A Message from LACSI

Student Spotlight

Upcoming Events

Course Offerings

Ongoing Activities

“El tiempo es el mejor antologista, o el único, tal vez.”
-Jorge Luis Borges

Dear LACSI Community,

With the start of the 2024-25 Academic Year, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute moves closer to celebrating its 20th year at UGA and, with this, a continued renewal and expansion of the support that we at LACSI offer to the campus community. Just as LACSI emerged from the contributions of faculty and students engaged in creating what would first become the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies in the 1990s, the residents of the Casa Amarilla are looking to expand our network of faculty, students, and staff whose efforts constitute the core of our mission to serve the Latino and Caribbean communities at UGA and beyond. Our work at LACSI is successful precisely because of your many contributions, and we wish to thank you all for your service and support. ¡Gracias! Obrigados! Añay! Mèsi!

The centerpiece of this semester’s programming will focus on Hispanic Heritage Month, which officially begins on September 15th. We will kick off this celebration with our annual Open House (see below), scheduled for Friday, September 13th from 3:00PM to 5:00PM at the Casa Amarilla. In addition to food and entertainment, we are also welcoming representatives from various Latino-serving organizations on campus, including the Hispanic Students Association (HSA), Latinos Invested in the Students of Tomorrow (LISTo), and the Association for Latino Professionals of America (ALPFA). Last and certainly not least, our Open House will also serve as the public opening for a traveling exhibition of Latin American festival masks and documentary photographs of the Diablada de Píllaro (Devils Dance of Píllaro, Ecuador). Dancing with Devils: Latin American Masks Traditions has been provided on short-term loan from The Ohio State University and showcases the work of artist Italo Espín and photographer Leonardo Carrizo. The pieces will be on display throughout the fall semester at the Casa Amarilla, and we are excited to share this collection with the community.

In addition to the Open House, LACSI is sponsoring or co-sponsoring many other events that celebrate the contributions of Latinos in the United States and beyond. A full schedule of events will be distributed in the coming weeks. We also look forward to promoting the many other exciting activities and accomplishments of our faculty and students, including the launch of Dr. Nora Benedict’s (Romance Languages) recently published work The Oxford Handbook of Jorge Luis Borges (Oxford University Press), co-edited with Dr. Daniel Balderston (University of Pittsburgh). As always, please feel free to share other events that you would like LACSI to highlight in our newsletters.

The LACSI team, which includes Carla York and our new student worker, Courtney Deans, has been working to develop this year’s programming and to respond to the many wonderful suggestions we received through the 2024 LACSI Faculty Survey. With these at the forefront of our agenda for AY 2025, we are committed to expanding networking opportunities, improving funding for faculty and students, and building broader “interdisciplinary scholarly communities” (cited from survey). As the semester reaches full bore, we invite you to take some time to reach out to us at LACSI about these or other initiatives…and perhaps to share a cafecito.

Best wishes on a great semester!

Chad and Jorge

Maeghan McKeann, a 2023 LACS Major and 2024 Double Dawgs MA graduate in Non Profit Management and Leadership from UGA’s School of Social Work, recently started a job as the Program Grants Manager at the University of New Mexico’s Project ECHO. Her tasks involve managing, budgeting, and reporting on five programs focused on health equity in diabetes, the opioid crisis, and support for vulnerable families and children in the state.

Prior to this position, Maeghan worked as an Intern Grant Writer and Manager at the Latin American Association in Atlanta. In her own words, the "... undergraduate degree in Latin American & Caribbean Studies (LACS) laid the foundation for my career by providing me with a deep understanding of the cultures, histories, politics, and societies of Latin America and Latinx communities in the US. It also honed my critical thinking and writing skills, which are valuable in any professional field."

Congrats on the new position, Maeghan!

After graduating with a LACS Major this Spring, Neely McCommons, took on a job as Client Solutions Associate on the Latin America (LatAm) team at GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc.), an organization based in Austin, Texas.

As part of her job, Neely recruits subject matter experts primarily in Brazil as well as the rest of Latin America. At work, she uses "...both Spanish and Portuguese as well as general regional knowledge that I gained through my LACS degree everyday at work!"

Congratulations to you, too, Neely! 

Let us give a thank you and a warm welcome home to:

Sole Frederick (Trinidad & Tobago), Chanice Porter (Jamaica),
María Lourdes Carlé (Argentina), Adaejah Hodge (British Virgin Islands),
Jehlani Gordon (Jamaica), Cejhae Greene (Antigua & Barbuda),
Ana da Silva (Brazil), Shaunae Miller-Uibo (Bahamas),
and Sanaa Frederick (Trinidad & Tobago).

You made us very proud!

Photo credit: www.georgiadogs.com

Save the date and join us on Friday, September 13, 2024 from 3 to 5 p.m. to learn more about the Institute, our courses and programming.

There will be food and entertainment.

This event is free and open to the public. 

The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the Department of Romance Languages invite UGA faculty, students, and community members to join a reception and celebration of the release of The Oxford Handbook of Jorge Luis Borges (September 2024, Oxford University Press) edited by Dr. Nora Benedict (UGA, Department of Romance Languages) and Dr. Daniel Balderston (University of Pittsburgh, Department of Spanish and Portuguese).