is envisioned to be both a strong research unit and a productive public service unit. The Center's research mission is to explore the field of interlingual/intercultural communication from a scholarly and theoretical perspective, to produce relevant original scholarship, and to serve as a clearinghouse for the research being done both nationally and internationally in this field. In terms of service, NCITRP's mission is to assist a variety of agencies in both the private and the public sectors, and to find empirically sound ways in which to meet the language needs of their clientele. This mission is accomplished by providing quality language services such as test development, policy statement writing, and development of teaching and training materials.

The Center's work focuses on four primary areas: legal and quasi-legal, medical, mental health and technical/commercial/technological (e.g., NAFTA-related matters). By meeting these primary objectives, NCITRP also achieves its underlying goal of securing full rights for limited- and non-English speaking citizens in our state and throughout the nation. For Arizona and for the United States the activities of NCITRP promote the exchange of critical information which is necessary to successfully compete in a global economy.

The Center's goals and objectives can be outlined as follows:

• To promote the multidisciplinary study of intercultural/interlingual communication (interpretation) from both a theoretical and a pragmatic perspective;
• To assist local, state, national, and international agencies with the development of valid language policies (legislative or internal) to meet the needs of limited- and non-English speaking clients;
• To provide services to a variety of users by creating valid and reliable bilingual and interpreter testing and training programs;
• To function as a clearinghouse for interpretation testing, research, and policy in various areas of language services, including legal and quasi-legal, medical, mental health, and international trade;
• To provide an outlet for publications and reference works in this important and emerging discipline;
• To expand opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in direct research activities;
• To provide faculty direct research and teaching format.