Faculty Associates

The research and academic agenda of The Center for U.S.-México Studies is enriched and strengthen by its Faculty Associates, who analyze and research about U.S. - Mexico affairs from the social science, arts, and humanities perspectives, publishing internationally and lecturing UTD students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Faculty Associates provide the experience, ideas, and energy needed to ensure that the Center's seminars, conferences, lecture series, and publications are of the highest quality. They often lecture in Mexico to students and provide training to Mexican public officials in making policy decisions from a leadership perspective.

Dr. Brian J.L. Berry is Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor and Professor of Political Economy at the University of Texas at Dallas. He received his B.Sc. (Economics) degree at University College, London in 1955, the M.A. in geography from the University of Washington in 1956 and the Ph.D. in 1958. He was a faculty member at the University of Chicago (1958-1976), at Harvard (1976-1981), and a dean at Carnegie-Mellon (1981-1986), joining UTD in 1986. In the 1960s his urban and regional research sparked geography's "quantitative revolution" and made him the most-cited geographer for more than 25 years. Subsequently, his inquiries have extended from urban ecology to geographic information systems, from growth center theory to the concept of counterurbanization, and, most recently, have focussed on long-wave macroeconomic/historical processes. The author of more than 450 books and articles, he has attempted to bridge theory and practice via involvement in urban and regional development activities in both advanced and developing countries. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975, is a fellow of the British Academy and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and received the Victoria Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1988. In 1999 he became the first geographer to serve as a member of the Council of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Berry has lectured on technology and development to cabinet members of State and Federal governments in Mexico.

Dr. Richard R. Brettell was born in Rochester, NY, he obtained his bachelor, master and Ph. D. degree on art from Yale University. He was Curator at The Art Institute of Chicago from 1980 to 1988 and director of the Dallas Museum of Art from 1988 to 1992. He curated the permanent installation of The Museum of the Americas at the Dallas Museum of Art. At present he teaches Aesthetic Studies at UTD, he is also the American coordinator of FRAME (French Regional and American Museums Exchange) and curated the exhibition Painting Quickly in France from 1860 to 1890. At the National Gallery in London on the fall 2000. Mr. Brettell isalso consultant for the project of the new Museum of Natural History of Dallas that was commissioned to the architect Frank O. Gerhy.

Dr. Marie Chevrier received her B.A. from the University of Nebraska and her Master's and Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University. Marie Isabelle Chevrier is associate professor of political economy and Coordinator of the Masters Program in Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is the former associate director of the Harvard Sussex Program on Chemical and Biological Armaments and Arms Limitation at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Dr. Chevrier's research on arms control negotiations has appeared in Politics and the Life Science, Program on Chemical and Biological Armaments and Arms Limitation at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University. Dr. Chevrier's research on arms control negotiations has appeared in Politics and the Life Science, Contemporary Security Policy, The NonProliferation Review, The Washington Post, The Newsletter of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Disarmament Diplomacy and other publications. Dr. Chevrier has participated in the Leadership Seminar, lecturing on leadership and conflict resolution, organized by the Presidency of Mexico and The Center for U.S. - Mexico Studies in 2001.

Dr. Maria A. Engen received her B.A. (Suma Cum Laude) from the Instituto Isabel La Católica, Madrid, Spain and two Master Degrees, one from University of Madrid, Spain and the other from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Engen received her Ph.D. in the Humanities from the University of Madrid. Her dissertation was titled "The Development of Historical Writing in California." Dr. Engen is Senior Lecturer of Spanish at The University of Texas at Dallas. Also, Dr. Engen was Senior Lecturer at the University of Missouri at Kansas City,Missouri, and Adjunct Instructor of Spanish at the Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS. Dr Engen received a Fulbright Fellowship and the Panama Pacific International Exposition Memorial Fellowship from University of California at Berkeley. She had provided Spanish Language consulting services such as translations and seminars to Cable Video, Inc., Kansas City; Black and Veach, Inc., Overland Park, KS; Rockwell International, Dallas, TX; Texas Instruments, Richardson, TX; Otis Engineering, Dallas, TX. Dr. Engen is member of Spanish Heritage Association (SHA), American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP).

Dr. Sheila Amin Gutiérrez de Piñeres, Assistant Professor of Economics: Ph.D. (Economics) Duke University, 1992; M.A. (Economics) University of Chicago 1989; B.A. (Economics) Texas A&M University 1988. Associate Professor of Economics and Finance, Program Head for Economics and Finance, Internship Director for Economics and Finance Majors Faculty Advisor for Omicron Delta Epsilon and Economics and Finance Club. Sheila Piñeres' major area of research focuses on the economic development of Latin America, specially in the case of Mexico, with an emphasis on macroeconomic trade issues and the role of international liberalization (trade and financial) in maintaining sustainable economic growth. Her current work analyzes the path of development and export diversification in Latin American countries and the macroeconomic policy prescriptions that complement higher levels of economic growth. Dr. Piñeres has lectured in the Leadership Seminar, organized by the State Government of Guanajuato and The Center for U.S. - Mexico Studies in 1996.

Dr. Jennifer Holmes received her B.A. in Political Science at The University of Chicago in 1993. General and Departmental Honors. Summer 1999, ICPSR summer program at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. from University of Minnesota in August 1998. Major fields: Comparative Politics and Political Theory. Supporting program: History of the Hispanic World and International Relations. Assistant Professor, Government and Politics and Political Economy, School of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, January 2000 - present. Visiting Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, August 1998 - December 1999. Dr. Holmes has developed a comparative research agenda, giving emphasis on the case of Mexico.

Dr. Monica A. Rankin holds a post-doctoral University Fellowship at the University of Texas at Dallas.  She is a Cum Laude graduate of Missouri State University in Springfield with a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish.  She holds two M.A. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis in the fields of International Affairs and History.  She is a past recipient of the Hewlitt Foundation Fellowship for Mexico and the Fulbright Garcia Robles Fellowship for Mexico.  Monica Rankin completed her Ph.D. in Latin American History from the University of Arizona in 2004, with her dissertation “¡México, la patria! Modernity, National Unity, and Propaganda during World War II.”  Her current research continues to examine popular culture and nationalism in 20th century Mexico.
Dr. Rankin is finishing her first monograph on the propaganda, nationalism, and insutrialization in Mexico during World War II.  She is also publishing various articles and chapters on Mexico's diplomacy during the war, popular culture and Mexican women in the 1940s, and Mexico's educational system in the context of war and nationalism.  She teaches a variety of upper level undergraduate courses including: Colonial Latin America, Modern Latin America, the History of Modern Mexico, and Latin American History through Film.  Her graduate courses include: Women in Latin America, Latin American Popular Culture, Latin American History through the Novel, and Literature of the Mexican Revolution.

Dr. Rainer Schulte is a translator, poet, playwright, essayist, and critic of contemporary international literature. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. He studied philosophy for several years at the Gutenberg University in Mainz and was a student in the master class for piano at the Music Academy in Darmstadt. His language background includes studies in Mexico, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. He has translated works of contemporary poets and writers from German, French, and Spanish. He has edited several anthologies of contemporary international literature and written numerous studies on the craft and theory of literary translation. He is the director of The Center for Translation Studies and the editor of Translation Review, which he founded in 1978. He is the co-founder of the American Literary Translators Association. (ALTA), whose national office is located in The Center for Translation Studies. He is a Professor of Arts and Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and the holder of the Katherine R. Cecil Professorship for Foreign Languages. Furthermore, he has been instrumental in developing Translation Workshops for the art and craft of literary translation.

Dr. Marco Atzori was born in Oristano, Italy, on may 6th 1963. He got a degree in Physics from the University of Trieste, Italy (1989). He has been working for two years in a laboratory of organic chemistry (PolyBios, Research Triangle, Trieste, Italy), before continuing his studies with a Master of Science (1993) and a PhD in Biophysics from the International School for Advanced Studies (ISAS/SISSA) in the same city, where he was trained as an electrophysiologist.
After obtaining the doctorate he spent one year as Post Doctoral fellow at the University of Memphis (TN). Subsequenty he joined the National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorder of the NIH (NIDCD/NIH) and later the National Institute of Children and Human Development (NICHD) in Bethesda, MD (1997-2000) before joining the Blanchette Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (BRNI) in Rockville, MD as a Research Assistant Professor (2000-2004). He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the School for Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas (SBBS/UTD) where he is responsible of the Laboratory of Cell and Synaptic Physiology.
Since 1997 he developed a series of collaboration with several Mexican collaborators and Institutions, contributing to the set-up the first thin-slices patch-clamp system in Mexico, in the Laboratory of Prof. José Bargas, at the Instituto de Fisiologia Celular of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), the establishment of a research program on the Neocortex at the Universidad Autonoma De Yucatan (UADY), Centro de Investigaciones Regionales Hideyo Noguchi in Merida, Yucatan, with Prof. Juan Carlos Pineda Cortez, and a series of studies on the neuromodulation of the biophysical properties of membrane receptors at the Instituto de Fisiologia of the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla (BUAP) with Prof. Jorge Flores Hernandez.
His current research focuses on neuromodulation, synaptic and circuitry properties of the temporal cortex.

Dr. Susan Briante is a poet, translator and essayist. Her first full-length
collection of poetry, Pioneers in the Study of Motion, was published by
Ahsahta Press. Many of the poems in the collection reference her experiences
living in Mexico City from 1992-1998 and reading the Latin American
avant-garde. Poet CD Wright describes the book as "a work of shuddering
velocity's an ode, a screed, a lament, a love song of Œpristine and
inarticulate mornings."
Briante's poetry has appeared in more than 50 journals including New
American Writing, TriQuarterly, and Indiana Review, among others. She has also published a series of essays on relationship between place and cultural memories; some of these essays have appeared in The Believer, Painted Bride Quarterly, and The Texas Observer. Her essay, "Hotel de México," won the 2002 Atlantic Monthly Student Non-Fiction Contest and was subsequently published in Creative Non-Fiction.  
In addition, her translations and writing about the work of Latin American poets and artists have been published in journals such as Bomb, Sentence, The Bilingual Review and Reversible Monuments, an anthology of Mexican poets published by Copper Canyon Press. She has received awards from the MacDowell Colony, the Millay Colony, the Academy of American Poets, and the US-Mexico Fund for Culture. Briante holds an MA in Comparative Literature, an MFA in Poetry, as well as a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin. She is an assistant professor of aesthetic studies at The University of Texas at Dallas.