Intercambio Educativo

International education at Umpqua Community College is receiving a significant boost with the help of Roseburg’s Sister City Program and UCC’s viticulture and enology, and world languages programs.

May 21–25, Umpqua Valley winemakers, local civic leaders, instructors and students at UCC met with a trio from Aranda de Duero, Roseburg’s sister city in Spain and a wine-growing region known for Tempranillo.

Alicia Vitores Casado, director of enology at San Gabriel College and San Gabriel Winery of Ribera del Duero, Yasmina Martinez Martinez, San Gabriel enology professor, and Celeste Martinez Martinez, a resident of Aranda de Duero, visited the UCC campus to learn about the college’s curriculum and meet with SOWI students and experience their hands-on winemaking program. They also met with Roseburg city officials, visiting areas of interest in the community, as well as the region’s wineries and vineyards.

The College of San Gabriel will host UCC Southern Oregon Wine Institute student Matthew Cates, who’s been selected for the 10-week exchange program. UCC world languages student Paul Stanphill will be hosted by a family in Aranda de Duero and attend a local language school (English/Spanish) also for 10 weeks. The expected departure of Cates and Stanphill will be early September 2012.

UCC instructors Honora NiAodagain and Dwayne Bershaw, Dorothy Williams of Roseburg’s Aranda de Duero sister city program and Umpqua Valley winemaker Earl Jones were among an eight-member delegation from Douglas County that visited the Spanish region in September 2011.