The Center for Latin American & Latinx Studies (CLACS) is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Title VI National Resource Center for Latin American Language and Area Studies. As such, CLACS provides extensive resources and services for K–16 educators—locally, regionally and nationally—incorporating Latin America and the Caribbean in their teaching.
In addition to educational outreach, CLACS links campus and community through its public programming, including the annual spring Latin American Film Series. CLACS is jointly funded with the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison which also offers diverse outreach programming.
The work of CLACS is all the more enhanced by its diverse collaborations, both on campus and within the community. Partnerships allow us to reach new and expanded audiences, and to showcase the multidisciplinary range of CLACS’ interests.
Campus/Community Partners
Campus
- Center for International Education
(including Study Abroad) - Spanish and Portuguese Programs
- Language Resource Center
- Roberto Hernández Center
- 51ÁÔÆæ Libraries
Community
Two- and Four-Year College Partners
CLACS welcomes opportunities to collaborate with community colleges, technical colleges, and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to further expand Latin American and Caribbean Studies-related courses, programs and faculty professional development.
- Virtual Series: Wisconsin Immigrant Workers: Their Stories and Impact, with Alverno Assessment and Outreach and 51ÁÔÆæ Center for International Education (Spring 2022)
- Travel support for faculty member to participate in a Global Studies Symposium for Minority Serving Institutions and Community Colleges, hosted at Vanderbilt University (December 2021)
- Teacher Workshop: Global Perspectives on Freedom of Speech, with Alverno Assessment and Outreach and 51ÁÔÆæ Center for International Education (August 2021)
- Alverno Graduating Teacher Celebration, featuring Mexican children’s writer/illustrator Duncan Tonatiuh and Dr. Pablo Muirhead (MATC), discussing bringing children’s book cultural content into the classroom. CLACS also gifted graduating bilingual educators with a Tonatiuh book of their choice. (June 2021)
- Teacher Workshop: Global Girlhoods, with Alverno Assessment and Outreach, 51ÁÔÆæ Center for International Education and UW-Madison International Regional and International Programs (November 2020)
- Travel support for faculty member to participate in a Global Studies Symposium for Minority Serving Institutions and Community Colleges, hosted at Florida International University (January 2019)
- Workshop: Developing and Sustaining Latin American Studies Programs, in collaboration with the North Central Council of Latin Americanists (Spring 2018)
- Small Grants Program to support new course development
- Workshop: Best Practices to Internationalize Post-Secondary Curriculum (Spring 2015)
- Faculty professional development support for design of a study away program, “Digitizing the Americas: Exploring Cuba through Miami, Media and Technology (2017-18, Northeast WI Technical College)
- UISFL grant application evaluation team (Summer 2016, Milwaukee Area Technical College)
- Workshop presentations: WTCS workshop, Internationalizing Curriculum (Spring 2016, Moraine Park Technical College)
- Faculty support for participation in Indiana University Institute for Curriculum and Campus Internationalization (Waukesha County Technical College faculty, Spring 2016, spring 2015)
- NAFSA webinar support: Curricular Designs for Global Learning (Fall 2014, Milwaukee Area Technical College)
UW-Milwaukee has had longstanding ties with Brazil, beginning with its role as a Peace Corps Training Center in the early 1960s, training many of the first Brazil groups. Federal funding, beginning in 1965, for a Language and Area Study Center for Latin America was a direct outgrowth of the Peace Corps Training.
Today the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at UW-Milwaukee (together with its UW-Madison counterpart) is one of the few continuously funded Latin American Title VI National Resource Centers in the country. Growing from those initial ties, CLACS has continued its support for Brazil Studies and Portuguese, supporting student fellowships, public programming, faculty research, course development, and study abroad.
Beyond CLACS, 51ÁÔÆæ has many more initiatives related to Brazil. You can also find Brazil Initiatives throughout the community.
Campus Initiatives
Community Initiatives
Capoeira
CLACS supports international as well as domestic guest faculty and researchers affiliated with the university or invited to 51ÁÔÆæ by CLACS faculty from across Schools and Colleges.
| Name | Status | Affiliation | Country of Research | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leah Leone Anderson | Translator and Translation Scholar | CLACS/Translation and Interpreting Studies (ongoing) | Argentina | 20th Century Inter-American Cultural Diplomacy; Translation, Gender, Sexuality and Embodiment |
| Ned Littlefield | PhD in Political Science | Brazil | Civil-military & civil-police relations, crime & violence, democracy & human rights, ethnicity & race, foreign & security policy, and national identity & nationalism | |
| Vicky Unruh | University of Kansas (Emerita) | CLACS/Spanish & Portuguese (ongoing) | Cuba | Literary and intellectual culture of Spanish America |