Ward, Wilson head Latin American centers

Two LBJ School faculty members are heading two important research and teaching centers in the UT Austin Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies. Professor Peter Ward, who had directed the Institute's Mexican Center from 1993 to 1996, is again serving as director, and Professor Robert Wilson is currently at the helm of the Brazil Center.

The Mexican Center was established in 1980 and has one of the largest research and teaching groups on Mexico and bilateral U.S.-Mexico relations outside Mexico. Research covers a spectrum of interests, ranging from folk culture and colonial and modern history to the sectoral implications of free trade, water resources in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, contemporary Mexican politics, and social policy.

In addition to serving as director, Ward has also become editor in chief of the Latin American Research Review, one of the most prestigious Latin American studies journals.

Meanwhile, Wilson is now in charge of the Brazil Center, which is the home of the largest Brazilian studies program in the United States. This fall he helped coordinate a meeting of the U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program, which--among other things--is expected to provide new opportunities and funding for LBJ School students to conduct policy studies in Brazil.

In addition, Wilson has developed the Rio Branco Visiting Chair program in the College of Liberal Arts, which will bring preeminent Brazilian policy practitioners to teach at the LBJ School. This year's Rio Branco chair is Pedro Luis Barros Silva, who teaches a course called "The State, Government and Public Policy in Contemporary Brazil." Future chair holders will be Paulo Paiva, vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank, and Vilmar Faria, a special advisor to Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso.

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December 7, 2001

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