Parent Program offers new service for Spanish-speaking parents

The Parent Program, in partnership with the Office of Human Resource Development’s Cultural Linguistics Services, is launching a new service for Spanish-speaking parents and family members of UW students. It is now able to translate and respond to e-mail inquiries in Spanish.

“We expect that the addition of this service will allow us to communicate more effectively with the Spanish-speaking members of our Badger family community, allowing more parents to receive answers to questions, feel included in our campus community and be empowered to support their student’s success,” says Parent Program specialist Stephanie Benson.

This new service, accessible here, also plans to translate informational content, including frequently asked questions about a range of important topics that will be hosted on the Parent Program website.

The Parent Program intended to provide a translating program for Spanish-speaking parents since its launch in 2007, and within the past year they secured the necessary resources from the Office of Human Resource Development’s Cultural Linguistic Services to develop and implement the service.

Thus far, the program has been well received by campus partners who speak Spanish and have experience interacting with Spanish-speaking parents and family members.

“We understand that parents and family members play a key role in informing students of campus resources,” Benson says. “By making more parents and family members aware of the opportunities, services and support systems on campus, we hope to improve the experience that all students have at UW–Madison.”

– By Kylie Peterson