Spanish for the Health & Service Professions: Preparing Students to Serve Local Communities through Immersion & Service in the Hispanic Caribbean

Salve Regina University, Rhode Island, United States
Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Dominican Republic;

Spanish for the Health & Service Professions: Preparing Students to Serve Local Communities through Immersion & Service in the Hispanic Caribbean

Salve Regina University will develop a Minor in Spanish for the Health & Service professions. This is the first time the institution has tied a specific study abroad program as a requirement to a minor and chosen the specific destination with an eye to the local demographic. The new program will incorporate required degree credit, summer study and service program in the Dominican Republic. By developing students’ Spanish language skills and knowledge of Hispanic Caribbean cultures, students will be prepared to better serve the local populations in Rhode Island, southern New England, and other metropolitan areas nationally. In addition, by focusing on majors that traditionally have a curricular barrier to semester study abroad and offering a cost-effective, purposeful, summer option for immersive study abroad, the program will achieve a substantial increase in mobility rates to the Western Hemisphere while putting in place an infrastructure for continuous growth from these majors between the regions in subsequent years.