Tulane University Receives $12.3 Million For Latin America Studies
Tulane University"s Center for Inter-American Policy and Research (CIPR) will receive grants totaling $12.3 million to support the study of Latin America, including its relationship with the United States. The donation honors Samuel Zemurray Stone, a former Tulane board member and longtime supporter of Tulane"s Latin American Studies program. As a distinguished political scientist, author and historian, Stone lectured at universities throughout the world including the Sorbonne in Paris, where he received his doctorate.
The recipient of the funding, CIPR, was established in 2007 through a partnership between the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane and the Centro de Investigacion y Adiestramiento PolÃÂtico Administrativo, a Costa Rican-based public policy think tank.
"This generous gift will enable us to enhance our focus on Latin America, an area where we have deep, historic ties as a city and a field of study in which we, as a university, have attained national recognition," Tulane President Scott Cowen said. "The donor wishes to remain anonymous but we want to make certain our gratitude is known far and wide."
The funding will advance the research promoted by Stone throughout his scholarly life.
"A central concern of Dr. Stone"s was that scholars be afforded, at some point in their careers, an opportunity to advance their research without other encumbrances on their time," said Tom Reese, executive director of the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane. “This funding will provide one- and two-year post-doctoral fellowships that are solely devoted to research."
The funding will also support the CIPR"s efforts to investigate critical policy issues and increase exchanges between scholars and decision-makers working in Latin America at different locations and in different languages.
CIPR focuses on contemporary issues of importance to Latin America, with emphasis on human development, inter-American relations and the future of Cuba. It holds a regular seminar series featuring specialists in these fields, directed to New Orleans civic and business leaders, to emphasize the relevance of Latin America and Inter-American affairs to the city and the region. CIPR is developing a collaborative network with similarly oriented research entities in different world regions and is contemplating a series of publications to disseminate its research. It will also convene international conferences, workshops and seminars as it has already done in Costa Rica and Washington, D.C.
