Dean Cauce Visits Spanish Universities
Ana Mari Cauce, Dean of Arts & Sciences, recently consulted with Spanish universities in Valladolid, Salamanca and 
Leon to assist in the creation of a new research center. The trip was sponsored and organized by the Foundation of the Spanish Language.
English translations of two online articles about the trip appear below. You can find the original Spanish language versions at:
From elmundo.es:
June 18, 2008
Valladolid, Spain--The dean of the University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences, Ana Mari Cauce, is visiting Valladolid, Salamanca, and Leon this week. She will meet with the heads of regional government and three universities to determine which city will be the location for a new academic center for the University of Washington. The visit, sponsored and organized by the Foundation of the Spanish Language, will end with a tour of the El Bierzo region.
The visit began on Wednesday, June 18, in Valladolid with a breakfast with Juan Jose Mateos, Counselor of Education, and Juan Casado, Director General of Universities. Dean Cauce then visited the headquarters of the Foundation of the Spanish Language. She also met with Evaristo April, rector of the University of Valladolid, at the Palacio de Santa Cruz, and was received by Mercedes Cantalapiedra, Counselor for Culture, Tourism and Trade, and Fernando Rubio, President of the Council of Valladolid.
On Thursday, the dean will travel to Salamanca where she will visit the PMG/Enne Entertainment Studios and will be received by its chairman, Adrian Jesus. They will meet with Manuel Alcantara, vice-rector of International Relations and Cooperation at the University of Salamanca, and Jose Gomez Asencio of the Faculty and Academic Organization. The dean will also visit the University Library.
On Friday, Cauce will visit the University of Leon, where whe will attend a meeting of the Faculty Council. She also will visit with Ignacio Tejera, president of the Federation of Employers Leonesa (FEL), and Manuel Lamelas, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation and vice president of General de la Universidad de Leon.
The visit to Leon will end with a reception hosted by Santos Llamas, president of Spain Fund, followed by a visit to the Major Seminary. Dean Cauce will then travel to El Bierzo on Saturday, June 21.
from FundeuBBVA
The University of Washington looking at Castilla y León (Spain) for New Academic Center.
June 19, 2008
The University of Washington (UW) seeks "an emblematic building" in Castilla y León to serve as its administrative headquarters for cultural and scientific activities in Spain. The University plans to start working "with something small " in 2009, according to Ana Mari Cauce, dean of the University's College of Arts and Sciences.
In Valladolid , Cauce met with Juan Jose Mateos, counselor of education of Castilla y Leon . Joining her was Tony Geist, chair of the University of Washington Department of Spanish, . Also present was Daniel Movilla, president of the Steering Committee for the Language Foundation of the Commonwealth.
The meeting, part of the UW's formal visit with representatives of universities of Castilla y Leon, will help shape future collaboration between the universities.
Mateos explained to journalists at the end of the meeting that the Foundation of the University of Castilla y Leon will serve "as an agent of development activities such as scientific or cultural courses in painting, music and dance."
The Foundation will also participate with the Language of the Commonwealth in other of collaborative projects with the American university, based in Seattle . These include facilitation of a camp exchange program for 16-17 year old children, through which students of Spanish and English would travel to each other s' country to share languages and cultures.
Cauce, dean of the UW College of Arts and Sciences-- which has forty departments and more than 22,000 students -- has stressed that such exchanges and language programs will benefit students, preparing them for international situations in the future .
Although the Latino population is growing in the U.S., Cauce says that many students do not speak Spanish . She adds, however, that students in all fields have shown an interest in the language. The UW Spanish and Portuguese Studies program attracts 5,500 students to its courses each year.
"Other languages, such as German or French, have neither the same interest nor the same stretch," said Geist.
Cauce says that it would be ideal if all students in the College of Arts and Sciences, some 22,000, could spend some time outside the United States as part of their education. She adds that Castilla y Leon would be an ideal place to prepare students for the twenty-first century .
"It's a very ambitious project," according Mateos.
This meeting follows an agreement signed in November 2004 by Juan Vicente Herrera, president of the Castilla y Leon, responsible for this university during a visit business and cultural conducted in this state.
The University of Washington is the oldest in the Pacific coast, and is among the most important in terms of research . Since 1989, five of its faculty have won the Nobel Prize in physics and medicine.
In 2006, the University signed a collaboration agreement with the de Leon for development projects that foster the teaching of Castilian among students of the American educational institution.