NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt Chancellor Gordon Gee and a delegation of
university faculty and staff will travel to Mexico next week to convene
with officials from that nation‘s academic, political and business
arenas.
The visit will be an important step toward strengthening the
partnership with Universidad de las Americas (UDLA), formalized 14
months ago. It also will provide an opportunity for the university to
explore synergistic partnerships with other Mexican institutions.
Joel Harrington, assistant provost for international affairs, is
confident the visit “will further expand our circle of scholarly
collaborators and friends in Mexico, in the process generating new and
exciting research and learning opportunities for Vanderbilt students,
faculty and staff.”
He added, “We‘re also eager to recruit still more of Mexico‘s brightest
undergraduate, graduate and professional students. We‘ll be discussing
this goal with our alumni there as well as with key governmental and
educational leaders.”
During the delegation‘s stop in Mexico City, Gee will sign an agreement
with the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT)
that will provide funding for outstanding Mexican students to study in
Vanderbilt‘s graduate programs.
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Jeffrey Balser and Ellen Wright
Clayton, director of Vanderbilt‘s Center for Genetics and Health
Policy, will lead meetings with the Mexican secretary of health and
with their counterparts from Mexico‘s National Institute for Genomic
Medicine and the National Commission on Bioethics to assess the
benefits of collaboration between the organizations.
The group will spend two days in Puebla, the home of UDLA, as the guests of UDLA President Nora Lustig.
While in Puebla, Vera Kutzinski, director of the Center for the
Americas, will showcase that center to faculty and staff of the UDLA,
while determining what further opportunities, including faculty and
student exchange programs, exist for the two universities.
The contingent will meet with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Antonio Garza
to familiarize him with Vanderbilt‘s established relationship with
Mexico and to discuss future partnerships between the university and
the United States‘ neighbor to the south.
Visiting Professor of Law James Bacchus, former chairman of the
Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland,
will deliver a lecture on “The Future of Free Trade: Mexico, the U.S.
and the World” at the UDLA.
While in Mexico City and Puebla, the Chancellor and the university‘s
delegation also will have several opportunities to visit with the
growing number of Vanderbilt alumni and friends living and working
there.
Media contact: Susanne Hicks, (615) 322-NEWS
susanne.hicks@vanderbilt.edu