Center for Latin American Studies Director

Joseph Glover, Provost and Senior Vice President

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Philip J. Williams, Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida and Co-Director of the Latino Immigrants in Florida Project, has accepted the position of Director of the UF Center for Latin American Studies, effective July 1, 2009.

After receiving his D.Phil in Politics from the University of Oxford in 1986, Dr. Williams came to the University of Florida in1989 as an assistant professor. He later served as chair of the Department of Political Science at UF from 2004-2007. His major research interests include religion and politics, democratization, social movements, civil- military relations, and transnational migration.

Dr. Williams has authored The Catholic Church and Politics in Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Macmillan 1989), Militarization and Demilitarization in El Salvador’s Transition to Democracy (University of Pittsburgh 1997), and co-edited Christianity, Globalization, and Social Change in the Americas (Rutgers University 2001). His work has appeared in numerous edited volumes and journals such as Comparative Politics, Journal of Latin American Studies, Latin American Research Review, Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs, and Journal of Church and State.

Dr. Williams has been awarded a number of prestigious fellowships and grants from Fulbright, North-South Center, United States Institute of Peace, Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He recently received a major grant from the Ford Foundation to support a three-year study on religion and transnational migration in Florida.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Williams to his new position.