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The Institute of Latin American Studies

Widely regarded as the best Latin American studies program in the country, the Institute of Latin American Studies is the largest and oldest of the University's interdisciplinary programs. Established in 1940, the institute coordinates an extensive instructional program dealing with Latin American civilization and development at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and supports research on Latin American topics by faculty members and graduate students. Courses related to Latin American studies are offered in the College of Liberal Arts in the Departments of Anthropology, Economics, Government, History, Sociology, and Spanish and Portuguese. Graduate joint degree programs with Latin American studies are offered in the Red McCombs School of Business, the College of Communication, the Community and Regional Planning Program of the School of Architecture, the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and the School of Law. There is also important Latin American work being done in the Population Research Center, the Center for Mexican American Studies, and the Benson Latin American Collection. Latin American research occupies a significant place in several other colleges, particularly in the areas of fine arts, library and information science, education, law, and architecture.

The institute has formal relationships with many institutions in Central and South America. Reciprocal exchanges exist between the institute and universities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru. Affiliated agreements are maintained with institutions in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Mexico. The institute also has faculty-led agreements with Belize, Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico/Spain/Morocco, and Venezuela. For more information, see the Study Abroad Web site.

Throughout the year the institute sponsors symposia and lectures by visiting and resident specialists, maintains a substantial publications program, including a book series copublished with the University of Texas Press, coordinates outreach for kindergarten through grade twelve, and offers public service activities to foster greater knowledge of Latin America around the state and the nation.

This institute also comprises several area centers, the most recent of which is the Argentine Studies Center, created in fall 1999. This center has four main goals: to facilitate exchange of faculty and students between Argentina and UT Austin; to provide mechanisms to improve research on Argentina; to enhance that country's visibility in the United States; and to strengthen the binational community that already exists between Argentina and the United States.

The institute also houses the Mexican Center, an office dedicated to developing and coordinating the extensive academic programs and activities focused on Mexico and carried out by University faculty members, students, and visiting Mexican scholars. The Mexican Center regularly organizes binational academic conferences on a variety of themes. Through its C. B. Smith fellowship program, the center offers a limited number of travel scholarships for Mexican scholars to take advantage of the institute's library resources.

Another division of the institute is the Brazil Center, which coordinates the work of Brazilianist faculty and students on campus and links the University to institutions of higher education in Brazil. The division also sponsors visiting lecturers, film festivals, workshops, and symposia focusing on Brazil and sponsors an annual Brazil Week.

The Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERMLA) incorporates all departments, programs, and faculty members involved in teaching, research, and service in areas related to environmental management in Latin America. Its primary functions are outreach, education, and research.

The institute houses the University of Texas at Austin Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC). LANIC's objective is to facilitate access to Internet-based information on, from, or about Latin America. One of the primary functions of LANIC is the creation and maintenance of directories or guides to Internet-based resources in the field of Latin American studies. Since going online in 1992, LANIC has remained the most comprehensive and frequently used information system for Latin American studies on the Internet. Services include directories of resources, hosted databases and publications, joint projects, electronic publications, and special initiatives.

Located in Sid Richardson Hall, the institute is in the same building as the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection, one of the most comprehensive holdings of its kind in the world. Substantial demographic data pertaining to Latin America are found in the Population Research Center, while other supplementary information resources are located in the Perry-Castaneda Library and the Tarlton Law Library. The University's holdings of modern Latin American art are outstanding, and the Photography Collection also contains photographic documentation of relevance to Latin Americanists.

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General Information catalog

Contents
Chapter 1 - The University
Chapter 2 - Admission
Chapter 3 - Registration, Fees, and Deposits
Chapter 4 - Academic Policies and Procedures
Chapter 5 - Student Affairs
Chapter 6 - Libraries and Other Academic Resources
Chapter 7 - Ex-Students' Association
Appendixes
Statistical Summaries

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