Professor Sugiyama Marks 10 Years as CLACS Director

Among the many celebrations that accompany the successful end to an academic year, this spring CLACS had a special milestone to celebrate: ten years under the leadership of Natasha Borges Sugiyama, Professor of Political Science and Director of UWM’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.  

Professor Sugiyama stepped into the CLACS directorship in May of 2015, and during her tenure has intentionally broadened the scope of what the center does, reimagining how CLACS connects to Milwaukee, the U.S., and globally. This shift has been reflected in CLACS’s programming: under Sugiyama’s leadership, the center launched the successful CLACS Faculty Fellows annual program (autumn 2020), expanded its corps of visiting scholars and connected them to UWM’s research community, and implemented the Brazil Initiative (February 2019), a regional network to promote scholarship, teaching, and public engagements related to Brazilian Studies. Professor Sugiyama also secured three Tinker Foundation Awards (autumn 2015 – spring 2018) to support graduate student research in Latin America.  

The success of these varied initiatives, and CLACS’s ongoing promotion of Latin American and Caribbean studies on campus and beyond, is thanks to Sugiyama’s clear vision for growth and tireless advocacy. And for her, CLACS’s strong network of collaborators is a reward in itself. Professor Sugiyama notes that the highlight of her work in this role has always been getting to meet and work with so many dedicated scholars and community members, across campus and the Upper Midwest more broadly. “The directorship is really being a champion for all of our affiliates,” she recently noted, and remarked that it has been a joy to take on this advocacy role to help others advance their work in Latin American and Caribbean studies.  

CLACS staff were pleased to celebrate Professor Sugiyama’s leadership recently with our colleagues, when we gathered on May 15 for our end-of-year celebration – an afternoon when we also recognized the contributions of six of our retiring and departing faculty colleagues to our scholarly community. Our collaborations are stronger for the leadership of Professor Sugiyama, and we invite you to join us in thanking her for her decade of advocacy for Latin American and Caribbean studies here at UWM.