CLAS Report 2022-2023

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In middle of Risaralda, Colombia”

Photo by Luz Amanda Hank, 2023

About Us

The mission of CLAS is to promote global understanding through support for teaching, learning, and research in and on Latin America, the Caribbean, and the diverse diasporic communities of Latin American and Caribbean origin. CLAS provides faculty with the resources and intellectual environment to realize cutting-edge research, and students with unequaled educational experience and a solid path to a successful career. Through its community engagement programs, the Center shares its resources regionally, nationally, and internationally.

Program Summary

CLAS offers its students multidisciplinary academic training programs of the highest quality that complement a degree in a discipline or profession. CLAS believes that specialized multidisciplinary training on Latin America and the Caribbean is one important component of an academic program; however, the value of such expertise is greatly strengthened by combining multidisciplinary Latin American area and language training with a degree in a traditional discipline or profession.

Consequently, the Center offers graduate and undergraduate interdisciplinary certificates as well as an undergraduate related concentration in Latin American studies in conjunction with the academic or professional degree in the student's major field an approach that provides its students with dual expertise. Over 100 University of Pittsburgh faculty members are associated with CLAS. Their teaching expertise and research specializations encompass all of the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries of Latin America and the Caribbean and many of the English-speaking countries. Each academic year, they teach well over 250 courses on the region in more than 20 departments while actively pursuing on-going research projects in a wide range of disciplines, including the social sciences, professional schools, humanities, and natural sciences.

The University of Pittsburgh's Eduardo Lozano Latin American Library Collections aids in this work. The Lozano Collection is one of the top ten Latin American collections in the United States. Housed in Hillman Library, the collection excels in contemporary materials, documents, and statistics. Although the library is strong in almost all substantive and geographic areas of Latin America, it has some of the world’s best resources on Bolivia and Cuba, as well as extensive holdings on Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Over 85 percent of the volumes in this extraordinary collection are in Spanish and Portuguese.

CLAS has been designated a National Resource for the Western Hemisphere by the U.S. Department of Education (under the Title VI of the Higher Education Act).

CLAS Student Ambassadors and Interns

CLAS Staff and Related Staff

Visiting Scholars

Professor, CLAS

2022-2023 CLAS Faculty Advisory Board

 Reid Andrews, Distinguished Professor of History

 Diego Cortes, Assistant Professor of Communications

 Patricia Documet, Associate Professor and Director of the Doctoral Program, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Graduate School of Public Health

 Gina Garcia, Associate Professor of Education

 Marcela Gonzalez Rivas, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs

 Ernesto Torres de Azevedo Marques Jr, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health

 Roberta Mendonca De Carvalho, Professor of Urban Studies

 Michelle Reid-Vásquez, Associate Professor of Africana Studies

 David Mayanin Tenorio Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Hispanic Languages and Literatures

 Sheila Vélez Martínez, Jack & Lovell Olender Professor of Refugee, Asylum, and Immigration Law, School of Law

 Emily Wanderer, Assistant Professor of Anthropology

Keila Grinberg Director Associate Director

Manuel Roman-Lacayo

Luis G. Van Fossen Bravo Assistant Director for Academic Affairs

Courtney Newhouse Financial Administrator

Martha Mantilla Librarian for Latin American Studies and Eduardo Lozano Collection

Luz Amanda Hank Assistant Director for Partnerships and Programming

James Campbell Panoramas Coordinator

Alexis Takoushian Academic Programs Graduate Student Assistant

Howard Alvarez Graduate Assistant for Partnerships and Programming

Autumn Moore CLAS Ambassador

Claudio F. Szlafsztein Visiting Professor Department of Urban Studies Visiting

Naiara Sales

Angel Christou Panoramas Intern

Luke Morales Panoramas Intern

Caelan Hidalgo-Schick Program Manager

Haiwei Hu Luso-sphere Intern

Special Programs & Initiatives

Amazonian Studies Program

The Amazon encompasses half the planet’s extant and the most diverse rainforest as well as variety of ecoregions including savanna and alpine tundra. More than 30 million people inhabit the area, including at least six million indigenous peoples organized in thousands of communities. The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh (CLAS) endeavors to develop and establish a Program of studies focused on issues and topics related to the Amazon basin in South America, alternatively known as Amazonia.

CLAS will devote considerable effort to coalescing this initiative into a viable and thriving program that is separate though related to other Center axes. Through the Amazonian Studies Program (ASP), CLAS will promote research and expertise to serve as a hemispheric resource for the general public, and for scholars, to pursue in-depth studies and understanding on topics relevant to Amazonia and the peri-Amazonian region. ASP will encompass issues including but not limited to fundamental human rights, migration, deforestation, urbanization, materials science, climate issues affecting present and future generations, health sciences and public health.

CLAS will develop a related certificate program for Undergraduate and Graduate students, bolster class offerings and library and document collections, as well as promoting recruitment of faculty connected to relevant work in the Arts, Sciences, Humanities, Engineering, Health Sciences, Business and Law.

Luso-Sphere Program

The Portuguese Empire exerted influence on four different continents and lasted nearly six centuries. The first truly global empire anchored expansion on colonialism and slavery, using Portuguese language and cultural traditions to establish a shared heritage that has outlasted the empire and independence in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Macau (China), Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Goa, in India, also has shared cultural and linguistic influences dating back to the early 16th century.

Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language around the world, with approximately 266 million speakers. It is an official language in nine countries, a working language of numerous international organizations, and a dynamic and evolving language, as evidenced by the recent adoption of a unified vocabulary in 2008. The multicultural identities created in the Portuguese-speaking countries are still an important part of the rich and diverse histories of these regions.

The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) and the European Studies Center (ESC) at the University of Pittsburgh are jointly working on developing a Program in Luso-Sphere Studies. For students who wish to pursue a career or research with an international dimension, or in the Luso-Sphere specifically, studying this history and the cross regional relationships that now exist in the Portuguese speaking world would provide multiple opportunities. Such a program would be among the first of its kind in the US and could become a central location for the study of Portuguese language and the Luso-Sphere cultures.

Since the creation of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute (ALARI) at Harvard University in 2013, a group of institutions and research groups across the Americas have been working together to consolidate the field of Afro-Latin American Studies. Our main goal is to transform highe education across the Americas, institutionalizing an academic field that centers the experiences of Africans and their descen and prepares a new generation of educators to produce the antiracist cultural shift toward equity and inclusion that we need.

With support of Ford Foundation, the University Consortium on Afro-Latin American Studies is the embodiment of collaborative networks that we can now deploy to institutionalize the field of Afro-Latin American Studies, transforming it into an engine for racial justice and inclusion.

Seminar & Field Trip Program

Since 1972

The Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Seminar and Field Trip Program celebrates its 51st trip in 2024! Since 1972, the program has provided more than 600 students with a unique educational and cross-cultural immersion experience.

This intensive, two-part program incorporates a cross-cultural homestay with individualized field study. The program is open to undergraduates of any major at the University of Pittsburgh with sufficient Portuguese language proficiency and an interest in Latin American culture. About 15 students will be selected for the program and enroll in a preparatory seminar on campus during the spring of 2024, and then travel to the host country where they will study, live with a host family, and carry out an independent field project during the summer.

This summary documents accomplishments of the Center, its faculty, and students and provides quantitative information on fundamental activities.

2022

-2023 Center for Latin American (CLAS) Studies Events& Stats Information

Website Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS)

Social Media for the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS)

2022-2023 Center for Latin American (CLAS) Studies Student Information

The 25th Latin American Social and Public Policy Confer-

Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and United States

FIOCRUZ, Florida International University, Georgia Gwinnett College, Georgetown University, The University of Amsterdam, Universidad de Antioquia, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas, University of the District of Columbia, Universidad Estatal del Oeste de Parana – Unioeste, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Universidad Internacional del Ecuador, Universidad Jaume, I Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad del Pacifico, University of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Bradford, Universidad San Francisco de Quito

CLAS Student Club Coalition

CLAS created a space where student groups can discuss common issues, collaborate on finding solutions, and achieve mutual collaboration. CLUBS Argentine Tango Club, Brazil Nuts, Global Brigades, Latinx Student Association, LAGOS, Latino Medical Student Association, Pan-Caribbean Alliance, Pitt Spanish Club, SACNAS at Pitt, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES FACULTY LIST 2022-2023

The Latin American & Caribbean Festival has been a Western Pennsylvania community fixture since 1979. The Festival was canceled in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions. However, we held and hosted various virtual events to keep the tradition alive, bringing the community together virtually. In 2021, the Festival was limited to the Pitt community in accordance with University policies and good practices. The full, in-person, Festival was held again in 2022, making it possible to see old friends and welcome new ones in person. This year the Festival will be celebrated on Saturday, September 23, 2023 from 2-8pm, Wesley W. Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh. For more information visit: www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/festival or email: clasfestival@pitt.edu

Festival Website: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/festival

Photos by Michael Peeler and Erin Ninehouser

For photos from 2021, click “HERE”

Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Engagement Programs

CLAS Engagement & Outreach 2022-2023 Report Center for Latin American Studies Statistics/University of Pittsburgh

Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) Engagement Programs

CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM

 We are in the process of updating our website and database, if you are K-12 educator, we would like to ask you to update your information with us, please visit: https://forms.gle/WZMsx91LmYqPvy4MA

 To learn about our CLAS Engagement/Outreach Program, visit: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/outreach

 To Subscribe to our Newsletters and updates, visit: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/social-media

For Educators testimonials about program, visit: https:// www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas/content/k-16-school-visit-program-0

Day of the Dead Celebrations

AlebrijesWorkshop in La Universidad Nacional, Medellin–Colombia

Papel Picado Workshop

Cartonera Workshop for K-12 Educators

Allderdice High School

Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School Hispanic Month

Riverview High School visit to Pitt

Contributing to CLAS

Founded in 1964, Pitt’s Center of Latin American Studies is one of the premier area studies programs, having served thousands of faculty and students in pursuing their educational interests, academic research, and study abroad opportunities. Especially in these challenging economic times, our continued growth and success are reliant on the generosity of donors. From your student days, you may remember a special class, project, or study abroad trip. We invite you to help make those life-changing experiences available to more students!

Please consider donating to our general fund, or any of the specialty funds. We are also opened to discussing special projects and/or creating new named funds. Please contact us with any questions, and thank you for your support.

ONLINE DONATIONS: Click on this link

ENDOWMENTS: With a minimum commitment of $10,000, an endowed fund may be established and named in honor or memory of the donor, a designated person, or an entity. Please contact clas@pit.edu or call 412-648-7395, for further information regarding this donation option.

If you would like to support specific program/category, scan the QR Code:

Alumni News: CLAS was present at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Conference in Vancouver, Canada in May 2023. It was a small group but a lot wonderful connections were made. We hope to see many of you in LASA in Bogota, Colombia in June 2024.

If you have any updates and news that you would like to share with us, please let us know, by clicking “HERE”.

We are on the process of updating our Alumni section in our website

Center for Latin American Studies view of Center Budgets (3 year period)

FALL AND SPRING 2022-2023 EVENTS

FALL 2023 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

CLAS Annual Report of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS)

University Center for International Studies (UCIS)

University of Pittsburgh

Staff

Keila Grinberg, Director

Manuel Roman-Lacayo, Associate Director

Luis G. Van Fossen Bravo, Assistant Director for Academic Affairs

Luz Amanda Hank, Assistant Director for Partnerships and Programming

Caelan Hidalgo-Schick, Administrative and Program Assistant

Courtney Newhouse, Financial Administrator

Hillman Library

Martha Mantilla, Librarian

WWW.UCIS.PITT.EDU/CLAS

Designer and Creator: Luz Amanda Hank

Editors: Manuel Roman-Lacayo, Caelan Hidalgo-Schick and Luz Amanda Hank

Summer 2023

To read report online, click on QRCode