Robert Kirkland, professor of military science and adjunct assistant professor of history, has been elected president of the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies, an interdisciplinary organization composed of academics, professionals, students, and other persons interested in promoting scholarly research and dialogue between the U.S., Latin America, and the Caribbean.
As president, one of Kirkland's functions will be presiding over the organization's 2009 conference in Las Vegasone of the few multi-disciplinary Latin American studies conferences on the West Coast. The annual meetings address recent developments in the field, welcoming participation from the Pacific regions of Mexico, Canada, and the United States.
"PCCLAS attendees present a variety of papers, and it's an excellent forum for scholars of various disciplines to share their research with other Latin Americanists," Kirkland says of the organization, whose scope encompasses the fullness of social life ranging from art and culture to pressing socioeconomic, political, and environmental issues.
PCCLAS also bestows the Hubert Herring Award, an annual book and scholarly article prize named for the long-time professor of history at Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University.
Kirkland is the author of Observing Our Hermanos de Armas (Routledge 2003), a book on the U.S. Military Attach? experience in Latin America in the 1950s and 1960. He has also authored several journal articles, contributed to a number of Latin American encyclopedias, and is the recipient of the Kravis Leadership Institute Faculty Research Grant (2005), the David Hetz Ethics Grant, (2005), and the Juan Espedas Prize, Middle Atlantic Council For Latin American Studies.