| A new Spanish-language Web site
allows potential students and their parents to learn about the College
of Family and Consumer Sciences.
The site, which was launched on Feb. 16, is the first UGA Web site
to offer complete information in Spanish about a college and its
majors.
“This Web site confirms our college’s push to recruit
students from diverse backgrounds,” says Dean Sharon Y. Nickols.
“While the vast majority of students of Latino descent who
are interested in attending the University of Georgia speak English
fluently, we found during recruiting visits that their parents wanted
the opportunity to read about our college in their native language.”
The Web site can be found at www.fcs.uga.edu/spanish
and is directly linked to the FACS homepage. The site includes information
on the college’s four departments and 11 majors. It also
includes links to the UGA admissions site and to Eco Latino, the
Spanish newspaper published by Athens Newspapers. There also are
links to the Hispanic Scholarship Fund Web site, which has information
on scholarships available to Latino and Hispanic students.
“Our first effort at reaching the Spanish-speaking parents
of potential students took place this past fall,” says Connie
Rash, assistant director for student services in FACS. “The
Georgia Mutual Assistance Association, a non-profit organization
working with refugees and immigrants, sponsored a series of workshops
in the North Fulton County–Atlanta community for college-bound
Latino students.”
Rash provided those attending with printed information on the college’s
departments and majors that had been translated into Spanish by
FACS faculty members.
“It was amazing how pleased the parents were to be able to
read this information for themselves, rather than relying on their
children or someone else to translate it,” Rash says.
Silvia Giraudo, an assistant professor in the foods and nutrition
department who helped with much of the translation, says she understands
the parents’ concerns.
“I’ve lived in the United States for many years now
and feel very comfortable reading, writing and speaking English,”
says Giraudo, a native of Argentina. “But, particularly when
you’re exploring college options for your children, you want
to be certain that you understand absolutely every word.”
Recruitment materials are only the latest efforts by FACS personnel
to reach Georgia’s burgeoning -Spanish-speaking population.
The college also has translated brochures related to foods and nutrition
and housing issues into Spanish. In addition, FACS extension programs
have offered all of their materials in Spanish translation since
2003.
The extension program also has several staff members who are fluent
in Spanish in offices across the state, in addition to three faculty
members who are native Spanish speakers.
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