NAU Launches NAU en Español, renews HSI Designation and join us for Encuentro
Dear Lumberjacks,
Welcome back! I hope you had time to reenergize over spring break and are ready for the homestretch of the semester. I’m excited to start the week with some great news to share with you.
Launching NAU en Español
As a federally recognized Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) with more than 25 percent Hispanic undergraduate FTE (full-time equivalent) students, NAU recognizes the importance of meaningfully reaching out to and engaging Spanish speakers, both within the university community and beyond. This is why our dedicated HSI team, led by University Marketing, has worked with partners throughout the university over the last year to create a new website, NAU en Espanol, a fully Spanish experience for prospective students and their families.
This new site provides broad information about enrollment, degree programs, tuition and financial aid, campus life, and more. Importantly, it is not a mere machine translation of NAU’s English website. Rather, it presents curated content that provides information about the university in Spanish and creates a sense of pride and ownership of what it means to be a leñador . I am also proud to share that with the launch of NAU en Español we are the first university in the state to have a Spanish site built from the ground up! In addition to NAU en Español, we also have an all-in-Spanish Instagram account where Spanish speakers can stay up-to-date on NAU news and events.
My congratulations to everyone that worked on this important project!
NAU’s Hispanic-Serving Institution Designation renewed
A closely related accomplishment is the recent news that our federal HSI designation has been renewed for 2023-24. Our HSI designation reflects concerted efforts to promote access and attainment. We are proud to be an engine of opportunity for the diverse student populations that we serve who come from Arizona and beyond. By maintaining this distinction, we are demonstrating not only the ability to recruit students of Hispanic background, but also, and just as importantly, we are supporting them on their journeys and empowering them to persist and succeed.
This is truly a team effort. Every one of our faculty and staff contribute to promoting equitable access and inclusive excellence for our students, and I am deeply appreciative of all that you do. This recognition is for all NAU.
Save the date for Encuentro
Finally, I’d like to encourage you all to participate in Encuentro NAU: A Symposium, a Teach-in, and a Celebration of Latinidad, taking place on Wednesday, March 22. Organized by HSI Initiatives and the Department of Latin American Studies, Encuentro is a day-long event meant to inform members of the NAU community and elicit a robust and engaging discussion about historical, social, political, educational, and cultural aspects of the Latine experience in Arizona and beyond.
I encourage you to view the event details online and register, including for the evening reception featuring salsa and jazz performed by a 16-piece Latin ensemble, Banda Latino Caribeña de Flagstaff.
All this great news is just the beginning and sets the stage for what I know will be a strong and successful finish to the spring semester.
Let’s go Jacks!
José Luis Cruz Rivera
President