A Discussion with Professor Ruth Orozco, Professor of Public Accounting and Finance, Central American University, Managua, Nicaragua

With: Ruth Orozco Berkley Center Profile

July 30, 2014

BackgroundAs part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in July 2014 undergraduate student Gianna Maita interviewed Professor Ruth Orozco. In this interview, she discusses service-learning courses and other parts of the Social Service program in the Public Accounting and Finance Department at Central American University (Universidad Centroamericana, UCA).
What are the service-learning classes that you teach like?

The classes that I teach are all about costs: "Accounting" and "Expenses I" and "[Expenses] II" are the same for all the majors [in the department], though they have different names—in finance the classes are called "Finance Systems I" and "[Finance Systems] II." For the Social Service program we have four courses that are taught in the second year of the major: "Research Techniques," "Accounting and Expenses," and "Expenses Laboratory," which is the final social service course. Social Service in our department (we function as a department because we have two majors) has the final objective of contributing to PYMEs (small and medium size enterprises) with a structure of community expenses, so that we can know how much it costs to make a product.

...At the end of the year [our department] had a closing ceremony and certification of Social Service…We certified the PYMEs. We invited all of the superiors of the faculty and the department and the professors involved in Social Service. We also certified professors who taught service learning…We also gave students who had completed all of their reports a certificate of completion. And we also give an award to the most outstanding and collaborative groups…We also invite the businesses; they come to the UCA. They participate in the ceremony and receive a certificate of “service received,” because small businesses often must show what types of service that they have received and how it impacted them in order to obtain financial grants.

…Last year, we also had a product fair. They [small businesses] brought their products to the UCA and were able to sell them. Last year there were sweets, hammocks, shoes—a carpenter brought furniture, a bakery brought bread; and everyone bought things. So the same students are collaborating on the sale of those products. We supported 59 businesses last year, and this year we are supporting about 52.

How many students are involved in the program?


About 230 students in total. So some groups have three students in them and some groups have five students supporting a business.

It seems like many students in the Accounting and Finance majors are very involved in the community.

Many of Accounting students and some of the Finance students come from similar situations as that of the businesses they serve. The Accounting major allows you to work right after school, after just three years. You can do very basic accounting and taxes for people or businesses. This is a window to enter the job market early.

…More than that, most of our Accounting students come from little resources. That is to say, they are very poor. This major has the most students with scholarships in the UCA. They have a sensitivity towards poverty…And they do not want to lose their scholarships, so the dedication they have to their studies is much more than in other majors.
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