College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 488
November 5, 1998
Faculty Advisory Committee of the Center for Latin America
1997-98 Annual Report
The Faculty Advisory Committee of the Center for Latin America is pleased to report to the College faculty that the Center has continued to make significant progress during the current academic year. Specifically, we would like to note the following achievements:
- Acquisition of federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education (HEA Title VI) to support the Center's programs during 1997-98. This funding is for the first Year of a new three-year cycle (1997-2000).
- Provision of financial support to faculty members of the Center in their research endeavors. Center support of faculty research proposals has produced significant publication results as well as promising applications for extramural funding.
- Provision of funding and staff assistance to departments and professional schools in support of their graduate and undergraduate instructional programs.
- Salary support for the teaching of two 100% Latin American content courses (History, Spanish) and partial salary support (Portuguese) to strengthen the overall course offerings available to students. Additional support provided for staff training to test proficiency for students earning a minor in the new Business Spanish program.
- Support for 1997-98 College Faculty Access Grants for Comparative Research under the Wisconsin International Outreach Consortium (WIOC) consisting of Madison and Milwaukee Title VI Resource Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education. These grants support regional college faculty in doing comparative area studies research at Madison and Milwaukee libraries.
- Participation in study abroad/exchange opportunities for UWM students including: (1) undergradute semester/academic year program of study at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago in cooperation with the University of Notre Dame; (2) the Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico (San Germán Campus); and (3) the Dominican Republic for health care professionals.
- Exploration of possible connections with business schools in Central America to initiate international linkages with UWM's School of Business.
- Administration of the Donald R. Shea Scholarship in Latin American Studies. The scholarship provides support for an undergraduate to participate in UWM's study abroad program to Chile or a graduate student to participate in research-related travel. Two students received this scholarship during 1997-98.
- Production of the educational video, El futuro Maya: voces del presente, focusing on the Maya Movement which is an effort by indigenous peoples to revitalize aspects of their linguistic, religious, artistic, and material culture.
- Continued support to UW System faculty members and Latin American programs and events at public and private institutions in this region including an annual travel award competition and a newsletter to serve this network.
- Coordination of the Certificate Program in Latin American Studies.
- Provision of regular contact, information and advice for students whose specialization is in the Latin American studies area.
- Continued support for the Spanish component of a System-wide placement test for students of foreign languages as well as support for training in oral proficiency interviewing and competency-based teaching and testing techniques.
- Support of lectures, conferences, symposia, concerts and workshops with appropriate UWM Departments, Institutes and Centers.
- Support for the annual Latin American Film Series co-sponsored with the Department of Film and Union Programming and in collaboration with the Chicago Latino Film Festival.
- Continued support for library acquisitions at UWM and other public and private institutions in the Upper Midwest.
- Support for an institutional membership to the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin Americanist Library Materials (SALALM).
- Provision of services and professional development opportunities to elementary, secondary, and college teachers and students in the region through workshops in Latin American language and area studies, and continued development of the instructional materials collection within the Center's Resource Collection.
- Continuation of gatherings for Milwaukee area Latin Americanists to meet and share ideas and research in progress.
- Support and assistance to regional Latin American studies organizations. TheCenter serves as secretariat for the North Central Council of Latin Americanists.
It should be noted that during 1997-98, the recruitment for a new Center Director/Latin American historian was unsuccessful. The search for a new Center Director with a teaching and research record in any Latin American studies discipline has been approved for 1998-99.
Respectfully submitted,
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| Julio Rodríguez-Luis, Chair |
| Paul Brodwin |
| Richard Cummings |
| Lance Grahn, Marquette University |
| Howard Handelman, ex-officio |
| Markos Mamalakis |
| Leslie Schulz |
| Andrea Stone, ex-officio |
| Harry Van Oudenallen |
| Kathleen Wheatley |
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