First group of students graduate from TU Spanish certificate program

By Victoria Rivera, Contributing Writer

The Professional Spanish Graduate Certificate is celebrating its first cohort to complete the program, growing from just four students to nearly 50 in only three years.

Colleen Ebacher is the program director and has seen those numbers grow from the beginning.

“Our goal is to improve our students’ Spanish to at least the advanced-low level to be used in professional environments,” Ebacher said. “So we’re not preparing them to work in a specific profession, but we are helping them to improve their knowledge and their skills so that they can use it in professional environments.”

The certificate is marketed towards individuals with the desire to learn the Spanish language for communication in professional settings. Students come from all backgrounds including teaching, research, international students and law. One student teaches science in a high school with a large immigrant population.

“That’s a common scenario,” Ebacher said. “They want to speak to the parents of these children, and they want to communicate better with the children in their school.” 

The program is entirely online and so students can earn the certificate from anywhere. A few students are international from countries like Taiwan, Argentina and Mexico. 

The program doesn’t require an undergraduate degree in Spanish, which is a unique prerequisite.

“We thought, wow, there are a lot of people who work in positions or have professional interest in bettering their Spanish,” Ebacher said. “We could really be a good community partner by providing such a program.” 

The program is also affiliated with the Towson Learning Network which promotes continuing higher education in Maryland by offering reduced costs for certain courses. 

Allison Vanisko is one of the program’s graduate assistants.

“We really do focus on cultural knowledge,” Vanisko said. “It’s not just learning the vocabulary and grammar, but also understanding different dialects, the different usages of Spanish.” 

Ebacher’s next goal with the program is to potentially offer a study abroad opportunity in Ecuador, and one day possibly create the courses necessary to develop the program into a masters degree.