OGDEN, Utah — Weber State University announced a soft launch in Fall 2024 for an online program to offer certificates and degrees for Spanish-speaking students.
This comes after the Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity provided a $2.5 million grant. According to the executive director Ryan Starks, the courses to be offered are expected to reflect the current needs of the state's workforce.
"This innovative program reflects the private sector’s goals of attracting and developing top talent from Utah and from around the globe," said Starks.
According to Weber State University Public Relations Director Bryan Magaña, the program hopes to tap into Utah's growing Hispanic and Latino populations; particularly in Ogden.
"What we're seeing is a lot of those people, their first and primary language is Spanish. So we see an access point here, we see an opportunity to get more people into college who may not have ever done that before," said Magaña. "This is one of the first programs of its kind in the nation and it's the very first kind in Utah."
Weber State senior and native Spanish speaker from Mexico Erika Gonzalez, believed that college opportunities may not have been previously available to many due to language barriers.
"I feel like a lot of times, Spanish speakers don't really go for these opportunities because of the language barrier. So having an option that helps bridge that barrier because not only does it teach the classes in Spanish, it also teaches them English through ESL courses," said Gonzalez.
