LASPAU: News and Events

LASPAU Founder Dies at Age 89: David Henry, former director of admissions and director of the Office of International Students at Harvard University, and the founder and first chair of LASPAU, passed away on June 27, 2008. Through LASPAU and an earlier initiative, the African Scholarship Program of American Universities, Henry recognized the need to provide educational opportunities for youths of limited economic means in fields that would contribute to the development of their home countries. His vision, which inspires LASPAU’s activities to this day, has led to significant advancements in Latin America and the Caribbean in areas ranging from higher education to sustainable development to community leadership. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. Boston Globe Obituary for David Henry

Asociación Antamina and Peruvian Fulbright Commission sign agreement for new scholarship program: On June 4, 2008, the Asociación Antamina and the Fulbright Commission in Peru signed an agreement to create a new Fulbright scholarship program for the Ancash region of Peru. Honorary President of the Fulbright Commission U.S. Ambassador Michael McKinley presided over the signing ceremony. The agreement establishes a fund that will provide five scholarships per year for three years to professionals from the northern Peruvian region of Ancash where the Antamina Mining Company operates. The scholarships will allow the recipients to pursue master’s degrees beginning in the fall of 2009 in the priority fields of study for the program, which include business, engineering, and the environment. The Asociación Antamina is a non-profit organization that was created by the Antamina Mining Company to promote the well-being and social development of the population of the Ancash region in order to improve their standard of living. The Peruvian company is the world’s third largest producer of zinc and seventh largest producer of copper. The company has been recognized as a leader in environmental and social responsibility. The scholarship program is part of the company’s strategy to promote sustainable development and human resources development in the region. The program also helps the Fulbright Commission expand the outreach of its scholarship programs to the provinces. LASPAU will assist the Fulbright Commission in the administration of the scholarship program in the United States by placing the grantees in master’s degree programs at U.S. universities and monitoring the grantees during their program.

LASPAU Staff Represent Organization at NAFSA Annual Conference: Five LASPAU staff members attended the NAFSA 2008 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., which took place May 26-30, 2008. As part of the week-long conference, two LASPAU staff members served as trainers for two of the pre-conference workshops: Program Advisor and SEVIS Coordinator Renee Hahn Burke was a trainer for the Professional Practice Workshop “J Regulations – Advanced," and Associate Director for Programs Craig Hastings was a trainer for the workshop “Sponsored Programs: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How." Craig Hastings was also a presenter for the session “Accessing the Prospective Student Market in the Caribbean." LASPAU staff members also participated in the poster session “Working with Sponsoring Agencies” as one of the organizations presenting information on the programs it administers on behalf of its sponsors. Program Coordinator Amy Whitish, Program Coordinator Megan Murphy, and Program Advisor Sonia Wallenberg also attended the conference.

COLCIENCIAS Grantee Awarded a UNESCO-L’Oréal Women in Science Fellowship: In March 2008, Lina María Saavedra Díaz (COLCIENCIAS, Colombia) was awarded a 2008 UNESCO-L’Oréal Women in Science Fellowship at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Each year, the program awards scholarships to 15 young women from around the world who are working in the life sciences at the doctoral or post-doctoral levels and whose research projects have been accepted by institutions outside their home countries. Saavedra’s project examines ways in which communities in Colombia can conserve the marine environments of fisheries while still allowing for the sustainable use of some fish species. Fishing is an economic staple of coastal communities in Colombia, but many local fisheries are at risk of overexploitation due to unsustainable fishing practices and other factors. Saavedra will interview a sampling of communities on each Colombian coast about their fishing practices, eventually using this information to develop sustainable management systems for the fisheries. Once she has completed her research, Saavedra will return to her home institution, Univ. del Magdalena, as a professor and researcher. She also hopes to submit the results of her research to the Colombian government as a step towards developing a national fisheries management plan. Saavedra is pursuing a doctoral degree in natural resources and earth system sciences at the Univ. of New Hampshire.

UAT Workshop Marks the Launch of New Leadership Program: In September 2007, Secretary General of the Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas (UAT) Olga Hernández Limón (left) and Executive Director of LASPAU Ned Strong signed an agreement for a specialized leadership program and seminar for UAT faculty. The signing took place at the Leadership Workshop for Tamaulipas, a seminar designed for UAT by LASPAU through the Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo de la Innovación Académica (IDIA). In December 2007, UAT academic and administrative leaders, including UAT President José Ma. Leal Gutiérrez, will convene in Cambridge for a seminar on leadership in education. The Leadership Workshop for Tamaulipas, held September 21 and 22 in Ciudad Victoria, México, was designed to strengthen the integration of the UAT with the Mexican private and governmental sectors by providing a mechanism to develop concrete proposals for collaboration. Fifty-five representatives from the private, academic, and government sectors were grouped into teams to generate proposal ideas, which were then presented to the university authorities as a summary of results. Both the workshop and the December seminar on leadership in education utilize the IDIA teaching and learning strategies. The seminar will be held in December on the Harvard University for 30 UAT academic deans and top-level administrators. The end goal is a sustainable culture of teaching excellence and effective learning at the University.

Fulbright Alumnus Invited to Serve as Visiting Professor at Harvard University: Fulbright alumnus Rafael Fernández de Castro has been invited to serve as a Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor in Latin American Studies at Harvard University. The Professorship, administered by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, enables Harvard faculty to nominate distinguished Latin American academics from any field to teach at the University for a semester or a full year. While at Harvard, Fernández will teach a Department of Government course for undergraduate and graduate students titled “U.S.-Mexican Relations.” He has published many books and articles on Mexican foreign policy and the bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States, including a book entitled United States and Mexico: Between Partnership and Conflict, co-authored with Harvard’s Vice Provost for International Affairs Jorge Domínguez. Fernández is the editor of Foreign Affairs en Español, the sister magazine of Foreign Affairs, and he was recently asked by Mexican President Felipe Calderón to coordinate Mexico 2030, an initiative that will create a blueprint for Mexican democracy and foreign policy in the year 2030. After earning a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988 through the Fulbright Program, Fernández obtained a Ph.D. in political science from Georgetown University.

Fulbright Alumna Elected as First Female President of UTP: Marcela Paredes was chosen as the first female president of the Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá (UTP) by a majority of UTP faculty, staff, and students. Paredes will replace current president and USAID alumnus Salvador Rodríguez on February 3, 2008, the end of his five-year term. Paredes currently serves as the academic vice president of UTP’s center for higher education. Prior to that, she served as dean of the UTP electrical engineering department from 2001 to 2003 and worked with Rodriguez to facilitate a dialogue on the Social Security Fund in 2005. Paredes received a master’s degree in engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1997 through the Fulbright Faculty Development Program.

President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernández Reyna Meets with LASPAU Staff and Grantees: Following a luncheon on September 24, 2007, hosted by the Harvard Foundation to honor President Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic, a group of LASPAU-administered grantees studying at Harvard University and other universities in the Boston area had the opportunity to meet and speak with the President. Fernández was at Harvard to receive the Harvard Foundation Medal for his creation of the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), a Dominican non-profit organization dedicated to producing public policies to strengthen democracy and governability and promoting sustainable development and the modernization of the Dominican Republic. His visit was co-sponsored by the Harvard Foundation, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Later that day President Fernández gave a public address at the Rockefeller Center entitled “Development and Democracy in Latin America: The Dominican Example”.

ITTalent Named as Finalist for Citizenship Partner of the Year by the 2007 Microsoft Partner Awards Program: Fulbright-ICETEX alumnus Felipe Botero Thiriez (M.S, mechanical engineering, 1990, University of Minnesota) is the General Manager of ITTalent, a leader in information technology training in Colombia. ITTalent has been named one of three finalists in the category of Citizenship Partner of the Year by the 2007 Microsoft Partner Awards Program. The category recognizes exceptional partners who have had a sustained commitment to their society and community and can demonstrate the impact of their work.Says Botero, “We are very proud to have been selected by Microsoft as one of three finalists on an international level for such an important award. More than a recognition, this is the result of arduous and steadfast work in pursuit of our vision: to be recognized as the best option for education in new technologies, as a generating agent of productivity, competitiveness and economic and social development for individuals and organizations in Colombia.” Click on the following link to see a video describing ITTalent's work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCVWi08JFzo

Alberto Mendoza Presents New Research at Binational Environmental Conference: Adolfo Bustamante (right), health, safety, and environment manager for La Rosita Power Station, congratulates Alberto Mendoza (left), director of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, following Mendoza's presentation at the May 2007 Binational Environmental Cooperation Conference in Mexicali, an event co-sponsored by LASPAU, the Southwestern Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy (SCERP), and CETYS. Mendoza’s study, "Mexicali-Imperial Valley Air Quality Modeling and Monitoring Program," examined the dynamics of air pollutants in the Mexicali-Imperial Valley region and has been of paramount importance in helping to reduce air pollution in the area. Alberto Mendoza is a grantee of the Border Ozone Reduction and Air Quality Improvement Program, an InterGen sponsored initiative.

Harvard Professor Serves as Keynote Speaker at UDLA Symposium on Pedagogy: In December 2006, Johanna Damgaard Liander, Senior Preceptor in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University, gave the keynote address at a symposium on teaching innovation organized by the Universidad de las Américas (UDLA) for UDLA faculty. Liander's presentation, which discussed seven key ways to motivate the modern university student, marked the launch of the Centro de Excelencia para la Docencia Universitaria "Mario Albornoz," a new faculty development program developed by UDLA and LASPAU through the Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo de la Innovación Académica.

UDLA Partners with LASPAU to Create Center for Teaching Excellence: In December 2006, the Universidad de las Américas (UDLA) in Chile signed an agreement with LASPAU to establish the Centro de Excelencia para la Docencia Universitaria "Mario Albornoz," a program designed to enrich faculty development at UDLA through workshops and discussion groups, among other strategies. The initiative is being developed through the Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo de la Innovación Académica, a joint initiative between LASPAU and the Fundación Universitaria CEU San Pablo dedicated to improving higher education by fostering interactive teaching methods and critical thinking skills in faculty and students. Present at the signing, from left to right: Patricia Cabello, Rector, UDLA; Germán Ramírez, President of the Board of Trustees, UDLA; and Ned Strong, Executive Director, LASPAU.

Fulbright Program Alumna from Argentina Receives Learner of the Year Award: On November 9, 2006, Fulbright Faculty Development Program alumna María Carolina Orgnero was presented with the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Learner of the Year Award. CAEL awards the prize annually to an individual who "has overcome multiple barriers and has successfully returned to a learning environment." From Orgnero's early education in Argentina to her Fulbright-sponsored master's degree study at the University of Connecticut (UConn) to her current doctoral work at UConn, she has proven to be an exemplary adult learner. CAEL is a national, non-profit organization whose mission is to expand learning opportunities for adults. Orgnero was recognized not only for her personal dedication to lifelong learning, but also for her work in developing professional learning options for teachers in Argentina and her commitment to the general advancement of her country. Orgnero, a doctoral candidate in adult learning at the Neag School of Education at UConn, was the first graduate student to be awarded the prize. She was nominated by Barry Sheckley, head of the Department of Educational Leadership at the Neag School, who introduced her at the awards ceremony. Ned Strong, executive director of LASPAU, also spoke at the event, congratulating Orgnero and discussing her work through the Fulbright Program. For more information about María Carolina Orgnero and her work, please visit the CAEL website: http://www.cael.org/Forum_and_News/learner_of_the_year.htm

October 23-24, 2006, Medellin, Colombia: LASPAU Trustee and University of California at San Diego (UCSD) professor Eduardo Macagno (second from left) joins (from left to right) Pablo Patiño, a senior researcher and professor at the Universidad de Antioquia; Sergio Fajardo, Mayor of Antioquia; and Ned Strong, Executive Director of LASPAU, following Macagno's guest lectureship at the Universidad de Antioquia. Macagno discussed UCSD's role in California's economy as part of a two-day series focused on how universities lead regional efforts to create knowledge and transfer technology to industry.

Seminar Assists Fulbright's Diversity Efforts: The Fulbright Seminar on Diversity and Access of Underrepresented Groups to Higher Education, held for Fulbright Faculty Development Program alumni in Guatemala in May 2006, provided 23 seminar participants with a comprehensive understanding of Guatemala’s approach to access for indigenous populations through lectures, panels, field visits, and discussions with indigenous Guatemalan students and faculty members.The seminar announcement generated an exceptional applicant pool of 107 alumni engaged in initiatives designed to increase access in all of the categories of diversity. Given that the Guatemalan model focused on Mayan access to education, the decision was made to select 23 participants from 14 Latin American countries who had played substantive roles in forwarding initiatives to provide access to indigenous populations. Several of the participants were from indigenous backgrounds themselves and taught at institutions where the student body is primarily indigenous. In addition to the agenda activities, four thematic group sessions during the seminar allowed participants to discuss their own contributions to access at their home institutions, to assess the relevance of access initiatives presented at the seminar to their own institutions, to make recommendations to the full group based on their areas of expertise, and to plan initial strategies based on their seminar experiences. MORE>>

Last revised: July 27, 2009

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