Avery Dickins de Girón

Avery Dickins de Girón (email)

Avery Dickins de Girón is the Executive Director of Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, a Senior Lecturer, and Curator of the CLACX Ethnobotanical Garden. She oversees CLACX operations, center programs and staff, grant writing and administration, and institutional collaborations. She leads CLACX community partnerships with Metro Nashville Public Schools and local arts organizations including the Frist Art Museum, Parthenon, Global Education Center and others.  Dickins de Girón also spearheads our initiatives with regional Minority Serving Institutions through the CLACX Consortium for Latin American Studies in the South (https://as.vanderbilt.edu/clacx/cclass/) which has established Portuguese language instruction at Tuskegee University and Jacksonville State University.

Her work in community engagement also includes her role as Curator of the CLACX Ethnobotanical Garden.  Located on the west side of Vanderbilt’s campus, the garden serves as an interactive learning tool for Vanderbilt and local K-12 students and teachers.  During Fall semesters, Dickins de Girón leads tours for community members, Vanderbilt student organizations, and high school student field trips.  Read more about the garden here: https://as.vanderbilt.edu/clacx/garden/

Dickins de Girón teaches LACX 2106, “Cultivating the Americas,” and will teach a new Core 2500 course beginning in Fall 2026 also focused on the garden.  She has taught LAS 4901 (Interdisciplinary Research Seminar), LAS 3841 (Health, Development, and Culture in Guatemala), contributes to courses in Nursing, and has served as a mentor for MPH students.

Dickins de Girón holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and a B.A in Biology. Her research and teaching examine insecurity in Guatemala, international development, the use of medicinal plants native to the Americas, and Indigenous approaches to health.