Thoughts from the Director
In this newsletter, the first of a new series, you can learn more about the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) at FIU. We want to give you insights into the three pillars of LACC: research, academic programs, and engagement with partners.
In 2023, LACC continued its involvement in cutting-edge research on a variety of pressing contemporary issues, including the project on organized crime described below. We also created the Green Seed Fund to support faculty research on Latin America and the Caribbean. LACC also expanded and re-energized its master's program, delivered another well-received version of the Haitian Summer Institute (providing beginner's and intermediate Haitian Creole instruction to people from around the country), and took a group of FIU students to Buenos Aires for the popular Summer Study Abroad program.
We have great plans for 2024. So far, we've already welcomed the Green Family to our offices in the new SIPA II building. There is a lot more to come. For example, on March 11 we'll host a conference called "New Perspectives on Foreign Policy in the Americas" at the FIU in DC Center in Washington DC, which will involve representatives of think tanks based in Latin America and the Caribbean and some of their DC-based counterparts. And our Summer Study Abroad Program in Buenos Aires, led by LACC's Director of Academic Programs Dr. Gabriela Hoberman, will take place again in June and July.
Whether it is in stimulating and publicizing world-leading research, creating and delivering top-flight interdisciplinary courses, or organizing timely and insightful public events on and with the region, LACC will continue to ask and respond to some of the most important questions about Latin America and the Caribbean. We know that our work would not be possible without the crucial contributions made by you: our affiliates, friends, students, supporters, and partners. Thank you for your support, keep in contact with us, and I hope to see you at one of our events in 2024!
Prof. Anthony W. Pereira
Director, Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center