The NACAC’s Work to Promote Cultural Fluency

Experienced educational professional Amy Kennelly Viellieu earned a bachelor of science from Purdue University, where she served on the council of the Krannert School of Management. A volunteer for the Posse Foundation, Amy Kennelly Viellieu most recently served as an auxiliary reader at the University of Chicago. She supplements her professional work with membership in professional organizations such as the Academy for College Admission Counseling (NACAC).

Since its founding in 1937, the NACAC has supported educational professionals and students as they pursue postsecondary education. The organization currently represents 15,000 members, and also strives to promote high professional standards and cultural fluency.

Cultural fluency efforts at the NACAC target three core levels: the individual level, the institutional level, and the structural level. The individual level fosters individual fluency through tools such as a bias test, self-assessments, reading resources, and implementation strategies. The institutional level, on the other hand, provides cultural fluency resources to larger organizations, such as racial equity tools and reflection questions. The final cultural fluency area targets the structural level, and seeks to affect transformational change through diversity self-assessments, accessibility resources, and transformative agendas for campuses.