Regional expertise, research, and events.

The Brandeis IBS Latin America initiative focuses on familiarizing students with Latin American current affairs and economic issues. It does so by fostering the global connections of Brandeis IBS’s faculty, hosting distinguished speaker events, and organizing on-campus cultural celebrations for students.

Through these efforts, we provide our students with a first-hand Latin American experiences that parallels the Brandeis IBS vision of global exposure.

Building Bridges

Brandeis IBS is committed to bringing high-profile speakers from Latin America to share their experiences and perspectives with our students.

In October 2011, less than a year after the founding of Brandeis IBS’s Latin Club, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo sat down with the club to discuss contemporary issues surrounding economic development and corporate social responsibility.

"At Brandeis IBS we are the ambassadors of our countries,” said Jaime Vergara, MBA ’12. “It is our goal to show the value that we as Latinos have in Latin America."

In 2010, in the wake of his successful tenure, Brazil’s former central bank governor Henrique Meirelles visited Brandeis IBS to address the measures that he and others took to solve Brazil’s problems of economic instability.

Global Trade Summit

Students this year had the unique opportunity to attend the 2012 Global Trade Summit,where Brazil was among the four focus countries. Special guests on the speaker panel, which focused on the Brazilian economy, included Fernando de Mello Barreto, consul general of Brazil in Boston, and José Castelló, managing director and deputy head at Sovereign Bank. Massachusetts Governor Patrick was the keynote speaker at the event, and he used the opportunity to announce the visit of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff’s to Massachusetts on April 10.

Opportunities for International Immersion: Cuba

During the 2012 March break, Brandeis IBS made history when it sent 30 MA and MBA students to Cuba on a one-week academic immersion trip. Students were able to gain a first-hand experience of seeing the country in transition. They also paid a visit to Cuba’s first MBA program, which works to provide Cuban students with the entrepreneurial skills needed to operate in the global market.

Faculty Insights on the Region

Assistant Professor Ricardo López, a native of Chile, joined Brandeis IBS faculty in 2010, after having spent four years working as an economic advisor to the Chilean minister of economy. His research focuses on economic growth in Latin America, one of his most recent publications being "Imports of Intermediate Inputs and Spillover Effects: Evidence from Chilean Plants" (published in 2010).