Speaker Bio

Max Hess
Assistant Dean and Director of Graduate Programs at Clark University and head of the branch campuses in Israel and in Poland

The Incredible Shrinking World:
Effective Professional Communication Across National Boundaries

Max Hess is Assistant Dean and Director for Graduate Programs at Clark University’s College of Professional and Continuing Education (COPACE), a position he has held for fourteen years. In addition to curriculum design, marketing, and recruitment activities for the Masters’ programs in Professional Communication, Public Administration, and Information Technologies, Hess created and administered several short-term management training programs with visitors from France, Russia and China. He also developed and continues to direct Clark’s branch campus programs in Israel and Poland; he will have those same responsibilities with a branch campus in Russia which will open in 2008. At COPACE, he teaches a graduate course in Intercultural Communication.

Prior to his appointment at Clark, Max Hess was vice president for program development at CET, Inc. in Boston for fifteen years. There he was responsible for setting up and implementing various travel-related projects in Asia (primarily China and Japan), Europe, Africa, and South and North America. These programs included short-term travel for adults and long-term study for North American students. Programs were developed primarily for museums, alumni associations, and other professional groups.

Among his other pursuits, Hess was advisor to former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis on trade agreement with China (1984-86), managed two technology transfer projects with China (1985-89), and has taught courses at various colleges and universities on Asia, China, Japan, Africa, Latin America, Intercultural Communications, and Race and Ethnic Relations.