Dear LACIS Community,
Welcome back! I am delighted to begin my term as the new Faculty Director of the Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program. It is an honor to join this wonderful team.
Many of you have already met Adriana Ángel, who is beginning her second year as Associate Director, as well as Sarah Ripp, our Academic Services and Programming Manager. Emilia Melendi, a first-year student in our M.A. program, will be working as our Project Assistant. Whenever you want to chat with any of us, please feel free to get in touch or stop by the office, 209 Ingraham Hall.
We would love to see you at our Fall Welcome Reception on September 17 from 3 to 5pm in Morgridge Hall.
I would like to thank our outgoing director, Professor Sara McKinnon, for her thoughtful leadership during the last three years. It is in great part thanks to her that we have so many exciting initiatives and programming scheduled for the 2026–2027 academic year. The list is too long to include in this brief note. Let me just mention this Fall’s Tinker Visiting Professors Dr. Rodolfo Elbert and Dr. Ezequiel Gómez. Both will be teaching and presenting this semester as part of our Tuesday Lecture Series. Please join us in giving them a warm welcome to campus.
I’m also very happy to welcome our new graduate students and majors.
Stay tuned for more details about LACIS this year. I hope to see many of you at our welcome reception or one of our many upcoming events.
Best of luck with this first week of classes,
Víctor Goldgel Carballo
Faculty Director, LACIS
Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese