PUENTES

Bilingual Courses Taught in Both English and Spanish (Fall 2026)

Pathways toward University Education that Navigate Transitions Essential for Spanish Speakers (PUENTES)

Proyecto PUENTES

PUENTES stands for: Pathways toward University Education that Navigate Transitions Essential for Spanish Speakers. Puentes also serves as an apt metaphor for the work that we are doing to connect Spanish with English and set our students up for success in their chosen field of study.

Project PUENTES has two major phases which are funded in part by a partnership with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Office of Student Counseling and Post-Secondary Advising. With the Promising Practices Innovation Fund (PPIF) with the CPS we have begun two exciting phases:

Phase I: building the infrastructure that provides academic support such as tutors and mentors to provide our Spanish-speaking students additional scaffolding to transition to a fully English curriculum.

Phase II: developing bilingual credit-bearing General Education and freshman courses to facilitate the transition from Spanish to English while promoting the simultaneous bilingual support in both languages.

Bilingual Classes for FALL 2026:

ARTH 106 - Introduction to Art History (Fine Arts, 3 credits)
ENG 101 - Writing I (Freshman requirement, 3 credits)
SPAN 109 - Chicago’s Latino/a Cultures (FYE course, 3 credits)
BIO 104 - The Changing Natural Environment (Natural Science, 3 credits)

PUENTES Contacts:

Denise Cloonan Cortez, Chair, Department of World Languages and Cultures, d-cloonan@neiu.edu 
Danny Cortez, Associate Director Latinx/a/o Student Engagement, d-cortez1@neiu.edu 
Tim Libretti, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, t-libretti@neiu.edu
Irma Ortiz Interim Associate Vice President Student Success and Retention, i-ortiz4@neiu.edu 

PUENTES Faculty

Jorge Cantú, Biology, j-cantu@neiu.edu
Ruth Llana, English, r-llana@neiu.edu
Emily Masó, Spanish, e-maso@neiu.edu
Ana Nieves, Art History, a-nieves2@neiu.edu