New FIU-UM Consortium receives coveted grant, designation as National Resource Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $1 million Title VI National Resource Center grant to Florida International University, in partnership with the University of Miami.

Last year, FIU’s Latin American and Caribbean Center and UM’s Center for Latin American Studies formed the Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; this is the consortium’s first federally funded project.

“Having a National Resource Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies based in Miami gives us tremendous leverage in terms of attracting faculty and students who are passionate about Latin America,” said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, who founded LACC in 1979 when he was a political science professor. “The consortium with UM solidifies our position as thought leaders in the area of Latin American and the Caribbean and underscores Miami’s role as an economic and cultural hub for the region.”

UM President Donna E. Shalala is equally pleased with the award. 

“We are delighted to join this consortium with FIU,” said Shalala. “Because of our location, Miami is the intellectual, commercial, and cultural center of the Americas, and our schools’ combined scholarship and research in this region will make us the premiere academic center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies in the nation.”

The four-year Title VI grant will enable FIU and UM to expand Latin American and Caribbean educational and training opportunities. This includes new course offerings in Portuguese and Haitian Creole, expansion of the universities’ library collections, travel funding for faculty and greater support of K-12 outreach programming.

“It is exciting to begin my post at the University of Miami at this time,” said Dr. Ariel C. Armony, newly named director of UM’s Center for Latin American Studies. “This consortium will allow us to bring CLAS to another stage of development and together with FIU become the top leaders in the area of Latin American and Caribbean studies.”

The Latin American and Caribbean Center is part of FIU’s School of International and Public Affairs and has been a National Resource Center for nearly three decades.

“My congratulations to our Latin American and Caribbean Center and the University of Miami’s Center for Latin American Studies for a forward-looking and incisive approach to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean in the 21st century,” said John F. Stack Jr., director of the School of International and Public Affairs. “I am particularly pleased with the creation of the Miami Consortium for Latin American Caribbean Studies, which highlights the increased collaboration between FIU and UM.”

Other National Resource Centers for Latin America and the Caribbean exist at universities such as Tulane, Vanderbilt, University of Florida and University of Pittsburgh.

Media Contacts:  Maydel Santana-Bravo at 305-348-1555 or Barbara Gutierrez at 305-284-5500.