Mexican Center
Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
College of Liberal Arts
University of Texas at Austin

The Mexican Center of the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies http://www.utexas.edu/cola/llilas/centers/mexican/  was established in 1980 to promote greater knowledge and understanding of Mexico, and to coordinate the advancement of Mexican studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The current Director is Sociology and Lyndon B. Johnson School Professor Peter M. Ward, who also holds the College of Liberal Arts C.B. Sm ith Sr. Centennial Chair of US-Mexico Relations. Former directors include Professors Bryan Roberts, Henry Selby, and William Glade, among others.

With more than sixty "Mexicanist" faculty on campus, UT-Austin has one of the largest research and teaching groups on Mexico and bilateral U.S.-Mexico relations outside Mexico. Their research covers a range of interests from folk culture and Nahuatl la nguage, the Maya, and colonial and modern history, to the sectoral implications of free trade, water resources in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, gender and contemporary Mexican politics, environmental change, petroleum engineering, social policy, migration and urbanization, housing and urban development, to mention just a few.

The Mexican Center is administered by a distinguished bi-national Executive Council, which meets twice a year. One of the primary goals of the Council, assisted by a larger Advisory Committee, is to assist the Center in raising funds to develop its ran ge of programs, while serving as a source of fruitful insights on a wide range of substantive issues. Currently, the Mexican Center receives its primary programmatic funding from the C.B. Smith Sr. endowment at the College of Liberal Arts, with supplemen tary support from LLILAS, private foundations, and individual contributions.

In collaboration with numerous Mexican institutions and scholars, the Mexican Center also provides opportunities to the research community to maximize the use of scholarly resources at UT-Austin. Although they are separate programs, the Mexican Center of LLILAS collaborates closely with the Center for Mexican American (Chicano) Studies http://www.utexas.edu/depts/cmas/  and the LBJ School of Public Affairs' http://www.lib.utexas.edu/pal/  Inter-American Policy Studies Program, as well as other units of the university.

Among its various activities are the promotion of scholarship and research achieved through undergraduate and graduate courses (currently around twenty-five such courses yearly), the supplementation of library and electronic data resources, and the org anization of seminars and conferences that further the instructional and research programs. The Mexican Center also supports the University's role as a major research center on Mexico fostered through fieldwork and travel, especially for Mexican faculty to visit UT-Austin to use the Benson Latin American Collection, through meetings of scholars on topics related to faculty research interests, through an electronic publications series, and through collaboration with other institutions of higher education in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, especially around major international conferences.

Recent binational conferences have dealt with such diverse topics as: "The Life and Times of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz," "Women in Mexican Politics and Contemporary Political Life," "Trends and Issues in the Cultural Exchanges in NAFTA," "A New Dynamic in Regional Accommodation: NAFTA and the EU Compared," and "Cultural Patrimony of Mexican Inner Cities: Towards Equitable Conservation Policies and Practices," "Co-Governance and Congress—the New Relationship," "President Fox and the PAN: An assessment of the First Year," and "The Greening of Environmental Policy: Mexico and Brazil Compared."

Several Conference Reports and videos arising from such meetings are published electronically:

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/llilas/centers/mexican/publications/ 

The Mexican Center offers scholastic excellence in a variety of fields and enjoys an international reputation as a foremost university resource for Mexican studies. The "critical mass" of Mexicanist faculty and students makes for an intellectually sti mulating environment in which to pursue studies about Mexico and U.S.-Mexico relations.

For further information, please contact Mexican Center Tel (512) 471-5551 Fax: (512) 475-6778 e-mail: mexctr@uts.cc.utexas.edu