Mexican Center

Profile

The Mexican Center of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies was established in 1980 to promote greater knowledge and understanding of Mexico and to coordinate the advancement of Mexican studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The current director is Sociology Professor Bryan Roberts. Former directors include Professors Peter Ward, Bryan Roberts, Henry Selby, and William Glade, among others. With more than sixty "Mexicanist" faculty on campus, UT-Austin has one of the largest research and teaching groups on Mexico and bilateral U.S.-Mexico relations outside Mexico. Their research covers a range of interests from folk culture and Nahuatl language, the Maya, and colonial and modern history, to the sectoral implications of free trade, water resources in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, gender and contemporary Mexican politics, environmental change, petroleum engineering, social policy, migration and urbanization, housing and urban development, to mention just a few. The Mexican Center is administered by a director, who is advised by a standing faculty committee under the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and by a distinguished binational Executive Council that meets twice a year. One of the primary goals of the council, assisted by a larger Advisory Committee, is to assist the center in raising funds to develop its range of programs, while serving as a source of fruitful insights on a wide range of substantive issues. Currently, the Mexican Center receives its primary programmatic funding from the C. B. Smith endowment at the College of Liberal Arts, with supplementary support from LLILAS, private foundations, and individual contributions.

In collaboration with numerous Mexican institutions and scholars, the Mexican Center also provides opportunities to the scholarly research community to maximize resources at UT-Austin. Although they are separate programs, the Mexican Center of LLILAS collaborates closely with the Center for Mexican American (Chicano) Studies and the LBJ School of Public Affairs's Inter-American Policy Studies Program, as well as other units of the university.

Mission

The Mexican Center was established in 1980 to promote greater knowledge and understanding of Mexico and to coordinate the advancement of Mexican studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Its mission is:

• To stimulate the study of Mexico at UT-Austin through the promotion of scholarship and research including the development of undergraduate and graduate courses, the supplementation of library and electronic data resources, and the organization of seminars and conferences that further instructional and research programs.
• To develop UT-Austin’s role as a major research center on Mexico in collaboration with Mexican institutions. Scholarly research activities are fostered through support for fieldwork and travel, and exchange programs  that involve Mexican students and faculty.
• To stimulate interest and understanding in Texas about Mexico by providing information to the public and private sectors, and by participating in outreach programs for schools and other associations.

The center also manages several scholarship programs. Principal among these is one for visiting C.B. Smith scholars, providing modest travel resources for Mexican academics to do short-term research, interact with faculty, and utilize the extensive data available on UT campus, especially the Benson Latin American Collection. Other programs include the E.D. Farmer International Fellowships (for UT-Austin students and for Mexican students enrolled at the University), and the Solidarity Presidential Scholarship. All these programs are widely advertised with the usual deadline occurring in early spring. The Mexican Center offers scholastic excellence in a variety of fields and enjoys an international reputation as a foremost university resource for Mexican studies. The "critical mass" of Mexicanist faculty and students makes for an intellectually stimulating environment in which to pursue studies about Mexico and U.S.-Mexico relations.