The UWM Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) awarded fellowships to two PSOA faculty members for the 2024-25 academic year. Simone Ferro (Professor Emerita, Dance) and Alex Wier (Assistant Professor and Area Head, Percussion) both received fellowships that helped them expand research and strengthen international teaching.
Wier traveled to Puerto Rico, and Ferro made plans to travel to Brazil for the fall. In both instances, this travel is used to further ongoing research projects. We caught up with them both to hear more about their research.
Simone Ferro
For much of Simone Ferro’s academic life, she has been immersed in researching Brazilian culture. This research has long been supported by CLACS, with Ferro first receiving funds in 2008.
Ferro was most recently awarded by CLACS in the 2024-25 academic year to assist in the further development of her 17-year-long research project based in Maranhão, Brazil.
“CLACS has always believed in this project and believed once again to help me and provide aid in this research,” said Ferro.
This project studies folk and popular dance rituals, with CLACS supporting the organization of this research into a digital archive. Ferro’s evolving work will soon be part of the Latin American and Caribbean Special Collections archive at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
CLACS facilitated the connection with PSOA film major and Portuguese minor Lucca Marcello as an intern through the Portuguese 489 course. CLACS will sponsor a community-oriented campus event this fall.
“It has been really nice working with Lucca,” said Ferro. “For me, coming from dance is full circle. I have worked for so many years with students from the Peck School, so I’m really grateful that at this moment we can work with him.”
In addition to this research, Ferro has also been studying leadership roles of women in Brazil through CLACS funding. Specifically, she has been doing on-the-ground field research and interviewing more than 60 women to create podcast episodes to illuminate the stories of female leaders.
Ferro taught at PSOA for 22 years before retiring. While some may assume that retirement is a time for faculty to remove themselves from large-scale research work, Ferro has used this as an opportunity to dive deeper into the research she is passionate about.
“You have more time to prioritize your time to things that you believe in,” said Ferro. “This research is something that I truly believe. CLACS support allows this research to continue blossoming.”
Alex Wier
The PSOA Department of Music has also benefited from CLACS support, with Alex Wier using his fellowship to continue to grow World Percussion Night.
The popular annual event aims to connect students with community groups to interact with international stylings of music. Wier’s support from CLACS supported the purchase of new instruments and brought international musicians to campus to work with students.
Among them is Beto Torrens, a Puerto Rican musician Wier connected with during his CLACS-funded trip to Puerto Rico, where he studied the music, culture, and history to further develop his World Percussion Night teachings.
“Having a native of Puerto Rico and an outstanding musician present some of those classes to students is as good as you can get in terms of presenting that information and that music,” said Wier.
Wier is also putting CLACS funding to develop a K12 summer camp through UWM’s College for Kids & Teens program. This program will teach different styles of Latin, Latin American, and Caribbean music.
Through the variety of ways Wier has used CLACS funding, his goal of expanding young musicians’ musical and cultural vocabulary has been consistent.
“I would argue not just as music students but as people, the more awareness you have of other cultures will make you a more compassionate and well-rounded human being,” said Wier. “In musical studies, you grow and develop when working on a different style of music outside of the Western Canon.”
Wier is grateful to see the impact of CLACS funding on his program and across PSOA.
“The support of CLACS has been very helpful for having guests on campus and offering educational opportunities for our whole campus community,” said Wier. “Peck has been very supportive of growing these offerings… That partnership with PSOA and CLACS helps these things come to life.”
Story by Jason McCullum ’25