AUSTIN, Texas—Joe and Teresa Lozano Long announced today (Nov. 20) a gift of $10 million as a permanent endowment for research, scholarships and other educational endeavors at the Institute of Latin American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin.
Sixty percent of the endowment is earmarked for student support, including undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, and grants for field research and study abroad. The remainder is for teaching fellowships and joint faculty research projects.
“This is our way of acknowledging the importance of Latin America in the future of this country and, therefore, the critical role that the institute continues to play in forging closer ties to Latin America,” said Teresa Lozano Long. “We hope that this investment will help to attract the very top graduate students from the United States and Latin America.”
The institute will be renamed the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies.
Joe and Teresa Long are both graduates of UT Austin. In addition, Joe Long received his law degree and Teresa Lozano Long received her doctorate of education degree from UT Austin. Today’s gift is in addition to a gift of $6.7 million made to the University in 1999 for endowments in education, liberal arts and law, as well as support to the University Interscholastic League.
“Joe and Teresa Long are not only extremely generous to The University of Texas, they are exceptionally farsighted and strategic in their gift-giving,” said Dr. Larry R. Faulkner, president of UT Austin. “The Institute of Latin American Studies is one of the crown jewels of this University and it is, and will continue to be, a key player in this country’s relations with our neighbors to the south.”
“This endowment will significantly enhance the image of the institute and its academic mission,” said Nicolas Shumway, the institute’s director. “Everything in this endowment will make it possible for us to do a much better job in research and teaching. We’ll attract the best students in the country, and they will become the leaders of tomorrow.”
In addition to student support, the endowment will fund up to four endowed professorships and pay for visiting professors from Latin America. Funding also is designated for international research on policy issues such as immigration, drug trafficking and debt reduction.
Founded in 1940, the institute is the oldest center for Latin American studies in the United States. A multidisciplinary organization, the institute integrates more than 30 academic departments at UT Austin. Its goals are to give solid academic training to talented students who want to dedicate their careers to Latin America; to enrich human understanding and appreciation of Latin American society, history and culture; and to contribute to economic, social and political advancement of the Latin American region.
The institute has a faculty of 140 professors from all disciplines at the University. Its master’s degree program works in concert with the LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT School of Law, College of Communication, Red McCombs School of Business and the Community and Regional Planning Program in the School of Architecture.
The Benson Latin American Collection is the leading specialized university library on Latin America in the world. Comprised of 800,000 volumes, the collection is the largest U.S. library of Latin American documents outside of the Library of Congress.
The institute owns a significant Latin American art collection representing more than 200 contemporary artists. Its Web site, www.lanic.utexas.edu, is the premier gateway to academic databases and Internet-based information on Latin America. The site averages two million visits per month.
There are 250 undergraduate majors and 120 students in master’s programs at the institute.
