Minnesota International Center - A World Affairs Council
Workshop Bios

Catherine Born, Vice President
She has eighteen years experience in not-for profit management in the areas of cultural development and international education for young people.  Prior to joining the MIC staff, she directed the front line staff team at the Science Museum of Minnesota for seven years.  Previous to that she worked at AFS Intercultural in New York where she developed her strong commitment to international issues.  Through the Intercultural Communication Institute, she has been certified to administer the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) which is based on the Developmental Model for Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), as well as the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory: Increasing Competence Across the Cultural Divide.  

George Hornik, K-12 Education Programs Manager
He has a Masters with honors in Organizational Development and Behavior from the College of St. Scholastica, Duluth MN and a BA with honors in Marketing and Management from National-Louis University of Nowy Sacz, Poland. A native of Poland, he has extensive experience in project management. Before coming to the US, he promoted short-term exchanges as well as efforts to educate the general public about the importance of multiculturalism. He brings both facilitation skills and a deep personal awareness of the challenges that MIC’s international speakers consider when speaking to US students. During his three years as Blandin Foundation’s manager for public policy and engagement, he led the creation & implementation of projects that successfully involved many stakeholders to advance the economic development goals to strengthen rural Minnesota. This experience is important to MIC as it seeks to evaluate and eventually expand the International Classroom Connection beyond the Twin Cities. He is bilingual in English and Polish languages and serves on the boards of the Polish American Cultural Institute of Minnesota and the PBS-syndicated show, “Simple Living.”

Daniel Getahun, Public Services Manager
He has a BA with honors from Boston University and an MA in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego. Prior to MIC, he taught social studies, math, and world religion at Nativity Prep Academy, a tuition-free college preparatory middle school for underserved students in southeast San Diego, CA. He has a passion for furthering intercultural communication and understanding, and had the unique experience of growing up in the U.S. as the child of an Ethiopian father and Austrian mother. He is conversationally proficient in German and Spanish and has been certified through the Intercultural Communication Institute to administer the Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory: Increasing Competence Across the Cultural Divide.