Speakers

George Reid Andrews is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has taught Latin American history since 1981. He specializes on the study of race in Latin America and is the author of Blackness in the White Nation: Afro-Uruguay, 1830-2010 (forthcoming 2010), Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000 (2004), Blacks and Whites in São Paulo, Brazil, 1888-1988 (1991), and The Afro-Argentines of Buenos Aires, 1800-1900 (1980).

Werner Baer is the Jorge Lemann Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois where he has been since 1974. He is the foremost scholar on the Brazilian economy. His current research focuses on the industrialization of Latin America and its consequences, and the process of privatization in Latin America. He teaches courses on international economics, the economics of Latin America, economic development, and macroeconomics. The 6th edition of his book Brazilian Economy was published in 2008 and several chapters from his latest work, Brazil under Lula is on your course site as required reading for the course. 

Professor Baer has a B.A. in Economics from Queen’s College and MS and PhD from Harvard. Professor Baer spends two months of the year doing research in Brazil, has been a visiting professor in various Brazilian and other universities, and has received the nation’s highest academic honors including Medalha de Honra da Inconfidência of the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil. He is a consultant to the World Bank, Ford Foundation, Brazilian Planning Ministry, U.S. Information Agency, and U.S. State Department.

Kathleen M. DeWalt (PhD 1980, University of Connecticut), Professor of Anthropology and Public Health, Director, Center for Latin American Studies University of Pittsburgh. DeWalt is a cultural anthropologist whose main research interests are in medical and nutritional anthropology. In particular she has interests in the health and nutrition impacts of economic and agricultural development policies in Latin America; child survival and adult health in developing countries; nutrition and health of older adults and youth in rural settings in the United States; and health decision making in pluralistic settings. She has carried out research in Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Ecuador, and Kentucky. Her current research examines the impact of income generating projects for women on women’s social power and child welfare in Ecuador. She has presented workshops in stakeholder analysis, participatory research and culturally sensitive policy formation in Latin American and Africa.

John Frechione is Associate Director of the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) and Research Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh He received his PhD in anthropology in 1981 from the University of Pittsburgh.  His areas of topical and regional specialization are cultural ecology, tribal societies, ethnography and history of South American tropical forest populations, and economic development, social change, and agricul­ture in Amazonia (particularly, Venezuela and Brazil). He regularly teaches the course “People and Environment in Amazonia.”

W. Michael Griffin is the Executive Director of the Green Design Institute and a research faculty member in the Tepper School of Business and Engineering & Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. The Green Design Institute is an interdisciplinary research consortium at Carnegie Mellon focused on identifying and assessing the environmental impacts of environmental systems and helping businesses manage their use of resources and toxic materials. His current research interests center on the environmental impacts of production of chemicals and fuels via fermentation from renewable resources and the biodegradation of materials. Recently with collaboration of colleagues at CMU he has extended his work to address the impacts of adopting renewable alternative fuels focusing on infrastructure requirements and “best use” of non-renewable resources.

Daniel P. Munari is a research ecologist who lived in Manaus, one of the largest cities in the Brazilian Amazon, for four years. He is specialized in wild mammals and developed his masters at the Brazil´s National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA) where he worked as a research fellow for the Biodiversity Monitoring Program of the Amazonas State Sustainable Development Agency.

Anne Nemer is the Assistant Dean and Executive Director of EMBA and Director of Executive Education for the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business of the University of Pittsburgh. She leads all Executive MBA programs and the Center for Executive Education, with locations in S. America, N. America, and C. Europe. Anne is also leading the School’s initiatives in Asia, establishing a portfolio of programs for the Indian market. 

While managing a global staff and working closely with faculty, the dean’s office, corporate partners, and board members, she is responsible for the definition and implementation of a global strategy for program marketing, the branding of the Katz School and the executive education programs, the execution of new program launches and global corporate partnerships, and the identification of local program resources which can be leveraged globally. She works closely with corporate partners to develop custom EMBA programs and executive education programs worldwide, with current projects in the US, Brazil, the Czech Republic, and India. Anne also manages the planning and delivery of the Global Executive Forums, which take place on three continents and involve current students, alumni, board members and local community leaders. She conducts the Global Learning Community Workshop and Cultural Understanding Workshops in the Global Forums.

Marla Ripoll joined the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Economics in 2000 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester. Although initially interested in understanding the role of credit in explaining recessions and expansions of the economy, her most recent research centers on development economics. Marla’s interests in this field range from technology creation and adoption, to inequality and agricultural development, and more recently to schooling and demographics. Her work has appeared in various academic journals including Journal of Monetary Economics, International Economic Review, and The Review of Economics and Statistics. Her courses at Pitt have covered international trade, development economics and macroeconomics both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her favorite course is development economics because this is the class that relates most closely to her research, and is also the class that best reflects her initial interest in pursuing economics as an undergraduate in Colombia, her country of origin. Marla has been awarded the 2004 Tina and David Bellet Arts and Sciences Teaching Excellence Award, as well as the 2009 Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award. Marla is currently a member of the editorial board of ESPE, the journal of Colombia’s Central Bank. In addition, she has acted as referee or reviewer for over 15 academic journals and/or research foundations, and has also participated in a number of conferences.

Amy Erica Smith is a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on Latin American politics and on comparative political behavior, meaning how citizens around the world understand politics and make political decisions. Her dissertation, based on a year of field work in Brazil, examines how neighborhood associations and social networks affect the ways Brazilians get involved in politics. Ms. Smith holds a BA in Latin American Studies from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University.

Stewart E. Sutin earned his Ph.D. in Latin American History at the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University and BA  in History at Penn State. He is currently Clinical Professor of Administrative and Policy Studies, and  Associate Director of the Institute for Higher Education Management in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Sutin served as President of Community College of Allegheny County. During 29 years in the banking industry, Dr. Sutin’s executive positions included President of Bank of Boston International (now Bank of America) and Senior Vice President and International Department head of Mellon Bank (now BNY Mellon). His professional activities included service as President of the Board of Directors of the Bankers Association for Trade and Finance, Chair of the Western Pennsylvania District Export Council, board member of Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, and co-founder of the Global Trade Institute. Dr. Sutin served on the Board of Trustees of St. Thomas University and the International Fine Arts College of Miami, where he was Vice Chairman. He has been on advisory boards at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Brandeis University, and the University of Miami. Dr. Sutin is an adjunct member of the faculty of the Katz Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Pittsburgh and served in a similar capacity at Babson University. He co-edited and authored chapters Financing Development in Latin America, contributed a chapter to the International Banking Handbook, published by Dow Jones Irwin, and has written other articles on international finance.