New inroads in Iberia, Latin America

It was hard to compete with the announcement of a new pope from Argentina yesterday, but Yale also had a bit of interntional news of its own. Billionaire Emilio Botín, chair of the Spanish banking giant Banco Santander, was on campus to announce new initiatives between Yale and Universia, a network of more than a thousand universities in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. (Botín serves as president of Universia, which is funded by Banco Santander.)

As Universia's first North American partner, Yale will become part of its network of job fairs, career opportunities, and internships in Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. Universia will also translate some of the Open Yale Courses offerings—Yale course lectures made available for free online—into Spanish and Portuguese, and it will provide web hosting and translation for Yale Environment 360, the online magazine produced by the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Separately, Botín and Yale president-elect Peter Salovey ’86PhD announced an agreement with the Botín Foundation to fund research into emotional intelligence and creativity at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. (Salovey, of course, knows a thing or two about the subject.)

This is not the first time Botín has come bearing gifts for Yale. Two years ago, Botín and President Richard Levin ’74PhD announced three projects with Banco Santander: funding for internships and study abroad for Yale students, sponsorship for the Yale World Fellows Program, and money to conserve a recently attributed Velázquez painting at the Yale University Art Gallery.