Rice establishes Spanish Resource Center
Center will bolster Hispanic Studies Department, HISD teacher training

BY JESSICA STARK AND JENNIFER EVANS
Rice News staff

	JEFF FITLOW
	Diego Fernández Alberdi (left), counselor of education for the Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C., and Rice University President David Leebron sign the agreement that establishes a new Spanish Resource Center at Rice.

A new center housed at Rice University will enhance the teaching and study of Spanish language and cultures and provide support for teachers, professionals and students, both inside and outside the hedges.

President David Leebron signed an agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Education last week to establish the Spanish Resource Center (SRC) at Rice University. The center will be one of 13 hosted in collaboration with the Spanish government at universities across the United States.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Rice to increase Spanish language and cultural resources here on campus and make those resources available throughout Houston,” said José Aranda, associate professor of English and chair of the Hispanic Studies Department. “This is a way that Rice can make a connection with Spanish-speaking communities throughout the U.S.”

Rice’s commitment to the SRC builds on goals laid out in the Vision for the Second Century, which challenges Rice to become a more international university, strengthen its relationships with Latin America, engage the city of Houston and support K-12 education.

JEFF FITLOW
Pictured from left are David Vassar, assistant to the president for international collaborations; H.E. Miguel A. Fernández de Mazarambroz, Consul General of Spain in Houston; José Aranda, chair of Hispanic Studies; Rice President David Leebron; Counselor of Education Diego Fernández Alberdi; and Miguel A. Hernáiz Lasanta, director of Rice’s new Spanish Resource Center and director of the Education Office in the Consulate General of Spain in Houston.

Located on Rayzor Hall’s third floor near the Department of Hispanic Studies, the SRC will feature a multimedia collection with more than 2,500 books and 400 movies related to the teaching and study of Spanish language and culture. Throughout the year, the center will sponsor scholarly speakers and hold conferences on important issues within the Pan-Hispanic world.

The center will facilitate outreach and training by the Spanish government for Houston Independent School District language teachers, who can come to Rice for instruction on pedagogical issues related to their field.

“The SRC has the potential to invigorate every aspect of our department’s mission to educate Rice students about the Spanish language and literatures in Spanish,” Aranda said. “Because the SRC plays a much larger role in our region of Texas, it will also provide outreach opportunities for our faculty and students.”

Aranda said the center will also help to reconnect the department with the lecturers who are teaching Spanish in Rice’s Center for the Study of Languages.

“The SRC will represent a new and significant resource for Rice faculty and students and will be an ever-growing one, given that the SRC has its own budget to purchase new resources every year,” said David Vassar, assistant to the president for international collaborations.