Event: The University of Texas at Austin and ANUIES, a Mexican higher education organization, will host a binational conference June 26-27, featuring the Mexican Secretary of Education Josefina Vázquez Mota and David Dunn, chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Education. This is the first time ANUIES has held the conference, the largest gathering of Mexican university presidents outside of the country, in the United States.
When: Steven Leslie, university provost, and Rafael López Castañares, ANUIES executive secretary general, will welcome the cross-border educators at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 26, at the Blanton Museum of Art. The conference resumes at 9 a.m. Friday, June 27, at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Where: The Blanton Museum of Art and the Four Seasons Hotel, 98 San Jacinto Blvd. Although the event is open to the media, the conference is not open to the public.
Background: ANUIES (Asociación Nacional de Universidades e Instituciones de Educación Superior) is a nonprofit organization that brings together the colleges and universities of Mexico to promote improvements in teaching, research and student services. Founded in 1950, ANUIES comprises 149 public and private Mexican institutions of higher learning, including the most prestigious universities in the country. It represents 80 percent of all undergraduate and graduate students pursuing degrees in Mexico.
ANUIES identified The University of Texas at Austin as a partner for the conference because of its longstanding ties with Mexican universities and scholars. The university recently has renewed its commitment to strengthening these vital relationships through exchange initiatives and major research projects led by internationally recognized programs such as the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies and the Benson Latin American Collection.