The end of this academic year brings many new beginnings.We celebrate the scholarly achievements of our graduating undergraduate minors and majors and cheer for the career milestones reached by our graduate students (see Graduate News). We give thanks for another year’s good work, with our partners, the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center, La Comunidad Intelectual living learning community and our sister social justice and intersectional studies institutes, helping to nurture and promote diverse voices. Without the inspired ideas and indefatigable energy of our faculty and staff, I could accomplish nothing as El Instituto’s lead coordinator. Thanks in particular this year go to our Associate Director, Anne Gebelein, who stepped in to serve as acting director of El Instituto during my spring semester sabbatical leave. At this time of the year, we look forward to new possibilities for El Instituto, too, through partnerships aiming to bring more talented and community engaged faculty and students to campus. The need seems greater than ever for the kinds of critical, fact-based, innovative, politically progressive and experience-near research, teaching and outreach that we support. I look forward to hearing your ideas about how we can work together better, next year and beyond.

 

-Samuel Martinez

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