Dr. Cynthia Radding has been named director of the University of New Mexico's Latin American & Iberian Institute (LAII) effective July 1, announced Dr. Richard Holder, UNM deputy provost.
Radding, who has extensive research experience in Mexico and recently led the University of Illinois 's Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, was selected following a national search. Four candidates were invited to campus. She is an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC).
“Dr. Radding is an excellent scholar with a proven ability to attract external funding,”said Holder, adding that Radding will hold a tenured faculty position in UNM's history department and will teach courses for that academic unit as well as for the LAII.
Radding earned her Ph.D. in history from the University of California, San Diego, 1990; her master's from the University of California, Berkeley, 1970; and her bachelor's from Smith College, 1968.
On faculty at UIUC since 1995, Radding served as acting director of the institution's Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies from 1999-2000. In that role she led Center's successful application for National Resource Center status under the Title VI program of the U.S. Department of Education, and contributed to funded grant proposals to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Hewlett Foundation.
Radding was an assistant professor of history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis from 1990-95. Between 1973 and 1990, she served as a senior researcher for the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in the Regional Center for Sonora. She has published extensively in English and Spanish.
Radding's work, “Wandering Peoples,” Duke University Press, 1997, explores the social, cultural, economic and environmental history of portions of Arizona, Sonora and Sinaloa. She uses methods drawn from history, anthropology and ecology to understand the indigenous peasant people of the greater Sonoran Desert during colonial and early national periods.
Terry Yates, UNM vice provost for research and chair of the search committee, said, “The committee found Dr. Radding's strengths exceptional. LAII, at this point, needs a strong leader with a vision for the future that is consistent with leading-edge institutes. She has the right set of skills and experience to make the LAII Institute a world-class organization .”
Of her selection Radding said, “I am honored to assume directorship of UNM's Latin American & Iberian Institute, and to join the university's outstanding department of history. The LAII is a strong and important part of UNM and I look forward to working with its fine affiliated faculty and professional staff to build on its excellent programs in scholarship, teaching and outreach.
“I am eager to create collaborative projects with other University of New Mexico programs and units, and thereby enhance still further the institute's impact on Latin American Studies and its reputation among other universities in the U.S. and abroad.”
The Latin American & Iberian Institute administers UNM's interdisciplinary programs in Latin American Studies and provides university-wide support for Latin American and Iberian activities in all of UNM's eleven schools and colleges.
Contact: Carolyn Gonzales (505) 277-5920
Posted by kwentworth at January 8, 2004 04:23 PM