Latin-American studies scholar to discuss U.S.-Latin American relations

Peter H. Smith, director of Latin American studies at the University of California, San Diego, will discuss “Prospects for U.S.-Latin American Relations: Trouble Ahead?” at Bates College Thursday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives. The public is invited to attend the Muskie Series lecture, and admission is free.

Smith, author of Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S.-Latin American Relations (Oxford University Press, 1996), has served as co-director of the Bilateral Commission on the Future of U.S.-Mexican Relations and the Inter American Commission on Drug Policy. These two blue-ribbon panels issued policy recommendations for the benefit of governments, media and citizens throughout the Americas.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, Smith received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught at Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin, where he received an outstanding teaching award and served as associate dean of the graduate school. He also has been associate dean for humanities programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Distinguished Fulbright Lecturer in Mexico and president of the Latin American Studies Association.