FIU names new director of Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center

Anthony W. Pereira, founder and former director of the Brazilian Studies Institute at King’s College of London, has been named director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at FIU.

Recognized as one of the leading centers of Latin American and Caribbean studies in the world, LACC is a part of the Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs. LACC is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a National Resource Center on Latin America.

Pereira takes over leadership of the center from former Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis, who served as interim director since 2021, when longtime director Frank O. Mora was nominated as Ambassador to the Organization for American States.

“FIU has incredible strength in the region, with leading scholars on Cuba, Central America and the Andean Region,” said Pereira. “I thank my predecessors for their leaderships and look forward to joining my colleagues as we continue to ensure LACC’s contributions are among the most significant and responsive to emerging trends and challenges in Latin America.”

At King’s College, Pereira is credited with founding the Brazil Institute, hiring its team of academics and creating the institute’s master’s and Ph.D. programs. He assisted in the construction of a new master’s program in global affairs, with the cooperation of the China, India, Russia, Middle East and Africa institutes and centers. He also helped create a joint Ph.D. in international relations with the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo.

“Dr. Pereira has extensive teaching and research experience at universities across the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean, and the U.K.,” said Shlomi Dinar, interim dean of the Green School. “His extensive partnerships with universities and research organizations will be a tremendous asset for LACC and the Green School.”
 
Pereira has been a Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays fellow and received grants from, among others, the British Academy, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Organization of American States.
 
Before joining King’s in 2010, where he was also a professor of international development, Pereira held positions at the New School for Social Research in New York City, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Tulane University in New Orleans and the University of East Anglia in the UK.

Pereira graduated from the University of Sussex in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree in politics and in 1986 obtained a master’s degree in government from Harvard University. He earned his Ph.D. in government from Harvard in 1991, focusing on comparative politics with a concentration in Latin America. Pereira lives in Kendall with his wife and has two adult children who live in London.