WWU staff reach out in Spanish

BELLINGHAM – When Western Washington University staff travel, speaking with prospective students and parents, they sometimes run into a major hurdle.

Some parents don’t speak English, and they are concerned about not having enough information about their child’s housing arrangements, new student programs and college in general.

Enter Western’s Modern and Classical Languages Department, which helped create a new recruiting pamphlet for parents whose first language is Spanish.

“When recruiting staff travel, they came back saying, ‘Gosh, when we travel, there really are lots of families who want to know what they’re getting into,’ ” said Karen Walker, assistant director of University Residences for Occupancy and Assessment.

The university created the four-page Spanish pamphlet titled “Bienvenidos a las Residencias Universitarias,” which explains everything from residence halls to the most critical components that parents and students need to know about the experience.

“This is a one-stop-shopping brochure for housing,” Walker said.

Other works also have been translated into Spanish and more are to come, Walker said.

The new students’ programs handbook was reworked and the Admissions Office has been working on a Spanish-language marketing brochure, Walker said.

The school won’t stop there, either.

A part-time position is being created for an upper-level Spanish-language student to translate Western’s informational documents beginning in 2008.