This collaborative project between the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, is funded by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
It is geared towards creating spaces for conversations about new research and curriculum development projects among professors, graduate and undergraduate students, and school teachers from Puerto Rico.
As part of the effort to create sustainable links with institutions serving underrepresented populations, the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Michigan built a partnership with the Colleges of Education, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico. There are no Title VI National Resources Centers on the island of Puerto Rico; there are also no Hispanic serving institutions in the State of Michigan. Thanks to deep existing ties between our institutions we are able to expand access to the area studies and language resources at U-M to the faculty and students at the UPR, to in-service teachers in the region around UPR, and to their K-12 students.
The collaboration is now shared by the area studies centers comprising the International Institute (II) and funded by Title VI grants from the US Department of Education. Each year, the II sends mixed delegations of area studies experts to the UPR for a K-16 professional and curriculum development symposium and workshop organized around topics that cross multiple disciplines and allow representation from different world regions.
In addition to the annual symposium, LACS supports short residencies on U-M’s campus for UPR faculty members to use library resources to develop new courses on Latin American and/or Caribbean topics, and also supports travel for pre- and in-service teachers in Puerto Rico to attend the II’s annual World History & Literature Initiative workshop.
This project includes participation from the following U-M National Resource Centers (NRCs):
- African Studies Center
- Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
- Center for South Asian Studies
- Center for Southeast Asian Studies
- Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies
- Nam Center for Korean Studies
- Lieberthal and Rogel Center for Chinese Studies
- Japanese Studies
And the following departments at the University of Puerto Rico:
About the UPR-Río Piedras
The University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras (UPR-RP) is a public research university that serves more than 15,000 students, 20% of them graduate students. Founded in 1903, UPR-RP is the oldest university and the main campus within the University of Puerto Rico System. Its academic offerings include 70 undergraduate and 39 graduate degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and professional fields. The university holds a Title V grant from the US/Department of Education and has consistently granted the largest number of doctoral degrees to Hispanics in the US. The College of Education has the largest number of students and offers degrees at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. levels. It also administers the university's elementary and secondary schools.
