By Stephanie Robbins Boeding ’99 | Photo Julie Pagel Drewes ’90

In his 12 years at Wartburg,Dr. Zak Montgomery has seen a lot of crossover between his students majoring in Spanish and other fields of study. 

“Many of our majors and minors, sometimes as many as two-thirds, are health science majors as well, and they have been seeking real-world application for their Spanish skills,” said Montgomery, associate professor of Spanish and the Harry and Polly Slife Professor in Humanities. As more and more students wanted cultural and linguistic competency in the health care fields, especially with Spanish speakers, Montgomery proposed and recently gained approval of a new concentration within the Spanish major: Spanish for health professions. 

“This new concentration will be great for anyone interested in health science careers and public health, social work, sociology, psychology — as well as students who’d like to pursue futures in medical interpretation,” said Montgomery, who along with Dr. Marta Ramírez Martínez, assistant professor of Spanish, will teach the courses in the newly renamed Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultural Studies. “The health professions courses we already offered were very popular, as were the medical study abroad programs we already had, so this major concentration creates more formal pathways for students to get the experiences they want and need in preparation for careers in medicine.” 

The new concentration melds Wartburg’s historically strong science programs with a sought-after language proficiency, which faculty hope will add even more worth for students pursuing graduate school and careers in the competitive fields of the health sciences.

Starting in Fall Term 2021, the new concentration will help students who also have a pre-health profession major (biology, biochemistry, neuroscience, public health, or exercise science) to hone their professional Spanish skills in courses such as Spanish Translation and Interpretation. Students also will have the opportunity to study abroad through a new program that Wartburg has developed with the University of Oviedo in northwest Spain. The unique summer program includes an advanced Spanish for Health Professions course with a one-week clinical field experience. The Oviedo summer program, consisting of two consecutive sessions from late May through late July, will count as a four-credit full term of study abroad.

In addition to the Spanish for Health Professions program, Wartburg also will offer a study abroad option in Oviedo for all Spanish majors, which will include intensive coursework in Spanish language and culture. Students can choose to spend a Fall, Winter, or Summer term in Oviedo. 

This new partnership between the University of Oviedo and Wartburg will launch in summer 2022 with a cohort of four students. As the first Wartburg-approved summer study abroad option specifically for Spanish-language majors, it offers a critically needed and affordable option for students unable to leave campus during the academic year, a great fit for those who have other academic or co-curricular commitments. Wartburg students will live with host families in Oviedo and can enjoy a variety of outdoor activities and the cultural perspective of a walkable and artistic city of about 220,000, which is also home to several UNESCO World Heritage sites. 

The Spanish faculty see the new concentration attracting another growing segment of Wartburg students: heritage Spanish speakers, those who grew up speaking or hearing Spanish at home. “While in this learning process, which emphasizes both the cultural and linguistic knowledge that these students bring into the classroom, we hope that students begin to value their bilingual and bicultural skills within this new professional context, thus leading to language maintenance and pride in their identity,” said Martínez.