HACU hosts Congressional HSI Caucus briefing with members of Congress

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) convened a Congressional Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Caucus briefing on October 4, 2017, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The focus of the briefing is to inform policy makers and their staffs about the value and impact of HSIs while encouraging more members of Congress to join the HSI Caucus.

HACU Chief Advocacy Officer Luis Maldonado will introduce the Congressional HSI Caucus initiative and HACU President and CEO Antonio R. Flores will speak about the impact and value of HSIs and HACU’s vision for the Caucus. The four representatives who have committed to co-chair the Caucus, Susan Davis of California, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Will Hurd of Texas, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, will address their plans for the Caucus.

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Early Bilingualism Helps With Learning Languages Later in Life, Study Shows

Bilingual people may be better equipped to learn new languages than those who only speak one language, according to a study published in the academic journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. The research points to a distinct language-learning benefit for people who grow up bilingual or learn another language at an early age.

The Benefits of Reading in Spanish

Top 5 Easy-to-read Spanish Books for Spanish Learners. Know that feeling of satisfaction when you finally begin a conversation in Spanish?. Have you experienced the pleasure of understanding movies or songs in Spanish?. Or do you finally understand who’s dating who in the dramatic world of telenovelas?

A Spanish-English high school proves learning in two languages can boost graduation rates

Educators believe teaching in two languages can be key to student success. When the Boston Public Schools opened the Margarita Muñiz Academy in 2012, it was a first-of-its-kind dual-language high school meant to address issues faced by the city’s growing Hispanic population.

USC Upstate Inks Agreement with Spanish University

With the stroke of a pen, Chancellor Brendan B. Kelly, Ph.D. on Wednesday completed the effort to build a collaborative relationship between the University of South Carolina Upstate and the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria Madrid, in Spain.

The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding was part of a day-long visit by two UFV Madrid representatives who traveled to USC Upstate to present Kelly with the Memorandum of Understanding: Mariano Castaneira Valente, a member of the advisory board of UFV Madrid’s Excellens Program; and Dr. Guillermo Arce, vice dean for international development, UFV Business & Law School.

“For us, this is quite a special day,” Valente told the group of faculty and administrators gathered for the signing ceremony. “Our university has for many years been specializing in building bridges with universities around the world. … We feel that Spain has this (opportunity for) reaching out. We are a tiny little country in Europe, but I think we’ve been around quite a bit, so we feel at home reaching out and establishing these things, particularly with (schools) like yours where we know we share a lot of the vision and founding values, and particularly this vocation for internationalization.”

Kelly noted the age difference between the two collaborating schools, and the value of the partnership for both institutions.