The Center for U.S.-México Studies was created in 1995 under the leadership of Dr. Franklyn Jenifer and Dr. B. Hobson Wildenthal, President and Provost of The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), respectively. The Center reflects the importance of Mexico to the United States and, specifically, to the northern portion of Texas, in the context of historical mutual understanding and co-existence of both nations. Since 1995, the Center has developed an academic bi-national agenda between UTD and Mexican higher educational institutions to offer mechanisms of communication and learning experiences for Mexican and U.S. scholars, researchers, and students in science, technology, management, social sciences, arts, and humanities.

Since the Center´s inception, we have developed exchange programs with Mexican universities and created courses, received teaching and research assistants, scholars, and lecturers, from Mexico and sent students, faculty, and staff to Mexico. Currently UTD collaborates, under the leadership of the Center, with the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) and the Organization of American States (OAS), co-sponsoring graduate scholarships in the areas of science, technology, social sciences, arts, and humanities. UTD also began implementing the Pilot Program for Enrolling Students from Mexico (PPESM) in Fall 2002, under the initiative of The Center. This program allows Mexican students to be considered as Texas residents for purposes of their UTD tuition, under certain conditions.

The Center has offered the UTD-Mexico Scientific Summer Program for three consecutive years with the collaboration of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Arts and Humanities, and the Office of Graduate Studies. This program allows Mexican students in the last years of their bachelor degrees to immerse themselves for two months in UTD faculty research, U. S. culture, and the English language.

Since 1995, UTD professors and researchers have actively developed and supported the Center's academic agenda. They 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 public officials, and provide training in making policy decisions from a leadership perspective.

The Center has developed the U.S.-Mexico Lecture Series bringing high profile scholars, journalists, and politicians focused on the analysis of U.S. - Mexico affairs and/or the Mexican reality. Since the Center's inception Vicente Fox, Carlos Fuentes, Ezequiel Padilla, Andres Oppenheimer, Elena Poniatowska, Tony Garza, Mario Melgar, Mónica Verea, Peter Ward, David Beall, Victoria Rodríguez, and Ana María Salazar, among others, have participated. In this academic year 2004-2005, it is confirmed the participation of Mario Moisés Alvarez, Director of the Biotechnology Center of the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Arexi Urrutia, 2003 recipient of the Biochemistry's Quayle, Ede and Ravenscroft awards, and the L'Oreal - Royal Institution Award to the Science Graduate Student, Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, former Mexican Ambassador to United Nations, Jacqueline Peschard, United Nations advisor for the design of the electoral council of Iraq and former council member of the Mexican Electoral Federal Institute, and José Luís Castillo, Director of the University of Guanajuato Orchestra.

I welcome you to join our efforts to improve understanding and collaboration between Mexico and The United Stated, with your participation, comments, suggestions, and/or questions. I hope you find this web page helpful and informative.

Thank you for visiting the web page of The Center for U.S.-México Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).

Sincerely,
Rodolfo Hernandez Guerrero
Director

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