Lectures

Américo Paredes Distinguished Lecture

For many years, the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) has sponsored the Américo Paredes Distinguished Lecture, which brings a prominent speaker from beyond The University of Texas at Austin to address the public on a timely topic in Mexican American Studies.

Américo Paredes, prior to his death on Cinco de Mayo of 1999, was the Dickson, Allen, and Anderson Centennial Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and English at the University of Texas at Austin.  Among the numerous honors that marked his career are the Charles Frankel Prize from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Orden del Águila Azteca – Mexico’s highest award given to the citizens of other countries. Dr. Paredes’ scholarship on the culture of the people of Greater Mexico helped lay the foundation of our understanding of the people of the Lower Rio Grande Border, and inspired an entire generation of Mexican American scholars.

The Twenty-Second Annual Américo Paredes Distinguished Lecture
 “Racial Memory and the Ghost of Modernity”

Rafael Pérez-Torres, Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
April 4, 2008

Jovita Gonzalez Memorial Lecture on the Arts and Humanities and
George I. Sánchez Memorial Lecture in the Social Sciences and Education

Upon the recommendation of a committee of faculty associates, CMAS has inaugurated two new lecture series directed at UT Austin faculty with some emphasis on the junior ranks. In keeping with honoring those who have historically contributed to Mexican American Studies at UT Austin, CMAS is pleased to announce the Jovita Gonzalez Memorial Lecture on the Arts and Humanities and the George I. Sánchez Memorial Lecture in the Social Sciences and Education. 

Whenever possible, the Gonzalez and Sánchez lectures will be presented by CMAS faculty associates who are either in their first year of service at the University or who have been recently promoted to tenure or full professor. These two lecture series will be a way to honor faculty while encouraging the further development of their research and mobility through the faculty ranks.

Inaugural George I. Sánchez Memorial Lecture in the Social Sciences and Education
''Access, Equity, and Assessment in Higher Education: A Policy Research Agenda for the 21st Century''

Victor B. Saenz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Administration
February 21, 2008