FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONCORDIA’S SPANISH MINOR RECEIVES FULL APPROVAL
ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 5, 2007—Concordia University-Ann Arbor’s (CUAA) Spanish minor recently received full approval from the Michigan State Board of Education according to new state standards for both secondary and elementary teacher education.
Dr. Janice Nelson, associate professor for Secondary Education and Professor Nancy Ferrario, assistant professor of Spanish, met several times throughout the year with the State Board of Education and were largely responsible for the minor’s approval. The review panel complimented them for creating documentation that illustrated a quality program.
“We wanted to be very thorough by offering information to support the program,” said Dr. Nelson who worked with the state’s Committee for Standards of Foreign Languages.
CUAA requires students to complete 22 credit hours, two credits above the state requirement for a Spanish minor.
Additionally, education students are required to take 16 credit hours in Spain. One of the challenges Dr. Nelson and Professor Ferrario faced was to prove that Spain’s program met the same standards that were needed for the Spanish minor’s curriculum. Their hope is that this study abroad will eventually be a requirement for students majoring in Business and Social Sciences.
“Spanish is the second most common language in the United States and we want to attract more students to the program,” said Professor Ferrario.
Professor Ferrario also arranged an "intercambio", a time for Concordia students to meet with native Spanish speaking students at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) and through conversation help one another learn their respective second language.
“It is the first meeting of what I hope will become an ongoing interchange between our students and those of EMU. It was a very positive experience,” said Professor Ferrario.
Concordia University – Ann Arbor is a liberal arts institution of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. With a distinctly Christian environment and an academic community dedicated to excellence, CUAA offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs. CUAA is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) and by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). For more information on CUAA, visit:
www.cuaa.edu.
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