Latin American Expert Appointed to Faculty

An expert on Latin American economic development has been named to a chair in the School of Public Administration, and funds have been secured for a new chair of Latin American literature. These two moves to strengthen the study of Latin America here leave "just two or three more pieces to fall into place" before the University will have a strong program in that field, according to Dean Ford.

Albert O. Hirschman, author of The Strategy of Economic Development and Journeys Toward Progress: Studies of Economic Policy-making in Latin America, has been named a professor of Political Economy and will begin teaching here in September, 1965.

Next year, he will study the work of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development in assisting under-developed countries.

William S. Barnes, Director of inter-American Studies, said last night that there were no current plans for a center or a degree program in Latin American studies. Rather, he said, he hopes to increase the number of regular departmental courses dealing with the area. Barnes also said that he was "constitutionally in favor of more summer: fellowships for undergraduates to travel in Latin America."

The professorship in Latin American literature joins two other chairs in Latin American studies which are currently without permanent occupants, the Bliss Professorship in Latin American History and the Monroe Gutman Professorship of Latin American Affairs, a chair usually occupied by experts on government.

The income from the Bliss endowment is currently being used to support three Bliss Fellows who have been studying Latin American history. Two of them, Thomas E. Skidmore and Gordon Smith, will resume teaching next year, while the third, John Womack, will become available in September, 1965.

Next year, visiting professors from Latin America will include Villa Rogas, a Mexican expert on Mayan Indians, and Orlando Fars Borda, a Colombian sociologist, in the fall, and Rodriguez Monegal, a Brazilian expert on comparative literature, in the spring.