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Faculty Advisors

M.A. program faculty advisors help students define their concentrations and plan their programs of study, as well as oversee the M.A. thesis.  Below is a list of potential faculty advisors, their departments and interests.  Please note that students, in accordance with their needs and interests, can also select advisors from the more extensive ILAS Affiliated Faculty list, or elsewhere in the University.   

Carlos J. Alonso
Professor and Chair, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Ph.D. Yale University, 1983
Interests: Modern Latin American Literature and Culture

Walter Baethgen
Director, Latin American Program
International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Earth Institute
Ph.D. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1987
Interests: Climate risk assessment and management in agricultural, health, water resources and disasters sectors

Lesley Bartlett
Assistant Professor of Education, Teachers College
Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2001
Interests: Comparative education, migration, Brazil and the Caribbean

Ruth Borgman
Instructor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Ph.D. Universidad Autónoma de México, 1982
Interests: Spanish Immersion, contemporary Mexican Spanish

Charles Calomiris
Professor, Columbia Business School
Ph.D. Stanford University, 1985
Interests: Emerging market financial markets, Latin American capital markets

Guillermo Calvo
Professor, Department of Economics
Ph.D. Yale University, 1974
Interests: Macroeconomic policy in Latin America, capital flows

Sara Calvo
Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs
Ph.D. Columbia University,
Interests: Macroeconomic policy in Latin America, Argentina and Bolivia

John Coatsworth
Dean, SIPA; Professor, Department of History 
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin at Madison, 1967
Interests: Latin America, Mexico, economic history

Maite Conde
Assistant Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Ph.D. University of California Los Angeles, 2004
Interests: Contemporary Brazilian literature and film studies, Brazil

Regina Cortina
Professor, Teachers College
Ph.D. Stanford University, 1985
Interests: Comparative education, Mexico

Terrence D’Altroy
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Ph.D. University of California
Interests: Ancient empires of the Andes, Peru

John Dinges
Associate Professor, School of Journalism
M.A. Stanford University
Interests: Contemporary media issues in Latin America, Chile

Alan Dye
Associate Professor of Economics, Barnard College
Ph.D. University of Illinois, 1991
Interests: Latin American economic history, Cuba, Spain and Latin America

Nelson Fraiman
Professor, Columbia Business School
M.B.A. Columbia University, 1971; Ph.D. Columbia University, 1977
Interests: Operations management, Argentina and Uruguay

Alejandro Garro
Adjunct Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
J.S.D. Columbia University, 1990
Interests: Latin American Law, Argentina

Vincent Guilamo-Ramos
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Ph.D. State University of New York at Albany
Interests: Population and maternal health issues of Latino communities, Puerto Rico

Jennifer Hirsch
Department of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health
Ph.D. Johns Hopkins University, 1998
Interests: Health, gender and sexuality, Mexico

Claudio Lomnitz
Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race
Ph.D. Stanford University, 1987
Interests: Historical sociology of politics and culture in Mexico, Mexico

Nicole P. Marwell
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
Ph.D. University of Chicago, 2000
Interests: Latino studies, the Caribbean

Nara Milanich
Assistant Professor, Department of History (Barnard)
Ph.D. Yale, 2002
Interests: Modern Latin America, Chile, history of the family

Graciela Montaldo
Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Ph.D. University of Buenos Aires, 1990
Interests: Contemporary Latin American literature, Argentina

Jose Moya
Professor, Department of History (Barnard)
Ph.D. Rutgers, 1988
Interests: Migration, Latin America, Argentina

M. Victoria Murillo
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Ph.D. Harvard, 1997
Interests: Latin America in comparative perspective, Argentina

Jose Antonio Ocampo
Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs
Ph.D. Yale, 1976
Interests: Macroeconomic policy in Latin America.

Jorge Otero Pailos
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. 
Ph.D. MIT, 2002
Interests: Modern architectural trends in Latin America

Richard Parker
Professor, Department of Sociomedical Studies, Mailman School of Public Health. 
Ph.D. Berkeley, 1992
Interests: AIDS and HIV policy in Latin America, Brazil

Pablo Piccato
ILAS Director; Professor, Department of History
Ph.D. University of Texas, 1997
Interests: Modern Latin American history, Mexico

Miguel Angel Pinedo-Vasquez
Associate Research Scientist, Department of Ecology, Environment, and Evolutionary Biology 
Ph.D. Yale, 1995
Interests: People in the landscape, Peru and Brazil

Pablo Pinto
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
Ph.D. University of California San Diego, 2004
Interests: Political economy of trade and investment, Argentina

Caterina Pizzigoni
Assistant Professor, Department of History
Ph.D. King’s College, London, 2002
Interests: Colonial history of Latin America, Mexico, Nahuatl

Francisco Rivera-Batiz
Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College
Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1979
Interests:  International, development, labor and comparative economics

Karl Sauvant
Director, Columbia Program on International Investment, Adjunct Professor, Columbia Law School
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
Interests: International investment policies, Brazil

Alfred Stepan
Professor, Department of Political Science
Ph.D. Columbia University, 1969
Interests: Religion and democracy, Brazil

Michael T. Taussig
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Ph.D. University of London, 1974
Interests: Indigenous peoples of the Andean region, Colombia and Peru

Thomas J. Trebat
ILAS Executive Director; Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs
Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, 1978
Interests: International economics, the Brazilian economy, Brazil

Maria Uriarte
Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology
Ph.D. Cornell University, 2002
Interests: Ecology in Latin America, Brazil, Puerto Rico

Miguel Urquiola
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics
Ph.D. University of California Berkeley, 2000
Interests: Economic development, Chile, Bolivia

Hilary Wise Miller
Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs
M.A. Johns Hopkins University
Interests: Microfinance, development, Mexico


Please click here for the complete list of ILAS faculty, including affiliated faculty.