About LLILAS
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
- To stimulate the study of Mexico at the university through the promotion of scholarship and research. This is accomplished through the development of undergraduate and graduate courses (currently around twenty-five such courses yearly), the supplementation of library and electronic data resources, and the organization of seminars and conferences that further the instructional and research programs.
- To publicize and develop the university's role as a major research center on Mexico. Faculty research activities about Mexico are fostered through competitively administered support for fieldwork and travel, especially for Mexican faculty to visit UT-Austin to use the Benson Latin American Collection, through meetings of scholars on topics related to faculty research interests, through an electronic publications series, and through collaboration with other institutions of higher education in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
- To stimulate interest and understanding in Texas about Mexico, with particular focus on the contemporary development issues that affect bilateral relations. The Mexican Center serves this function by providing information, orientation, and consultancies to the public and private sectors and by participating in outreach programs in schools and other associations. It continues to pursue assiduously external resource opportunities that will provide for the expansion and sustainability of the center's academic programs, institution building efforts, and institutional liaison and leadership roles.
Past binational conferences have dealt with such diverse topics as: "The Life and Times of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz," "Women in Mexican Politics and Contemporary Political Life," "Trends and Issues in the Cultural Exchanges in NAFTA," "A New Dynamic in Regional Accommodation: NAFTA and the EU Compared," and "Cultural Patrimony of Mexican Inner Cities: Towards Equitable Conservation Policies and Practices." Several Conference Reports arising from such meetings have been published electronically.
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.