In this episode we learn with Dr. Katie Christoffersen, Associate Vice Provost for Bilingual Integration and Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), exploring the concept of linguistic servingness at HSIs. Katie shares the story of how UTRGV built bilingualism into its academic core through the B3 initiative, which allows students to take courses across disciplines taught in Spanish or bilingually and graduate with the B3 Scholar Seal as an official honor on their transcripts. The conversation covers the origins of the initiative, how faculty are trained and compensated, and the compelling outcome data showing that students in B3 courses demonstrate higher academic success and satisfaction. Katie also offers four practical recommendations for HSIs looking to implement linguistic servingness on their own campuses, including starting with a baseline inventory, putting money behind the work, institutionalizing systems rather than one-off projects, and building an evidence base. She closes by defining linguistic servingness as "the institutional practice of treating students' full linguistic repertoire as an academic asset with actions and not just with words," and breaks it down into four dimensions: access, recognition, labor, and ideology.

Guest:

Katherine (Katie) Christoffersen (she, her, ella, ela)

Associate Vice Provost, Office for Bilingual Integration

Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics

University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Website: https://katherinechristoff.wixsite.com/my-site

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-christoffersen-590339214/

Show Notes:

• https://www.ginaanngarcia.com/post/language-bilingualism-multilingualism-in-hsis-ideas-for-linguistic-servingness
• Bilingualism in Higher Education Summit- Oct 14-16- website: https://bilingualism-higher-ed-summit.netlify.app/
• Christoffersen, K. (2026). “Hablo pocha, ¿no?”: Divergent language ideologies of pocho and mocho in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Applied Linguistics, 47(2). 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amag045
• Mazzaro, N., & Christoffersen, K. (2026). How prestige and socio-economic status shape the linguistic landscape of Brownsville, Texas. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2025.2612562
• Christoffersen, K, Ortín, R., López García, D., Cavazos, D, & Lu, M.T. (2025). Dual language in higher education: Assessing student success and student experiences. Foreign Language Annals, 58(2). 916-940. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.70040
• Christoffersen, K. & Regalado, K. (2021). “Toda lengua es válida aquí en esta clase”: Translanguaging pedagogy and critical language awareness in sociolinguistics courses on the U.S.-Mexico border. Journal of Bilingual Education Research and Instruction, 23(1). 23-71.
• Christoffersen, K. (2019). Linguistic terrorism in the borderlands: Language ideologies in the narratives of young adults in the Rio Grande Valley. International Multilingual Research Journal, 13(3). 137-151.
• UTRGV Office for Bilingual Integration: https://www.utrgv.edu/bilingualintegration/
• B3 Scholarship & Creative Works Collection: scholarworks.utrgv.edu/b3_pub
• Office of Bilingual Integration https://www.utrgv.edu/bilingualintegration/index.htm
• B³ Scholar Seal overview: https://www.utrgv.edu/bilingualintegration/student-resources/b3-scholar-seal/index.htm
• Carvalho, A., Bessett, R. & Christoffersen, K. (2021). CESA and CoBiVa Training Handbook. https://bit.ly/CESA_CoBiVa_Handbook

APA Citation:

Garcia, G.A. (Host). (2026, September 20). Linguistic Servingness in the Classroom: Learning with UTRGV (No.802) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?.