Wilmington University expands bilingual business offerings

Wilmington University is expanding its education offerings by opening a business communications course that is taught in Spanish the next coming weeks. | DBT PHOTO BY KATIE TABELING

A small cohort of undergraduate business students at Wilmington University will have a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in business communications in a new bilingual — and virtual — format this fall.

“As we continue to adapt to the evolving needs of our student population, we’re always out there listening to the community, listening to the students, and this is just another way for us to ensure that we are meeting some of the unique needs of our students,” said Robin Weinstein, dean of Wilmington University’s College of Business. 

The new business communications course will center on materials written in English but will be taught in Spanish by Sandy Flores, a corporate business communications professional who has been with Wilmington University for nearly seven years. The course previously existed at Wilmington University as an English-only option.“To have the opportunity to actually teach in Spanish is going to be a true gift,” Flores said. “It is so important to not only speak our English language but to have the opportunity to learn and speak and engage with others that speak other languages due to the global market.”

The U.S. Census Bureau has found that nearly 68 million Americans speak a language other than English at home. The most common language? Spanish. 

In 2019, 62% of families who spoke a language other than English at home were speaking Spanish or Spanish Creole.

That trend is echoed in American businesses, where nearly one in four new businesses are Hispanic-owned, and Hispanic-owned businesses contributed over $800 billion to the American economy every year, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Delaware’s Hispanic entrepreneurs have also seen exponential growth in the First State: A growing number of businesses are owned by Hispanic entrepreneurs, accounting for 6.3% of all small businesses in the state, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2023 Small Business Profile on Delaware.

Mary Dupont, executive director of Sussex County’s La Plaza Delaware, knows that the Hispanic/Latino entrepreneurs, workers and business owners in Delaware appreciate the ability and opportunity to further their own business acumen. 

“I think it’s smart for Wilmington University to offer university-level education for people who are interested in that,” she said, applauding the university’s offering of continuing education credits through another existing, bilingual, business training program linked to the West End Neighborhood House.

But the course isn’t just about offering a bilingual course for native Spanish speakers, explained Weinstein.

“It also provides the bridge on the other side for those people who want to build upon their Spanish-language skill sets,” he said. “We are open to exploring innovative practices that can meet the diverse needs of our students. A goal of Wilmington University is to make education accessible to anyone, and we don’t want language to be a barrier.”

While the course is part of the university’s undergraduate business degree program, Weinstein said it also is available as a standalone course offering. Another pilot course, principles of management, was also taught in a virtual and bilingual format and launched last spring. That course will return next semester.

The new bilingual business communications course begins at the end of October and is intended largely for sophomore- and junior-level students. The class will culminate with a group project that will take students’ interests internationally, tasking them with problem-solving communications needs for organizations outside of the U.S., explained Flores.

“This will be a great opportunity for them to work in both English and Spanish,” she said. “When you bring in people that have different mindsets, it turns into something just beautiful.”

To learn more, go to wilmu.edu.