Pizza social for English and Spanish majors and minors

Kaylee Hensley, an English junior who transferred to UTRGV from Kingsville, attended a social Tuesday to learn more about her major.

“As a university, it’s great that we have events like these because, like I said before, it really helps students to come together and meet each other and also to meet the professors,” Hensley said.

The Pizza Social for English and Spanish Majors and Minors was a collaboration between the departments of Writing and Language Studies and Literature and Cultural Studies. The event, which was held in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus, provided information on the majors and minors, and allowed students to interact with professors of those programs.

Amy Cummins, an associate professor for Literatures and Cultural Studies, said the event, which was first held in March 2019, aims to help students majoring in English and Spanish get to know each other, the professors, learn about classes for Spring 2020 and their concentrations in the degree.

Attendees socialized with fellow English and Spanish majors while enjoying pizza and beverages. Tables with information about the two majors were set up where students could ask questions to professors of the programs.

“By building connections with students and faculty in a program, a person can tap into professional development opportunities, cocurricular and extracurricular opportunities, find people to collaborate with for our service and research projects and, frankly, get career ideas for the future,” Cummins said. “In the College of Liberal Arts, we really care about people having career options for the future.”

If students have further questions about their majors or minors, Cummins said they encourage them to talk to professors, follow up and get more information.

UTRGV Lecturer Dorian Vázquez said the event is needed to provide students information.

“We need to outreach to the students because we know that the information is available in the website but, nonetheless, we have to show them, you know, and this is a good way,” Vázquez said.

Asked why it is important for students to learn about the majors and minors, he said it allows for better decision-making.

“Because anyone that is informed is capable of making better decisions,” Vázquez said. “As we all know, making a decision when it comes to major and minor is very important because your whole career depends on it. So, if a student is well informed of what are the options, I think there will be more chances for him or her to make a better decision for their career pathway.”

Vazquez teaches translation and interpreting classes and Medical Spanish.

“Although many of the people who live in the [Rio Grande] Valley are bilingual, we do know how to speak English and Spanish, but the career of translation and interpreting provides a professional point of view,” he said. “For example, let’s say we’re in a courtroom, we need to learn, you know, legal terminology. If we’re working in a hospital and interpreting for patients, you need to know medical terminology. … This program provides those tools in order to use that bilingualism that you have to put into the workplace.”

Cirilio Carrasco, a mass communication senior, was invited by one of the organizers and believes learning about the majors is important because in the Valley, people speak Spanish, so being able to understand each other is excellent.

Hensley attended the event to learn about the professors and courses offered at UTRGV.

“As a student, I’m responsible to know what I’m taking, and as far as me paying tuition and things like that, that all goes into just knowing what I can take,” she said. “It also helps as far as the degree plan because the choices in the classes that I take assist me in the types of skills that I need in order to get my degree, thus helping me get the career that I want.”

Hensley hopes to concentrate on literature and cultural studies and her main goal is to be an author and also teach at a university level. She looks forward to taking the Advanced Screenwriting and Science Fiction courses.

In Edinburg, a pizza social for English majors will take place from noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Charles and Dorothy Clark Art Gallery, located in Liberal Arts Building South. A pizza social for Spanish majors is scheduled at the same time Thursday in the gallery.

Para la versión en español de este artículo, oprima aquí.