Matías Romero Visiting Chair in Mexican Studies
The Matías Romero Visiting Chair in Mexican Studies was created in 2003 through an educational and research cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mexico and UT Austin. Its purpose is to promote the presence and participation of distinguished Mexicans from the public and private sectors, as well as from academia, to foster greater understanding of Mexican culture and society.
For more information, contact Heather Gatlin at 512.471.8593.
Spring 2012
Gustavo Vega
Gustavo Vega is Director of the Center for International Studies at El Colegio de México. He received his MA and PhD in political science from Yale University, where he specialized in international relations, comparative politics, and international political economy. Dr. Vega is an expert in U.S.-Mexican economic relations and North American integration, having studied and written extensively on the topic. His recent publications include El tratado de libre comercio en América del Norte: Visión retrospectiva y retos a futuro (2010) and the edited volume Alcances y límites de la política exterior de México ante el nuevo escenario internacional: Ensayos en honor de Mario Ojeda (2009). Professor Vega has been a member of five binational panels under Chapter 19 of NAFTA. He will teach the graduate seminar Critical Issues in Mexico–United States Relations during Spring 2012.
Fall 2009
Roberto Breña
Roberto Breña is Professor of Political History at the Center for International Studies at El Colegio de México in Mexico City. During fall 2009, he will teach the graduate seminar Making Sense of a Bicentennial Commemoration: The Latin American Independence Movements (1808–1824), as well as New Historiographic Perspectives, an overview of the Spanish American independence movements as scholars reevaluate the impact of these historic events two hundred years later. Dr. Breña is a noted authority on nineteenth-century Latin American history, and holds an M.A. in philosophy from UNAM and a Ph.D. in political science from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. He is currently working on two major research projects: a biographical dictionary of officeholders during the Viceroyalty in New Spain, to be published in 2010, and a book on the Latin American independence movements, in press with the Spanish publishing house Marcial Pons.
Spring 2008
Rodolfo Cruz
Dr. Cruz is Director of the Population Studies Department at the Colegio de la Frontera del Norte in Tijuana, Baja California. He has taught numerous courses on demography there and at San Diego State University. Dr. Cruz also has published widely on Mexican migration patterns and on immigration, border labor forces, and the gender dynamics of labor participation along the U.S.-Mexico border. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from The University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree from the Colegio de México in Mexico City. During his semester in Austin, Dr. Cruz will teach a graduate seminar on international migration, with a focus on Mexican migration to the U.S. He also will participate in a major conference on immigration that will be hosted by LLILAS in April 2008.
Spring 2007
Gustavo Chapela
Dr. Chapela is former director of Mexico’s National Science and Technology Council (CONACYT). In addition to CONACYT, he was Director of the Mexican Institute of Oil (Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo) and President of the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Dr. Chapela has published extensively in many prestigious journals and has been a visiting professor at Oxford University and the University of Minnesota. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of London and a master’s degree from Rice University. During his stay in Austin, Dr. Chapela will be teaching the course Higher Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation: The Value Chain of Scientific Knowledge.
Spring 2006
Jaime Parada Avila
Professor Parada Avila was the first Matías Romero Visiting Professor. He has been the General Director of the National Council for Science and Technology in Mexico, where he developed education policy to promote higher education and increase value for developments in the fields of science and technology. He also has worked in the private sector as a Chief Technology Officer for Celulosa y Derivados, where he was a national leader in portfolio management,innovation and technology, and manufacturing and quality systems issues. For the past thirty years, he has been a leader in Mexico in the fields of business management, product development, higher education, consultancy in engineering, innovation programs, and manufacturing and quality systems. Prof. Parada Avila will arrive in spring 2006 and will teach the graduate course Science, Technology, and Development: Mexico's Challenge and the USA's Role.
