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.
