University Signs Collaboration Agreement with Mexican consulate

University of La Verne and Mexican Consulate leaders signed an agreement March 27 to boost faculty and student exchanges between United States and Mexican colleges, hold joint cultural activities, and develop other ways to improve economic development in both countries.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by University of La Verne President Devorah Lieberman and Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles at Hanawalt House, with students, faculty and staff as witnesses.

“This is an example of how the world needs to work together collaboratively,” Lieberman said.

Solana considered Mexico and the U.S. already integrated economically and socially. He pointed out that Mexico is the fourth largest exporter of vehicles in the world.

With regard to education, “we need to do better,” he said.

The MOU is connected to the U.S. and Mexico presidents’ Forum of Higher Education, Innovation and Research. The program is known in Mexico as FOBESII.

“I am proud that the University of La Verne and the Mexican Consulate already shared common goals related to higher education and diversity prior to signing this agreement.  It made perfect sense to combine our efforts and, together, identify how we could improve higher education here and beyond our borders,” Lieberman said.

The agreement supports the Mexican program Project 100,000, an initiative aimed at having 100,000 Mexican students study in the U.S. and 50,000 American students study in Latin America by 2018. The goal is to establish short- and long-term shared vision in higher education, research and innovation, ultimately transforming North America into a region of knowledge, according to FOBESII reports.

The memorandum includes several areas of collaboration such as encouraging mobility of faculty and students between La Verne and Mexican institutions, promoting internships at the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles and training staff to work with exchange students.

La Verne is already laying groundwork to fulfill these goals, with Dr. Gabriela Capraroiu, Associate Professor of Spanish, applying to have a Mexican professor be a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at La Verne during the 2016-17 academic year. Alí Calderón, who teaches literary theory and Latin American literature at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla), is also coming to La Verne in April for a poetry and translation symposium.

The Fulbright exchange will not only expose La Verne students to Calderón’s teaching, but will also provide a way to reach the community through poetry readings for local school districts. His visit would be particularly beneficial for the University’s Latino students, regardless of major. “It would heighten their awareness of the language and their heritage,” Capraroiu said.