Spanish – Â鶹ĘÓƵ Wed, 21 Jan 2026 23:15:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2019/04/cropped-favicon_logo-32x32.jpg Spanish – Â鶹ĘÓƵ 32 32 Understanding Spanish Culture & Language Barriers /projects/understanding-spanish-culture-language-barriers-2/ /projects/understanding-spanish-culture-language-barriers-2/#respond Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:38:42 +0000 https://portal.epicn.org/case-stories/understanding-spanish-culture-language-barriers/ Read More... from Understanding Spanish Culture & Language Barriers

]]> Why does one study another language and culture, particularly Spanish in Tennessee? Bearing in mind that many of our communities have a growing number of Spanish-speaking neighbors, it is our belief that learning Spanish and understanding more fully the cultures that Spanish expresses constitutes an essential component in strengthening our collective roles as socially responsible citizens. To that end, our Spanish 494 service-learning class is excited about participating in the Smart Communities Initiative, an opportunity for our students to put into practice their classroom instruction in ways which will enable them to move from “thinking ABOUT” Hispanics and their culture to “thinking WITH” Hispanics. This kind of dialogue among equals is a keystone to building together communities in a more socially inclusive and participatory manner. That’s why we study, teach, and learn Spanish! (Faculty Lead: Michael Handelsman & Luis Cano / Lenoir City Lead: Monty Ross)

]]> The Sustainable Communities Partnership is partnering with the Department of Biology’s Pollinator Path to add multi-disciplinary and community educational value to the pollinator path. Students in Theology 101 and Spanish 211 (paired courses) will develop content for the Pollinator Path; this project work will also provide a framework for discussion and practice of the courses’ learning objectives. Theology 101 students will identify quotes from Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, that interpret the Pollinator Path as an expression of care for creation from Catholic social teaching. Encyclical quotes will be included on the Pollinator Path website.

]]> Metro Transit would like to improve response rates to their customer satisfaction surveys among native Spanish speakers to improve service and amenities for this community. Students will conduct interviews in Spanish with native Spanish speakers to both gather information about where and how to distribute customer satisfaction surveys, as well as to gain feedback about the customer satisfaction survey itself. Students will analyze these findings and provide a report to Metro Transit to inform improvements of their customer satisfaction survey for native Spanish speakers.

]]> Students in the course Translation Workshop and Independent Study student Vanessa Guzman in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese translated documents into Spanish for Webster City and the Kendall Young Library in order to serve the community’s growing Hispanic population.

]]> According to the 2018 census, Hispanic and Latino citizens make up 9.7% of St. Paul’s population (U.S. Census). Data from Metro Transit’s most recent ridership survey shows that over 15% of riders “speak a language other than English at home” (). Metro Transit aims to “improve multimodal travel options for people of all ages and abilities to connect to jobs and other opportunities, particularly for historically under-represented populations” (). With an emphasis on diverse and inclusive service, the organization strives to ask riders for constructive feedback. 

Metro Transit first addressed the issue of language inclusivity in 2015, offering a weekly training course specifically for transit operators looking “to review vocabulary, practice pronunciation and recite basic dialogue they could use to communicate with Spanish-speaking customers” (). Metro Transit also sought to improve the accessibility of its customer satisfaction surveys for Spanish-speaking customers. They found that few Spanish speakers consistently responded to their surveys. This lack of data highlighted the necessity to double the efforts to better serve their customers. They started by looking to revise their survey to better engage this audience. 

Susana Perez Castillejo, a professor participating in the Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) at the University of St. Thomas, challenged students in her Business Spanish course to improve Metro Transit’s response rates through one-on-one engagement with members of the local Spanish speaking community. Utilizing their own Spanish language skills they were learning in class, students conducted interviews with native speakers “to gather information about where and how to distribute customer satisfaction surveys, as well as to gain feedback about the… survey itself” (Abstract).

After transcribing and analyzing these interviews, students provided Metro Transit with recommendations to help increase survey response rates among native Spanish speakers. Students involved in this SCP project played a role in improving communication across language barriers and encouraging native Spanish speakers to share their thoughts on improving a service they rely on.

Read the full story of the partnership.

]]> University of St. Thomas, Minnesota /stories/ust/ Thu, 28 Mar 2019 04:28:17 +0000 http://www.epicn.org/?post_type=case_stories&p=558 Read More... from University of St. Thomas, Minnesota

]]> Sustainable Communities Partnership

Website |

The Sustainable Communities Partnership (SCP) collaborates with cities and government agencies to integrate community-identified sustainability projects into St. Thomas courses across disciplines engaging students in real-world, applied research and innovative problem-solving. Our partnerships seek to catalyze systems-level change towards human and ecological well-being in the Twin Cities area while preparing students for the complexities of problem-solving in contemporary society.

Since SCP’s launch in Spring 2016, over 2,000 students from more than 100 courses across 26 disciplines have participated in over 150 local and regional sustainability projects.

Our focus is on multi-year partnerships with communities seeking to make systemic changes toward interconnected economic, social, and ecological sustainability. We partner with cities, watershed districts, regional government agencies, non-profits focused on city sustainability, and on-campus initiatives.

Inspired by the transformative impacts of efforts that bridge art and sustainability, SCP launched .  SCP Arts develops partnerships and projects through which students across majors collaborate with local artists, writers, and communities to translate their project findings into artwork, bringing to life community-identified sustainability goals for people of all ages.  We have collaborated with partners on public art installations, such as the , on community exhibits, including , , and .  We also collaborate with writers and researchers to engage in community-centered explorations of .

Fun Facts about SCP

“SCP has been essential in showing how our education ties in with the UST mission. This project has allowed us to analyze real-world data, collaborate with classmates, and present solutions to problems that affect real communities. We are applying skills we have cultivated in the classroom to projects that advance the common good,” stated an Economics student whose project team determined that Delano, MN (pop. 5,464) could generate net savings of $854,000 over ten years with energy efficiency upgrades.

Year Program Established | Fall 2015
Year Program Launched | Spring 2016
Country | US
Federal Region of Program | 5
Public or Private Institution | Private
Number of students at institution | 10,245

Highlight Articles/Videos

Partners

2016 | City of Delano • Population: 5,464
2016 – 2017 | City of Elk River • Population: 23,746
2016 – 2020 | Mississippi Watershed Management Organization
2016 – 2017 | Freshwater Society
2016 – 2017 | Tiny Footprint Coffee
2017 – 2019 | City of Big Lake • Population: 10,060
2017 – 2019 | PLACE’s Via Development in St. Louis Park, MN
2017 – 2024 | Metropolitan Council
2017 – 2024 | Metro Transit
2019 – 2020 | Pillsbury United Waite House Urban Farm, Minneapolis, MN
2019 – 2021 | City of Cottage Grove • Population: 35,632
2020 – 2023 | Caponi Art Park, Eagan, MN
2020 – 2023 | NūLoop Partners and Mpls Downtown Council, Minneapolis, MN
2020 – 2023 | City of Woodbury • Population: 70,840
2021 – 2022 | Saint Paul Almanac
2022 – 2025 | Center for Mission, Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis Creation Care Team
2022 – 2025 | Great Plains Institute, in partnership with GreenStep Cities

Contact Info

Maria Dahmus
Director, Sustainable Communities Partnership
(651) 962-6391
medahmus@stthomas.edu

Banner image graciously provided by: University of St. Thomas Photo 

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