Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2025
Abstract
This chapter describes how the Bilingualism, Biculturalism, and Biliteracy (B3) Institute at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) developed the B3 Scholar Seal. Since its founding, UTRGV has provided a rare example of dual language education at the university level, offering courses taught bilingually or in Spanish across diverse disciplines. However, the language of these courses was not formally recognized upon graduation. The B3 Institute developed the B3 Scholar Seal to acknowledge students who successfully complete five courses, including at least three courses taught in Spanish or bilingually and at least one course, including culturally sustaining pedagogy. In this way, the B3 Scholar Seal encourages and promotes the development of bilingualism, biculturalism, and biliteracy through relevant undergraduate-level coursework. Furthermore, it marks a break from the English-only monolingual norm that dominates higher education. This program is especially important and powerful within the context of South Texas, with its predominantly Hispanic and Spanish-speaking population. This chapter describes the history, design, development, and implementation of the B3 Scholar Seal as an example of how universities may develop an alternative to the Seal of Biliteracy that fits their own unique context.
Recommended Citation
Katherine Christoffersen & Dania López García. (2025). The B3 Scholar Seal: Designing and implementing an alternative to the SoBL at a Hispanic-serving institution in south Texas. In K. J. Davin & A. J. Heineke (Eds.), The Seal of Biliteracy in Higher Education (1st ed., pp. 77–94). Routledge. http://doi.org/10.4324/9781032667249-8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
First Page
77
Last Page
94
Publication Title
The Seal of Biliteracy in Higher Education
DOI
http://doi.org/10.4324/9781032667249-8
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Higher Education Commons, Modern Languages Commons
Comments
This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge/CRC Press in The Seal of Biliteracy in Higher Education in 2025, available online: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781032667249
It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.