*IuectorswCornej


 Among my priorities has been to increase the opportunities for student
 study abroad in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mark Thurner of the History
 Department will be leading the Center's first semester-length group study
 abroad program to the University of Costa Rica in San Jos6 in Fall 2008. In
 addition, we have signed a new reciprocal exchange agreement with the
 Catholic University of Peru which will allow up to four UF students a year to
 study at that institution in Lima and bring PUCP students to UF
 I am also pleased to report that two UF faculty members have received
 i FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Secondary Education, DOE) awards for
Dr. Carmen Diana Deere
 student exchanges with Brazilian universities. Emilio Bruna (LAS/WEC) is
 leading a program on Energy, the Environment and Sustainable Development in collaboration with the
 Federal Universities of the Amazon and of Rio de Janeiro. Nick Comerford's (Soil and Water Science)
 program focuses on Rainforest Ecosystems Services in collaboration with the Federal Universities of
 the Amazon, Vigosa, and Parana. U.S. students interested in learning Portuguese are eligible for FIPSE
 scholarships to spend a semester at one of these universities.
 The Latin American Studies Association Congress in Montreal this year was quite special, since
 Helen Safa was the recipient of the Kalman Silvert award, the Association's highest honor (see cover).
 Also, UF alum Orlando Fals Borda was the recipient of the LASA-Oxfam America Martin Diskin
 Memorial Lectureship award (p. 18). Twenty-seven UF faculty members and graduate students
 participated on the program (p. 12). With support from our Title VI grant and state funds we were able
 to partially fund the travel of 16 faculty members. With income from the new Safa Graduate Student
 Travel Fund endowment and the LAS Alumni Travel Fund, we were pleased to partially fund the travel of
 three graduate students to present papers at the Congress.
 The Center's Fall reception this year was co-hosted with the College of Fine Arts and held at the
 Harn Museum of Art in conjunction with the exhibition "Cuba Avant-Garde." The reception was
 preceded by a talk by one of the artists, Glexis Novoa, on "Living in Miami and Havana." Soon after, we
 celebrated the opening of another exhibition at Smathers Library on Brazilian Padre Cicero (p. 3). A
 third exhibition focused on Latin America adorned the Grinter Gallery this fall, "A Private Eye: Latin
 American Prints from the Efrain Barradas Collection," (p. 4).
 The Fall semester featured two symposia and a large number of invited speakers from Latin America.
 The graduate students in the Department of Romance Languages and Linguistics hosted their third
 Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Hispanic/Latin American Literature, Linguistics and Culture in October.
 The Department of Political Science, along with UF's three Title VI area studies programs, hosted a
 workshop on "Democratization by Elections," which brought prominent political scientists to campus in
 December, including Latinamericanists Jonathan Hartlyn (UNC), Jennifer McCoy (Georgia State) and
 Gerardo Munck (USC).
 The Center co-sponsored two lectures on the women's movement in the region with the Center for
 Women's Studies and Gender Research -by Rhoda Reddock, Director of the Center for Gender and
 Development Studies at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, and sociologist
 Neuma Aguiar, (p. 3). Two indigenous leaders from Pastos, Colombia spent a week at the Center, with
 former Senator Efr6n Felix Tarapues Cuaical lecturing on religiosity and ecological sustainability in the
 Nudo de los Pastos. The Spring 2008 semester promises to be as rich and varied in Latin American and
 Caribbean events.


1 Dr. Helen Safa -LASA's Highest Honor
3 Dr. Aguiar lecture, Ralph della Cava gift


gLATINAMERICANIST

Volume 38, Number 2
Fall 2007

Elizabeth Lowe Editor
Hannah Covert Copy Editor

Center for Latin American Studies
319 Grinter Hall
PO Box 115530
Gainesville, FL 32611-5530
352-392-0375
www.latam.ufl.edu


2007-2008 Faculty Advisory Council


Carmen Diana Deere (LAS/FRE), Chair
Florence Babb (Women's Studies and
Gender Research)
Grenville Barnes (SFRC)
Efrain Barradas (LAS/RLL)
Richmond Brown (LAS)
Hannah Covert (LAS)
Berta Hernandez (Law)
Eric Keys (Geography)
Gerald Murray (Anthropology)
Jeffrey Needell (History)
Richard Phillips (UF Libraries)
Marianne Schmink (LAS/Anthropology)


12 LASA International Congress
13 Outreach News


4 Hammock with a History, Latin Amer. Prints 14 Student News


5 Jacare Brazil, Center's 57th Annual Conf.
6 Faculty News and Publications
7 New Center Affliates


16 Center Programs in LA
17 UF in Merida
18 Alumni News and Notes


UF Center for
 Latin American Studies
 UNIVERSITY of FLORIDA


19 Thanks to Donors, Giving to Center


10 Recent Faculty Books