IUPLR - JANUARY 1999 Faculty E-mail Update


Dear Colleagues,

I hope that your holidays were filled with joy and laughter. With the new year upon us, we face new or additional challenges. Some of us will face new legislative sessions, new Governors, new semesters or quarters. Others face the rush of academic final examinations. Many exciting opportunities will undoubtedly present themselves. I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

This update contains a brief questionnaire. I encourage you to respond. Your responses will be compiled and reported in a National Academy of Sciences publication that will be published this year. We would like to have as many of opinions on these questions as possible from across the network.

Please be sure to let us know of your publications, honors, promotions and the like so we may share this news with everyone associated with the IUPLR. We remain committed to building and supporting a strong Latino scholarly network.


Regards,
Robert Otto Valdez, Ph.D.
Professor, Health Policy and Management, UCLA
Associate Director, Chicano Studies Research Center, UCLA
National Research Director, IUPLR
ROValdez@aol.com
http://iuplr.utexas.edu



**Survey for the National Academy of Sciences** Your responses are encouraged.


SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS

IUPLR Colleagues:

We write to enlist your response to some questions regarding research on Latinos in the United States. As part of the concluding activities sponsored by the President's Initiative on Race, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, held a research conference in October in Washington, D.C. on "Racial Trends in United States."

Frank Bonilla and I were commissioned to draft a paper focusing on the status of Latinos. In the final draft of the paper, we want to include information about the need for additional research and information about Latinos that goes beyond our own perspectives. The revised papers will be published next year by the NRC and will be distributed widely to federal agencies and foundations.

We view this publication and our contribution as a way to raise awareness about the lack of sufficient research and information about Latinos. With your help, we hope to provide a broader interdisciplinary description about research gaps and information needs that will inform a national audience about the status
of Latinos.

We greatly appreciate you taking a few minutes to respond to the two questions posed below. Please e-mail Al Camarillo with your responses by January 1, 1999 at: camar@leland.stanford.edu. We will send you a copy of the final draft of the NRC paper including the results of this informal survey. Thanks for your cooperation.


THE QUESTIONS

1) What are the most urgent data needs and gaps in research on Latinos in the United States? What are the corresponding areas for public policy-related research?

2) Suggest some future research directions that will help illuminate the condition of Latinos over the next decade. What do we need to know about ourselves and about American society if Latinos are to have a responsible role in helping to shape social policy into the twenty first century?


Thank you for your attention to this important questionnaire.



FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

IUPLR and the Smithsonian Institution announce the 1999-2000 Humanities Fellowships in Latino Cultural Research. The National Museum of American History invites humanities scholars to examine various issues related to the broad theme of urban life as it applies to Latinos/as in the United States. The 1999-2000 fellowship theme will have a focus on Latino History. This year, the program will fund senior and junior fellows. Senior fellows will be in residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for a maximum of six months and will receive a stipend of up to $25,000. At the junior level, the program is open to recent Ph.D. graduates and museum professionals. Completed applications and all supporting materials must be postmarked by January 30, 1999. For application materials please write to: Humanities Fellowship Program, Center for Museum Studies, A&I 2235, MRC 427, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560. For additional information, contact them by phone at (202) 357-3346, or by e-mail: mmieri@ic.si.edu.


The American Association of University Women Educational Foundation announces
$3 million in Fellowships and Grants. For more information, check their web site at: http://www.aauw.org.


FOR YOUR STUDENTS

The United States Department of State announces its Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program for 1999. The Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program provides undergraduate and graduate funding to participants as they are preparing academically and professionally to enter the United States Department of State Foreign Service. Applicants to the undergraduate program must be in the sophomore year of undergraduate study with a cumulative gpa of 3.2 or higher at the time of application. Application and supporting documents must be received by February 8, 1999 for the undergraduate program and by February 22, 1999 for the graduate program. Submit all materials to: Dr. Richard Hope, Director, Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, P.O. Box 2437, Princeton, NJ 08543-2437. Additional information can be found at their web site at: http://www.woodrow.org.


The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, in partnership with the United Negro College Fund announce the 1999 Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP) Fellowship Program. IIPP is seeking applicants for the fifth class of the IIPP Fellowship Program. The program represents a direct response to the identified national need to create a more diverse talent pool of well-trained, language-proficient professionals from which U.S. international affairs agencies and organizations can draw highly qualified personnel. Completed applications must be received by March 1, 1999. Applicants must be full-time college sophomores with a minimum gpa of 3.2. Please contact the IIPP administrative office for applications at (703) 205-3484.



FACULTY OPPORTUNITIES


The Chicano/Latino Studies Center at Portland State University seeks applicants for two (2) tenure-track posisitions at the Assistant Professor level. The program welcomes applicants from any academic area, but academic areas traditionally housed in a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are preferred. One position requires emphasis on Chicano(a) studies while the other position requires emphasis on Latino(a) studies. The positions are available starting September 16, 1999. Interested applicants should send a letter of application (specify position sought), Curriculum Vita, and full contact information for 3 academic references to: Chicano/Latino Search Committee, Chicano/Latino Studies Program, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, Oregon 97207. All application materials must be received by the close of business, February 26, 1999. For additional information, call (503) 725-8442.


The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is currently recruiting for the Senior Executive Service (SES) position of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health. Organizationally, this position is located within the Office of Public Health and Science. The selectee will serve as principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General on minority health programs and issues. Questions about this position or the application process can be directed to Mr. Lawrence Cromartie of the Division of Personnel Operations at (202) 619-3246.



ESSAY COMPETITION ANNOUNCEMENT

The Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (National Council for Culture and the Arts), through the Instituto Nacional de Antroplogía e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History), announces the PALENQUE PRIZE which will be awarded during the 3rd Palenque Round Table, to be held June 27-July 4, 1999. The Palenque Prize will be awarded to the best essay on the theme of Social Organization Among the Maya.

The competition is open to anyone under 35 years old on February 28, 1999. Essays should be between 20-30 pages in length, delivered in quadruplicate, and may be submitted in either Spanish or English. No works that have been previously published may be submitted. Competitors should also submit abstracts of their papers to be considered in the regular call for papers.

Essays will be anonymously submitted to the Academic Committee of the Palenque Round Tables, which will announce their decision within 2 months after all essays have been received. A single prize of $20,000.00 pesos (approximately $2000.00 USD) will be awarded. The Academic Committee of the Palenque Round Table will also select 5 semifinalists, who will be invited to present their papers at the 3rd Palenque Round Table, (all expenses paid).

Deadline for the essays is February 28, 1999. Essays should be sent to: Mtra. Vera Tiesler Blos, Córdoba 45, 1er. Piso, Col. Roma, C.P. 06700, México, D.F., MEXICO. You can also reach her by e-mail at: inahstec@yahoo.com. For more information, please visit their web site at: http://www.inah.gob.mx/palenque.



IUPLR E-mail Update compiled by:

Victor Sáenz
Graduate Research Assistant
Inter University Program for Latino Research
University of Texas at Austin
vbsaenz@mail.utexas.edu