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FIU names former Costa Rican president as interim director of Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center
From left to right: Luis Guillermo Solís, former president of Costa Rica; Frank Mora, former deputy assistant defense secretary and former director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center.

FIU names former Costa Rican president as interim director of Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center

Luis Guillermo Solís replaces outgoing director Frank Mora

July 13, 2020 at 3:00pm

FIU has named former Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís as interim director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, replacing Frank Mora, a former deputy assistant defense secretary who led the center since 2013.
 
Solís, who was a Fulbright Scholar at FIU in the 1990s, returned to the university as a professor in 2018. He received the Presidential Gold Medallion in 2017, the highest honor the university bestows upon heads of state.
 
“I could not be more pleased to have such a distinguished diplomat, scholar and statesman take the reins at LACC,’’ said FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, who founded the center in 1979. “We are very grateful to Frank Mora for his leadership, experience and incredible grasp of the region and I have no doubt that President Solís will build on that legacy.”
 
LACC is nationally and internationally known as one of the top centers of its kind, serving as a nexus between academia and public policy in the Western Hemisphere.
 
Since returning to FIU as a professor, Solís has taught courses in contemporary Central American politics at the graduate and undergraduate levels and helped organize major events, including FIU’s Hemispheric Security Conference.
 
As director of LACC, Solís plans to continue Mora’s work to promote the center’s new Brazilian research program and fulfill the mission of its U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center/Title VI designation, which provides federal support for K-12 teacher education on Latin America and the Caribbean.
 
“Dr. Mora solidified our position at the forefront of Latin American and Caribbean regional studies in the U.S.,” Solís said. “I am privileged to follow his distinguished service.”
 
Before he was elected president of Costa Rica, Solís held numerous diplomatic positions, including ambassador for Central American affairs. His lengthy academic career includes nearly 30 years at the University of Costa Rica, where he held various positions, including a deanship.
 
He is a graduate of the University of Costa Rica and has a master’s degree in political science and sociology from Tulane University. He has several honorary doctorate degrees for his leadership in women’s equality, human rights, peace and international law. He has taught at universities throughout the U.S. and Europe.
 
After a year’s sabbatical, Mora will return to FIU as a professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the 
Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs.