LAS Alumni News and Notes
Alexandra Anda (MALAS 2008) is pursuing a law degree at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador.
Kiran Asher (PhD Political Science 1998) is Associate Professor of International Development and Social Change at Clark University in Worcester, MA. Her book entitled Black and Green: Afro-Colombians, Development, and Nature will be published by Duke University Press in 2009. Kiran just received a Fulbright Indo-American Environmental Leadership award for three months of research on environmental conservation in India.
Robin Augello (MS Management 2005, MA International Business 2006) is Supervisor of Latin American Entertainment Sales Operations for Turner Broadcasting System in Atlanta, GA.
Marcos Avellán (BA Political Science 1995, MALAS 1998) has worked with both Sears Holdings Corporation and Target. Currently, he is the Store Manager of the St. Petersburg Sears store. He also serves as the Recruitment Captain for Sears at UF. Marcos and his wife are expecting their first child in April and they live in Tampa, FL.
Juliana Azoubel (BFA Dance 2001, MALAS 2007) is a dance professor at the Universidade Federal de Paraná in Brazil.
Thomas Brunton (MS FRE & LAS Certificate/MBA 1994) is a software engineer with Convergys and lives in Royse City, TX.
Avecita Chicchón (PhD Anthroplogy 1992) is Latin American and Caribbean Program Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Bronx, NY.
Kirsten (Anderson) Clanton (BA Spanish 2001, MALAS/JD 2005) is a staff attorney at Southern Legal Counsel, a non-profit public interest law firm, in Gainesville, FL.
Ed Johnson (MALAS/MBA 2006) is a Manager for Corporate Strategy and Pricing and Profitability Management at Deloitte Consulting in Atlanta, GA.
Terri Kennedy (BA Journalism & LAS Certificate 1977) is a Senior Executive Producer for W3 Productions and WPN Productions and lives in St. Petersburg, FL.
Robert Maguire (MALAS 1975) is Associate Professor of International Affairs at Trinity Washington University in Maryland. He recently became a Senior Fellow in the Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program of the United States Institute of Peace and will spend a sabbatical year working on a manuscript tentatively entitled "Allocating Resources for Stability and Development in Transitional Societies: The Case of Haiti.”
George Martinez (MALAS 1976) is Director of the Tampa Bay US Export Assistance Center.
Nick Rubio (BS Economics & LAS Minor 2004, MALAS 2006) works in the Office of Negotiation and Agreements of the Foreign Agricultural Service in Washington, DC.
Ernesto Sagás (MALAS 1988, PhD Political Science & LAS Certificate 1993) is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO.
Joseph Scarpaci (PhD Geography & LAS Certificate 1985) is a Professor at Virginia Tech University and has been nominated to the Editorial Board of Southeastern Geographer. He served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Chile at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in August 2008 and was awarded the 2008 Geography Scholar Award by the Virginia Social Science Association.
Billy Shields (MALAS 2006; MA Mass Communication 2007) is a writer for the Daily Business Review and lives in Miami, FL.
H.A. Smith (MALAS 1997) is a social studies teacher at Nease High School in St. John’s County, FL.
Veronica Sparks (MALAS 2004) is a Sales Representative for Pearson Education and lives in Zachary, LA.
Luis Suárez-Isaza (BA Political Science & LAS Minor 2007) interned for the Western Hemisphere team of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University after graduating from UF. He just finished a joint MA (Euromasters) at the University of Bath, Free University of Berlin and Sciences Po Paris, and is working on a thesis called "Contestation of the Norm of Sovereignty: The 2008 Colombian Incursion into Ecuador." In September, he started a Masters in Public Policy at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, Germany.
Kevin Sullivan (BA History & LAS Certificate 1975) owns Latam Medical which markets medical equipment to Latin American surgeons. He lives in Montclair, NJ.
Carlos de la Torre (BA Sociology 1983), Chair of the Political Science Department at FLACSO-Ecuador, was selected as a Woodrow Wilson International Center Fellow for 2008-09. He is working on a research project called “Andean Radical Populism: The Foe or Essence of Democracy?” He recently co-edited, with Steve Striffler, The Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Politics published by Duke University Press.
Lee Demetrius Walker (MALAS 1998, PhD Political Science 2003) is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of South Carolina where he specializes in Latin American politics, democratization, political methodology, and survey research.