Pedro Cabán, the Latino Studies Program director for this academic year, in his Rockefeller Hall office. Charles Harrington/University Photography
The Latino Studies Program (LSP) at Cornell is poised to become a premier center for both undergraduate education and faculty research, says Pedro Cabán, a visiting professor of government and the program's director for the academic year 1999-2000.
To evolve, the LSP will need across-the-board support from the administration, from faculty in diverse academic units and from the students themselves, Cabán says.
"Any kind of academic endeavor has to be a collaborative as well as a cooperative one," said Cabán, whose appointment was effective July 1. "At Cornell we have the resources, the location and the context to start building an integrated and intellectually challenging Latino studies curriculum that will expand educational opportunities -- not just for Latino students -- but for all students," he said.
Cabán is on leave from Rutgers University, where he is an associate professor of political science and Puerto Rican/Hispanic Caribbean studies. In addition to his director duties at Cornell he will teach a course titled Latino Politics in the United States.
From 1990 to 1998, Cabán served as chair of the Rutgers Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caribbean Studies Department. Prior to that appointment, he taught at Fordham University and served as director of its Puerto Rican and Latin American Studies Program from 1978 to 1988.
"I truly believe that Professor Cabán's arrival at Cornell will mark the initiation of a very productive period, not just for the Latino Studies Program, but for all the constituent communities on campus," said Vilma Santiago-Irizarry, an assistant professor in anthropology and Latino studies. "Professor Cabán brings the kinds of intellectual, academic and administrative experiences that will enhance the program's national reputation and standing."
Cabán's appointment at Cornell follows a year of public outcry about the lack of direction at LSP, punctuated by several student demonstrations. Concerns expressed focused on the absence of a permanent program director, a history of unsuccessful searches for a director, lack of full-time faculty and the perception that LSP development has been too slow.
A statement issued by Philip Lewis, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Biddy Martin, senior associate dean of the college, announcing Cabán's appointment expressed the hope that "under Dr. Cabán's leadership ... it will be possible to overcome the conflicts among participants in the program ... and to establish plans for the program's future."
Cabán currently is the co-chair of the Latina/o Section of the Latin American Studies Association and a member of the executive council of the Puerto Rican Studies Association. He served on a task force for the Inter University Project on Latino Research, is the chairman for the Latinas/os in the U.S. program of LASA and was co-director of the Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture.
Cabán's academic interests include the study of the economic and political dynamics among the principal Latino communities in the northeastern United States and their counterparts in the Caribbean, Mexico and South America, a subject on which he has written numerous articles and reviews. Westview Press recently published Cabán's first book, titled Constructing a Colonial People: Puerto Rico and the United States, 1898-1932, and he is now engaged in a study on the emergence of the Chicano/Puerto Rican studies movement of the late 1960s and its relationship to Latino studies today. Cabán was himself a student activist advocating Puerto Rican studies three decades ago.
"My hope is that this diversified background will be helpful as I try to move the program -- with the assistance of faculty, students and administration -- forward in the direction we all would like to see," said Cabán. "It's going to be an important component of the intellectual life of the university. Students need to have a role in the program's development, while realizing they are responsible for their own intellectual development."
Vanessa Cruz, a senior in archaeology, supports what she has heard from Cabán.
"From my conversations with him, I can see he is committed to the creation of a solid and relevant intellectual agenda for the program," she said. "He wants to solidify the Latino Studies Program as a place where important issues for Latino communities and for the academic fields are raised, explored and discussed. I believe that will be Pedro's greatest contribution to the LSP."
Cornell and Columbia University are the only Ivies with established Latino studies programs with defined curricula and core faculty. Unlike Columbia, Cornell offers a concentration, rather than a major, in Latino studies. But Cornell's LSP has distinct advantages, said Cabán.
"Cornell's program has three jointly appointed faculty and can draw on faculty in other academic units who have research and teaching experience in Latino studies," he said. "Moreover, the director of Latino studies here, unlike his or her counterpart at Columbia, reports directly to the dean of the college -- a considerable advantage."
In addition to Cabán's appointment, the College of Arts and Sciences authorized searches for new LSP faculty in English, government and sociology last year. The Department of English appointed Mary Pat Brady, whose area of specialization includes Chicana/o studies, and government has made an offer to one of its candidates. One new faculty member, María Cristina García, a history professor, has a dual appointment in history and Latino studies.
In the fall LSP newsletter, Cabán stated that, with full support from college deans, the program's computer lab will be upgraded this academic year, and needed administrative computer support will be made available. Funding, through the dean's office, will support a "conference on the state of Latina/o studies," and host "two important scholars in Latina/o studies to lecture at Cornell," he said.
Cabán points out that Cornell's administration has "publicly called on the academic departments to 'exercise enlightened leadership' in addressing the legitimate academic concerns raised by [LSP] students over the years."
His administrative and academic savvy will benefit the LSP in the long term. But Cabán's presence as a scholar, mentor and advocate to students in the program already has gone a long way toward rejuvenating the LSP.
José Bello is a graduate student from the Dominican Republic. He met Cabán last May while looking for guidance with his master's thesis on the dynamics of Dominican American politics in the United States.
"I did not understand what happened last year at LSP, but Dr. Cabán seems to be very dedicated to designing a future for this program," said Bello. "He knows all the [current] Dominican scholars personally and [has made] himself available as my independent studies adviser."
As much as Cabán is there for Latino students, his ultimate vision for the LSP embraces the entire student population.
"I want to get away from this notion that Latino studies is for Latinos; that's not my opinion," Cabán said. "When we're talking about Latinos in the next decade becoming the largest minority in the United States, I think it makes sense for people to understand how that community fits into the larger scheme of things. If we know America to be a great complex society with a rich, diversified historic formation, I think it makes sense for us to recognize that what is done in Latino studies has an impact beyond the field. So students who are not Latinos should be aware that learning about Latinos in the U.S. is something that benefits them by deepening their knowledge of the history and political dynamics of this country."
| Cornell Chronicle Front Page | | Table of Contents | | Cornell News Service Home Page |