¡Bienvenidas a las Familias de los Gatos!

Dad wants to check on financial aid? Mom wants to pay an outstanding Bursar’s balance?

Students can share access to their Student Center information with parents or spouses by creating a Guest Center account. But what if they have family who don’t speak English? The University’s student population is 26% Hispanic, with many coming from homes where Spanish is the primary language spoken.

Annamarie Tellez, the director for Parent & Family Programs, worked with Hispanic-Serving Institution Initiatives to see how this family population could be supported. The assistant vice provost for HSI Initiatives, Marla Franco, then came to Darcy Van Patten at UITS for conversations about making the University more welcoming to these students and their families. The US Department of Education designates schools with a Hispanic undergraduate enrollment of at least 25% as a Hispanic Serving Institution.

Adding a Spanish language option to Guest Center was a top priority for supporting Hispanic students’ families. To get this accomplished, Marla was able to contribute funding from the US Department of Education’s HSI Relief Fund. Holly Silvestri, senior coordinator for translation, training, and curriculum for the University’s National Center for Interpretation, provided the translations.

Additional New Features

The UAccess Student team had already been working on initiatives to make Guest Center more friendly and usable for students’ families. In addition to the Spanish language option, the new Guest Center:

• Only requires one login for visitors who have multiple students at the University
• Is mobile friendly for use with phones and tablets
• Provides an on-brand and improved look and feel

Including a Spanish language option in Guest Center reflects the University’s commitment to this significant portion of the student population. All student families are benefiting from the new application features, as these improvements help Wildcat families support their students in achieving success.

Thanks to: Darcy Van Patten, Mark Felix, Mark Fischer, Sam Gilbert, David Hoover, Sean Kelleher, Clinton Lee, Inara Lysne, Graham Newsham, Brad Radtke, Josh Shaloo,  Kendra Vossler, Andy Watson, Lindsay Wedge, and our partners from HSI Initiatives, the National Center for Interpretation, Parent & Family Programs, and InFlight.