Sesquicentennial Grant: “Somos VU: Bringing Together Student Organizations, Alumni, and the Institutional History of CLACX”

CLACX was awarded a Vanderbilt Sesquicentennial Award in 2023 for the project, “Somos VU: Bringing Together Student Organizations, Alumni, and the Institutional History of CLACX.”  Funds from the sesquicentennial award supported the creation of a 100-page document summarizing the history of the center from 1947 to the present and the creation of a digital photographic archive.  Estelle Shaya, A&S Founders Medalist in 2023, compiled the historical narrative with guidance from Marshall Eakin, Paula Covington, and Avery Dickins de Girón.  The document traces the founding of the Institute for Brazilian Studies at Vanderbilt in 1947 and its evolution over the years, the creation of the Latino and Latina Studies program in 2013, and the combination of these programs as CLACX in 2021.  Sources of data for the institutional narrative include interviews with faculty currently or previous associated with the center(s) and program (Marshall Eakin, Jane Landers, Edward Fischer, Paula Covington, Edward Wright-Rios, Earl Fitz, Gretchen Selcke, Avery Dickins de Girón), as well as documents located in Special Collections, Center records, and other previously written histories partially tracing the Center’s history. Click here for Institutional History.

Margaret Kelly curated and captioned photos from the CLACX Year in Review, Special Collections, and social media with support from Paula Covington, Avery Dickins de Girón, Alma Paz-Sanmiguel, and Luisa Mattos.  Photos were selected to illustrate the history of the center and to align with the institutional history described in the institutional narrative.  Click here for photographic archive

Both projects were presented in April 2025 to students, alumni, faculty and staff affiliated with CLACX.