Prepared by Mark Luttenton (BIO) and Russell Rhoads (ANT)

Cliff Welch, Program Coordinator

INTRODUCTION
This is the first self-evaluation of the Latin American Studies Program. The program began operation in Fall 1993 and the first evaluation cycle was initiated by the provost in Fall 1999. The LAS Program is pleased to have the opportunity the evaluation process provides to review its achievements, strengths, weaknesses, and prospects at this crucial moment in the program's early development.

While reading this self-study, readers should consider that the LAS Program is in a unique position among units at Grand Valley State University. LAS is the first of four ethnic and area studies programs established in the 1990s as part of the university's diversification and internationalization efforts. It is one of two such programs located in the Social Science Division, yet unlike any other program, it incorporates faculty from all the university's divisions. Active members hold faculty rank in ten of Grand Valley's departments, three of its autonomous schools, and three of its administrative units. This makes LAS the most diverse and multi-disciplinary unit on campus.

Curricula is the first concern of any academic unit and as the Section I narrative shows, LAS has endeavored to build a diverse and comprehensive curriculum from the many disciplines represented in it. The heart of the program is the team-taught core course, LAS 210, Exploring Latin America. Until 1997, students took this course in order to begin their journey in the minor. That fall, however, the course was offered as a General Education option for the first time. Both minors and non-minors find it is the epitome of Latin American Studies as a program and a field of study as they come into contact with faculty as varied and geology's John Weber and Seidman's Carol Sanchez. There are other LAS courses but most are drawn from courses established in the curriculum of regular departments. Thus, a minor who found Weber intriguing could opt to take geology courses for credit in the minor. This gives the program less control over the courses offered but better serves the goal of promoting Latin American studies throughout the campus.

LAS's position as first among the new programs and its broad base have presented challenging obstacles to the unit's success, yet succeed it has, as part C demonstrates. The very number of LAS- related faculty and staff on campus is part and parcel of the program's initiative, tenacity, and resourcefulness. From its origins as an idea among a group of five or so faculty in 1991, the program now runs a minor, offers seven LAS courses in addition to numerous electives, presents a monthly forum, a semestral cultural event, and a semi-annual conference. It publishes a bi-yearly newsletter and boasts two web sites, one for the program and one for a community research project. The faculty are so dedicated to the program that in addition to their standard responsibilities to the program, they pursued four major new LAS initiatives this academic year. These include this self-study, the periodic review of the program coordinator, drafting a prospectus for a new organizational model for an expanded program, and training and fund raising for sending Grand Valley's first Organization of American States delegation to the model general assembly in Canada.

As part D explains, none of these achievements have come easily. In fact, one finds a weakness at the source of each strength. As a program and a minor, LAS is at the bottom of the totem pole in the hierarchy of the university. It has no official position in faculty governance and, as a unit head, its coordinator has few of the rights reserved for department heads. Since a program is not an appointing unit with its own faculty, its effectiveness is entirely limited by the rapport developed among faculty. Under enormous pressure to perform from their units of appointment, LAS faculty are the greatest of Grand Valley's many volunteer workers. This weakness gave rise to characteristic innovation on the part of the program: we are the first unit to have its own bylaws (Appendix), a unique set of rules for the transparent, democratic operation of the program by executive and advisory committees. Similarly, the program's utility of courses in many different units is a way of coping with having no faculty of its own. Readers of this report will find many such examples of LAS's ability to turn disadvantages into advantages.

As the program looks forward to further expansion and activity, the self-study has helped faculty reflect on its past and future role and mission within the university and community.

SECTION I: NARRATIVE

A. STATEMENT DESCRIBING THE METHODOLOGY AND PROCESS INVOLVED IN PREPARING THE LAS SELF-STUDY.

The Latin American Studies Self-Study is the product of conversations with former, continuing, and new LAS faculty and a review of documents related to the founding and activities of the program since 1991. These materials were gathered and assembled by a task force assigned to conduct the study with the assistance of the LAS coordinator. Task force members were Mark Luttenton (Biology) and Russell Rhoads (Anthropology). Class records available on-line from the Student Information System and data provided by the Office of Institutional Analysis have also been utilized. The first self-study draft was presented to the program's advisory committee at its April 24 meeting. Additional information was gathered directly from individual faculty involved in LAS electives or designated classes. The final draft was circulated by email to the advisory committee for its final approval.

B. THE LAS PROGRAM'S PAST GOALS.

The Latin American Studies Program and Minor was approved by the Board of Control in December 1992 and Walter Foote (ENG) was soon named as the program's first coordinator. The final plan submitted by the LAS Program Task Force conceived a program that embraced the very essence of the GVSU's mission. A UCC memorandum dated Oct. 29, 1992, stated: "The UCC is...unanimous in commending the Latin American Studies Minor Program Task Force (Planning Group) for a thorough and visionary proposal which is, both in its development and in its content, exemplary in every respect. The two year collaboration between faculty drawn from a variety of disciplines and divisions, focused upon an area of mutual interest and shared commitment, is representative of GVSU at its finest."

The Latin American Studies minor was developed with a general goal "to acquaint students with the cultures and social issues of Latin America and to encourage students to continue their interest in our southern neighboring nations beyond graduation." This goal embraces students who seek formal training for a degree minor and contributes to GVSU's liberal arts mission. The catalog description of the program illuminates the broad application of Latin America to the students' overall awareness of the world around them:

Knowledge of Latin America and its people, including those in the United States, is an essential part of a liberal education today. Not only is the Latino population of West Michigan growing rapidly but Latinos will soon constitute the most populous ethnic group in the United States. In the meantime, U.S. economic, political and cultural relations with our Latin America neighbors --- from Mexico and the Caribbean to Central and South America --- continue to grow in importance. Students in a wide variety of majors and professional programs can benefit from studying Latin America: the biology major who wishes to work on rainforest ecology, the business major who plans to work in international trade, the education or health sciences student who expects to work in almost any U.S. city, or the literature major who plans a graduate degree in Spanish or comparative literature. In fact, the Latin American Studies Program is for any traditional or continuing student who simply wants to learn more about the fascinating and diverse cultures of Latin America (GVSU Undergraduate and Graduate On-Line Catalog, 1999-2000; www.gvsu.edu/ catalog/catalog99-00/ Gv036lat.html).

Twelve specific goals were outlined in the October, 1992 memorandum that formalized the Latin American Studies Minor (See Appendix, "Final Place for a Latin American Studies Minor Program"). They stressed the academic mission of the program. The goals listed are followed a brief discussion of how they have been met since 1993.

1. To promote an understanding of the geography, topography, and natural resources of Latin America and the ways in which they have influenced the history and cultural development of the diverse regions of the area.

This goal has been addressed in teaching LAS 210, Exploring Latin America, which has been offered every fall since 1993. In 1997, it was first offered as a General Education election in the Culture and Multicultural Approaches category, making it attractive to more students. GPY 352, Geography of Latin America, is another LAS elective that has been offered frequently. Geologists Bill Neal and John Weber have contributed to LAS 210 and next fall Weber will offer a new geology general education theme course focused on the Americas (GEO 350 Geology's Great Debate). Two biology courses have also been added to the curriculum: BIO 310 Biodiversity of the Americas and BIO 417 International Field Biology (Brazil).

2. To promote an understanding of the various pre-conquest cultures in Latin America, how they developed in response to ecological constraints and how they ultimately developed into state level societies. Students should have an understanding of the economic, social and religious development of these diverse cultures within the Latin American "cultural area"; how these various societies interrelate to each other economically and politically and how they responded to the abrupt changes brought on by the conquest.

LAS has listed ANT 360, Ethnography of Meso-America HST 330, Early Latin America, and SPA 311, Latin American Civilization and Culture as three courses emphasizing the Amerindian peoples from pre-conquest era to the 1800s. Rosa Fernandez Levin of Modern Languages and Literatures has provided a segment on the 16th century codices depicting the Aztec and Maya world view in LAS 210, too.

3. To promote an understanding for the post-conquest development of various Latin American regions and nations, emphasizing the similarities and differences in their colonial experiences, including the impact of the encomienda and hacienda systems as well as the Catholic Church.

HST 330; GPY 352; SPA 311; and HST 210, Empire, Culture, and Conflict-The Atlantic World, which treat these topics, have served as LAS electives since 1993. These issues are also taught in two of the LAS core courses, LAS 210 and LAS 301, Inter-American Relations. HST 372, From Slavery to Freedom, is a new elective general education theme course students can take to learn about these issues in Brazil, Haiti, and Cuba.

4. To promote an understanding of the development of rural communities out of the colonial experience as the various nations gained independence. Such concepts as peasant, closed corporation communities, cofradias, and compadrazgo. Students should have an understanding of the lifestyles found in the rural areas, the importance of kinship and fictive kin, the economic and social relationships inherent in village life, and the role of Catholicism in the structure of rural villages.

ANT 360; LAS 210; HST 210; SS 211 Peoples of the World; and HST 331, Modern Latin America all include portions devoted to these topics. Cindy Hull, Russell Rhoads, and Cliff Welch all specialize on rural social issues and occasionally present LAS Fora on their research. Guest speakers have been brought to campus from San Francisco, Honduras, and Indiana University to address these topics.

5. To promote an understanding of the modern economic systems in Latin America. In the rural areas, this includes an examination of rural subsistence systems, monocrop agriculture, plantation and hacienda systems and the extractive industries such as mining. In the urban areas, this would include the development of industry and the rise of the service sector in Latin American cities.

HST 331; LAS 210; and HST 372 addresses these issues, in part. The relevant curriculum has also been advanced in recent years by the addition of ECO 349, Emerging Markets Issues; SS 270, Gender and Family in Third World Development.

6. To promote an understanding of the explosion of urban growth in Latin America; the impact of industrial growth on urbanization and the influx of migrants to the cities; students should have an understanding of the lifestyles of city dwellers, the rich and the poor, the diversity of their experiences and how life in he city differs from that of the rural area.

Portions of the ANT 360; HST 331; SS 270; and SPA 370, Hispanics in the USA have dealt with these themes. These issues are dealt with from the ecological and scientific perspective in BIO (Luttenton) and BIO (Menon).

7. To promote an understanding of the role of the Catholic Church in Latin America historically and at the present time; Student will also understand the impact of Protestantism in the rural and urban areas, how it affects traditional social and economic relationships and acts as a promoter of culture change. The role of religion as an agent of change or protector of tradition will also be explored.

HST 331 and SPA 311 include units on religion. Each of the past four Conferences on the Americas have featured at least one panel on the church in Latin America. It was also a sub-theme of LAS 380s on Latin American film and human rights in Latin America that were taught by Walter Foote.

8. To promote an understanding of the political development of various Latin American nations, their struggles for independence, the internal and external policies which affect development and the development or oppression of their native populations. Current development issues will be examined.

Nearly all LAS courses and electives feature discussion of these issues: ANT 360, HST 331, LAS 301, SS 270, and SPA 370. The new General Education theme on Evolution and Revolution in the Americas features seven courses which touch on these matters.

9. To foster an appreciation for the wealth of literary contributions of Latin American men and women, both historic and modern-day artists. These novelists, poets, historians and artists are the heart and soul of Latin America, providing students with the insights and visions which cannot be discerned from history or anthropology texts. This literature is best appreciated in the native language, but will be offered in both English and Spanish.

In SPA 324, Spanish American Novel in Translation; SPA 370; SPA 410, Spanish American Narrative, and SPA 460 Women Authors, students have been able to explore Latin American literature in Spanish. The program has sought to bring the richness of Latin American literature to English readers by using novels in a variety of courses, by showing Latin American films, and by promoting the creation of ENG 378/LAS 378, Contemporary Latin American Literature, a dual listed course, taught in English.

10. To allow students to analyze the development of social, political, and economic relations among American nations and between the US and Latin America.

For this purpose, LAS 301 was created as a required core course. These issues are also highlighted in HST 331. In Winter 2000, the program organized and trained a delegation of students to participate in the Model General Assembly of the Organization of American States, which met in Edmonton, Canada, where they not only studied but also practiced inter-American relations with students from throughout the hemisphere.

11. Crucial in an appreciation for all aspects of Latin American studies, is a working knowledge of the Spanish language which will be required for all LAS minors.

All LAS minors are required to complete SPA 202 or the equivalent. Nearly all Spanish courses are considered electives, especially SPA 311; SPA 324, Spanish American Novel in Translation; SPA 370; and SPA 410 Spanish American Narrative and the Spanish department is offering new courses starting next year. Foreign language skills development is also encouraged by allowing students to write their papers in Spanish in other LAS courses and by granting credit for courses taken in Latin American institutions.

12. In general, students will gain an appreciation for Latin American societies and be able to shed whatever ethnocentricities and stereotypes which might hinder their understanding of the diversity of these cultures.

The goals stated in the "Final Plan" (and reiterated above) stressed the development of a broad curriculum, offering LAS minors and non-minors a solid foundation of knowledge about Latin America. These goals resulted from the need to establish a sound academic base for the program, similar to the initial stages associated with the development of any discipline.

In general, the academic component of the LAS program has met the goals outlined in the planning document and offers students who select the minor a broadly integrated curriculum. LAS minors are now provided with an unusually diverse array of courses from a solid academic base, including new courses with LAS designation that serve as part of the core and the inclusion of numerous existing courses as electives. The fact that LAS 210 (a core course) is taught by several faculty from several departments further broadens the diverse nature of the program. In addition, the establishment of a LAS video library has enhanced the diversity and depth of the academic program. The program has been very successful not only in offering a broadly integrated curriculum, but also in the way it enhances and supports other programs and offerings.

In the "Final Plan," several additional activities were listed to address the ways in which the program would enhance GVSU's existing offerings. Although they are not formal goals, they have added significantly to the program's success. Included among these were:

The minor will provide an area studies concentration for majors in the various disciplines;
The minor will provide a forum for intellectual exchange about Latin American issues across disciplinary lines; and
The LAS Program will enhance GVSU'S relations with the local Latino and foreign policy communities.
Through the variety of courses discussed above, the LAS Program has provided majors as diverse as Anthropology, Biology, Business, Communications, Criminal Justice, Education, English, Geography, Geology, History, Political Science, Social Work, Sociology, and Spanish an important alternative perspective of their disciplines. The program has served the unique function of forming learning communities of students sharing a common interest in Latinos and Latin America from this broad array of majors.

Through the LAS Noticias newsletter, the program has served as a primary conduit for the exchange of information about Latin America between students and faculty (See Appendix for copies of the newsletter). Over the years, the program has developed a reputation for programming exciting intellectual and cultural events on campus. The LAS Forum, which is held on a monthly basis, allows Grand Valley faculty to share their research about Latinos and Latin America with the university community. These fora are also used to bring scholars to GVSU from universities throughout the region. Each semester, the program also attracts at least one speaker or performer of national or international repute to campus. Some examples are the Chilean writer Pablo Huuneus, the Honduran activist Elvia Alvarado, the Cuban film makers Daniel Diaz Torres and Gloria Rolando, the Brazilian scholar Sebastião Geraldo, and the Chicano scholar Dionício Nodín Valdes. In 1998, the program received a teaching circle grant to bring Latino leaders from west Michigan to campus. All of these media and events have encouraged intellectual exchange across disciplinary, state, and national lines.

The program has also made major strides toward enhancing relations between GVSU and the local Latino community. Specific activities including conferences, guest speaking engagements, collaborative research, consulting, and social interaction between LAS affiliated faculty and members of the local Latino community have been growing since the LAS minor was established. Success in this objective can be measured by the increased and broadened participation of Latinos in the four Conferences on the Americas held from 1994 to 1999. While a few community leaders attended the first conference, nearly twenty made presentations or served on panels at the last conference.

In the fall of 1997, the LAS Program developed a collaborative research project with the Hispanic Center of West Michigan that grew to include the participation of several other Latino organizations, including Latin American Services and the Hispanic Ministry in Grand Rapids, Latin Americans United for Progress in Holland, and Latinos United for a Better Future in Muskegon. In September 1998, the groups founded the Latinos in West Michigan Project, launched a web site, presented a documentary video, and the results of research conducted by anthropology students at a public event, hosted by the Public Museum of Grand Rapids (See Appendix, "Voces Latinas/Latino Voices"). The report from the anthropology field school, titled "Assimilation, Advocacy and Activism: Forging Identities in Hispanic Grand Rapids," was circulated widely throughout the community. In April, 2000, a half dozen Latino community leaders from Grand Rapids and Holland attended a community advisory dinner called by the program.

The conference has also been an effective tool for developing relations between the university and the local foreign policy community. Directors from such regional international or foreign policy organizations as the Institute for Global Education and the World Affairs Councils of Grand Rapids and Muskegon have promoted, attended, and participated in various conferences. LAS has collaborated with these organizations on film festivals, speakers, and public forums. The program's initiatives in the community are particularly illustrative of our ability to embrace innovation and meld Latino and Latin America study and activism, theory and practice, and town and gown into concrete form.

The LAS Program's goals for the next five years grow out of the program's achievements over the last five years. Expanding academic opportunities, communication, collaboration, and outreach will continue to be the foundation stones of the program.

C. THE PROGRAM'S GOALS FOR THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

The goals of the LAS Program, stated in broadest terms, have been articulated in the Latin American Studies Bylaws (Appendix). Specific LAS Program goals and efforts to achieve those goals, particularly as they relate to the areas outlined in SECTION I - C of the Program Evaluation guidelines, are noted below.

1. Student Groups to Be Reached and Served.

a. Minor, Continuing Education, and Transfer Students:

A significant effort will be made to continue attracting students to the LAS as a minor (See Table 3). High enrollment in courses with significant LAS content clearly indicates that there is broad interest in LAS and the potential to increase the number of students declaring a minor (See Tables 1 & 2). This effort will be initiated by identifying students that have taken a majority of the course work required for the minor and encouraging them to formally declare as LAS minors.

The program will also seek to enhance through improved communication the service it provides to transfer students and non-degree students interested in getting credit for LAS courses taken at other institutions or seeking certification for advanced training in the area.

Some stumbling blocks that must be dealt with at a university-wide level include limitations on the number of courses that can be double counted. This especially affects Spanish majors who wish to minor in LAS. Another issue relates to the way records of minors are kept by the registrar. Apparently, students are allowed to register for as many minors as they wish but each new minor displaces the last in the computer system. Thus, numerous minors are left uncounted. We started to deal with this record keeping or tracking problem this year by developing our own data base of registered students.

Other recruitment activities relate to maintaining and developing ways to heighten the profile of the program. These include: listing upcoming courses and publishing features stories by students about their work in Latin American and Latino studies in LAS Noticias; up-dating theweb site built with the help of Marty Levin's CS students; and taking advantage of the audiences gathered for events to leaflet those in attendance. We have also worked to make the program more attractive to students by embedding our courses more deeply in the General Education Program. We twice revised LAS 210 to fit into the old and new general education program. Last fall, we formed a theme group (co-chaired by Russell Rhoads and John Weber) featuring LAS electives and a core course, LAS 374. In addition, we developed several new courses, including LAS 490, Latin American Studies Internship and 475, Latinos in West Michigan, which serve to attract students by providing credit-generating opportunities for them to engage in active learning.

From time to time, LAS faculty attend meetings of the Latino Student Union and keep them informed of LAS events and opportunities by email; a place is reserved on the LAS Advisory Committee for an LSU representative. When students or professors ask us to address them, we say yes. Some of these contacts have been at the Spanish Language House, a project wholeheartedly supported by the program. We also speak regularly with the admissions office and the new international student recruiting officer.

Another recruitment venue has been area high schools. We have reached these students with two main strategies. One has been to bring our conference keynote speakers to as many high schools as possible. The other has been to invite high school teachers to bring their students to campus events, especially the Conference on the Americas.

b. Study Abroad:

Faculty participating in the LAS Program will be working with the Padnos International Center to identify sister university settings in the Caribbean and South America to complement our exchange relationship with the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico. The LAS Program was instrumental in establishing this first exchange relationship between the university and a Latin American institution. We held many meetings to discuss criteria in a deliberate fashion (See Appendix: "Update on the Sister University Site and Study Abroad Exchange Program in Latin America"). Since 1993, student participation in Latin American study abroad sites has grown over 300 percent (See Table 4).

As in the past, we will encourage students to study abroad by granting credit for courses taken in Latin American institutions. We will review the limits currently placed by the program on the number of courses that can be taken abroad. New funding opportunities for students have created new opportunities for students and we have responded by waiving some these limits.

2. The Program's Role in General Education.

A goal of the LAS Program will be to maintain and improve its position as an innovator in General Education. There is no better way for it to fulfill its objectives of promoting the field of knowledge. Prior to 1996, no courses with the LAS prefix were designated as general education courses. In 1996, a Course Change Proposal was submitted requesting that LAS 210 be included in Gen. Ed. Category B (CGE/B), Foreign Culture and Multicultural Approaches. The course has been listed in the category since 1997.

A new General Education theme titled "Revolution and Evolution in the Americas" is now approved and will be offered to GVSU students during the 2000-2001 academic year. The theme fulfills the mission of preparing students to participate intelligently in public dialogues concerned with humane living and responsible action in local, national, and global communities. By taking courses from the theme, students will have an opportunity to:

develop a broad, liberal understanding of how fast (revolutionary) and slow (evolutionary) changes polarize, yet interact and affect, nature and society over time,
develop a consciousness of themselves as informed and responsible citizens whose lives and histories fit into the broad context of the Western hemisphere as a distinct, sub-global space,
develop a consciousness of the multiple ways of knowing the world around them through interdisciplinary studies,
develop the General Education skill objectives, including a synthesis of a broad base of information and tools for transnational and transcultural communication, and
develop a paradigm for future study and life-long examination of events in the Americas, including the U.S.
Courses in the theme will inform students of the dialectical process of creating the world around them. It presents a structure for analyzing the Americas throughout their lives, and a model for contributing to its unfolding history.

3. Academic Degrees Offered or Contemplated.

Currently the LAS Program offers an academic minor. We are contemplating proposing a 30-credit-hour major in Latin American and Latino Studies. This will help raise the profile of the program to attract more students. We feel the program can be of more use to students with a low unit major that can be easily coupled with a major in a more traditional discipline. This will heighten the role of Latin American Studies in their academic preparation and allow them more options for taking electives on campus and off.

Students now have more electives to choose from than ever yet some important wholes need to be filled in the coming years. Starting in the 2000-2001 year, students will have thirty-six course options. This represents nearly a 100 percent increase over the twenty-one courses students had to choose from as recently as last year. The current list of core courses and electives are:

1. AAA 202 The African Diaspora

2. ANT 355 On the Move: Migration in the Americas

3. ANT 360 Ethnology of Meso-America

4. BIO 310 Biodiversity of the Americas

5. BIO 417 International Field Biology (Brazil)

6. ENG 205 Literatures in English: Caribbean

7. ENG 378 Contemporary Latin American Literature

8. ENG 385 Writing and Revolution in the Americas

9. GEO 350 Geology's Great Debate: A New World View

10. GPY 352 Geography of Latin America

11. HST 210 Empire, Culture and Conflict-The Atlantic World

12. HST 315 Latinos: The Forging of Ethnic Identities

13. HST 330 Early Latin America.

14. HST 331 Modern Latin America

15. HST 334 The Making of the West Indies

16. HST 372 From Slavery to Freedom

17. HST 374 Revolution in the Americas

18. HST 632 History of Brazil

19. HTM 380 Food & Culture (Latin America)

20. HTM 380 International Tourism

21. LAS 210 Exploring Latin America

22. LAS 380 Topics in Latin American Studies.

23. LAS 374 Revolution in the Americas

24. LAS 378 Contemporary Latin American Literature

25. LAS 399 Independent Study

26. LAS 475 Latinos in West Michigan

27. LAS 490 Latin American Studies Internship

28. SPA 202 Intermediate Spanish

29. SPA 311 Latin American Civilization and Culture.

30. SPA 324 Spanish American Novel in Translation.

31. SPA 329 Sociolinguistics of the Spanish-Speaking World

32. SPA 410 Spanish American Narrative.

33. SPA 430 US Latino/a Literature

34. SPA 460 Women Authors

35. SS 211 Peoples of the World

36. SS 270 Gender and the Family in Third World Development

Despite the wide variety of electives available to minors, with the addition of a major we would like to see course options added particularly in economics and political science. We will be working with these units to encourage hires of Latin American studies specialists.

4. Programs Developed and to Be Developed.

As noted above, the LAS Program was formally approved by the Board of Control in December 1992 and began operation formally in the fall of 1993. Preliminary work has begun to establish a Community Advisory Committee that will be composed of members from the local Latino community. Ultimately, this group will work with the LAS Program in an effort to improve the program's presence in West Michigan. In addition to developing the major mentioned above, in March 2000 President Lubber's approved a fund raising campaign for the Francisco M. Vega Institute of Latino and Latin American Studies (See Appendix, "Latino, Caribbean and Latin American Studies at GVSU").

The campaign packet for the fund raising effort includes various statements about the institute. The following is a copy of the mission statement:

The basic mission of the institute is to teach and promote Latino and Latin American studies at Grand Valley State University and in west Michigan. The institute will offer a 21 credit- hour minor and a 30 credit-hour major in Caribbean, Latino and Latin American studies. Each spring, the best students will have the opportunity travel to Latin America to participate in the Model Organization of American States General Assembly. The institute will also offer a certificate program for professionals interested in increasing their knowledge of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, and Latinos in the United States.

To fulfill its mission, the institute will develop and sustain collaborative relationships with the following GVSU departments and units:

Modern Languages-to operate a Language Acquisitions Resource Center for Spanish, Portuguese, and indigenous languages;

Seidman Business School-to strengthen the international business major and develop training sessions focused on helping Latino enterprises succeed;

Van Andel Global Trade Center-to provide training sessions to help regional enterprises and non-profits succeed in Latin America;

School of Education-to operate a K-12 teacher resource center and training program;

Kirkhof School of Nursing-to operate health care professional exchange, emergency aid, and training programs;

Padnos International Center to develop and maintain relationships with Latin American and Caribbean universities for faculty and students exchanges; and

Academic support services such as the admissions, minority affairs, and writing center-to develop scholarships and programs to recruit and retain Latino and Latin American students.

The institute will help increase the number of faculty whose research and teaching specialization is in Latino, Latin American, or Caribbean studies. It will work with GVSU's Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center to develop related expertise among existing faculty. Current specialists will come to the institute for grants to help them with Caribbean, Latino or Latin American research and curriculum initiatives, especially those enhancing transnational knowledge and study. Another way of supporting and attracting specialists across the disciplines is the rotating endowed chair the institute plans to operate.

In the community, the institute will promote the distribution and generation of knowledge about Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latinos. It will maintain the "Latinos in West Michigan Project" and its web site (www4.gvsu.edu/latinos); work with area educational institutions and community organizations on common goals; and operate a web-based Caribbean, Latino, and Latin American issues and curriculum resource center. The institute will develop student internship placements and host a Caribbean, Latino, and Latin American lecture series of campus events featuring visiting scholars, dignitaries, business leaders, and activists from the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Each year, the institute includes community leaders as participants in the "Conference on the Americas" and opens its doors to a free film series on transnational issues. It also houses the Latino and Latin American Collection of circulating films on video.

Depending on the progress of the fund raising effort, the LAS Program will be making formal application for establishing the institute through the faculty governance process in the coming years.

5/6. Faculty Interests to Be Pursued/original Research Efforts.

D. Alvarez - English: Interests - Literature and Revolution in Latin America; 20th Century Central American culture, politics, and literature; Power and Everyday Life in Latin America; Transnational Literature;Research/Scholarship - reading post-1954 Guatemalan Literature; transcribing interviews which he conducted last year with Guatemalan writer, Adolfo Mendez Vides. Writing an article that compares Guatemalan and South African literary responses to the peace accords and agreements reached between governments and guerrilla movements in both countries. David also intend to continue making documentaries on Latin American subjects based on extensive footage which Jeff Smith and he took in Guatemala in 1999.

R. Fernandez-Levin - Modern Languages & Lit.: Interests - Hispanic and Latino studies; Research/Scholarship - She was nominated Chairperson for the state of Michigan by the National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies and plans to build a web page that will offer information to those interested in NAHLS and link the national organization to similar organizations in Michigan. Rosa is also working on a co-authored book of interviews with contemporary Latin American women writers. She will design two courses for the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures: a review of Latin American Lit. and a course to teach culture and literature through Spanish and Spanish American films. She plans to publish two articles, one on Laura Esquivel the other on Sara Sef.

J. Ferrell - Modern Languages & Lit. - Interests - Julia teaches Spanish and a culture class in Costa Rica; Research/Scholarship - She plans to design a cultures or linguistic course for LAS.

W. Foote - emeritus - Interests - A return trip to Chile to check in on the literary and political scene.Research/Scholarship - same as noted above
J. Guevara - School of Social Work: Interests - Social conditions in Mexico and El Salvador; Research/Scholarship - Improving the Spring social work internship in El Salvador; teaching in Merida, Mexico in the Fall of 2000, and developing relevant courses in the curriculum.
C. Hull - Anthropology: Interests - Cultural Anthropology; Anthropological Theory; MesoAmerica; Women and Development; Research/Scholarship - Women and Development in the Yucatan.
M. Haddad - Padnos International Center - Interests - Study abroad activities in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, and Belize
G. Jewel - Nursing - Interests - I see the Nursing Center for Global Health, KSON, continuing the relationship with the Miraflor community in Nicaragua in the area of health interventions and health promotion; Research/Scholarship -Developing exchange relationships with nursing schools in Argentina.
R. King - Hospitality/Tourism Mgt.: Interests - Cuba; Research/Scholarship - Completing his dissertation on tourism in Cuba.
J. Lamb - Modern Languages & Lit.: Interests - Chicano and Latin American Literature; Contemporary Mexico; US/Mexico Border Studies; Woman and Literature; Research/Scholarship - Transnational Literature
M. Luttenton - Biology: Interests - Biodiversity; Conservation Biology; Biogeography; Water Resources; Ecology of Tropical Lakes and Rivers; Research/Scholarship - Freshwater Lakes in the Bahamas; Lowland Rivers of Costa Rica and Belize.
D. Maleret - Sociology: Interests - Race and Ethnic Relations; Substance Abuse; Social Problems; Community Organizing; Social and Cultural Change; Juvenile Delinquency; Cultural and Economic Development;Research/Scholarship - Substance Abuse; Community Studies with a focus on Holland, MI.
S. Menon - Biology/Natural Resource Mgt.: Interests - Tropical Biology; Forest Fragments; Research/Scholarship - Shaily will be maintaining an international biology field course in Brazil during summer semesters and has a Pew scholar-teacher award to bring Brazilian collaborators to the US in summer 2000 for workshops related to teaching collaboration and resource information technology transfer. Her collaborative research on biodiversity conservation in Brazil's Atlantic forest is on-going.
W. Neal - Geology: Interests - Geology of reefs and islands in the Caribbean basin; Research/Scholarship - Bill will continue participation on LAS Advisory Committee; contribute to LAS 210 as an alternate to John Weber in providing lectures on geology's impact on South and Central America. He is seeking funding to continue work with peers in Colombia to produce a book on coastal hazards. He expects to be involved in one more project in Puerto Rico. Two recent publications, one student research project and personal research on topics including: 1) Barrier island evolution on the subsiding central Pacific coast, Colombia, S.A., 2) Coastal-zone hazards maps and recommendations: eastern Puerto Rico:, 3) Effect of Seawalls on Shoreline Erosion, Puerto Rico. (Michigan Space Grant Consortium funded project), and 4) Barrier Islands of the Yucatan Coast, Mexico" field visit in late June 2000, (Duke University, Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines).
T. Perrine - School of Communications: Interests - World Cinema and documentaries; Research/Scholarship - Toni is videographer on a documentary about land struggle in Brazil and feminist analysis of Brazilian film. She will continue as organizer of the Conference on the Americas' film festival.
R. Poitras - Geography: Interests - World/Regional Geography; Urban Geography; Cultural Geography; City and Regional Planning; Grant Writing; Research/Scholarship - Strategic Planning; Organizational Development; Problem Solving and Community Development throughout the mid-west and in Poland and Costa Rica.
G. Pozzi - Modern Languages & Lit.: Interests - Women Writers; Feminist Theory; Research/Scholarship - Nineteenth century Spanish literature.
Senez Rodrigues-Charbonier - Psychology - Interests - Mental health of Hispanics; Research/Scholarship - Consulting Latino community groups, offering preventive services to black and Latino groups, article on "Spanish translation and validation of stress."
R. Rhoads - Anthropology: Interests - Sociocultural Anthropology; International Development, Comparative Religions;Research/Scholarship - "Colombian Migrants in Venezuela's New Rurality," research focusing on the effects of national economic liberalization on Venezuela's Andean agricultural sector; "Changing Hindu Landscapes: Religion, Gender, and Practice," research in West Michigan and India, documenting the historical emergence and growth of the divine female in four centers.
C. Sanchez - Seidman Management Department: Interests - International Business; Research/Scholarship - Developing an exchange relationship with universities in Chile.
T. Travis - History: Interests - My Latino class will be part of the diversity general education theme;Research/Scholarship - My sabbatical proposal is to look at how the developers of the Chicago suburb of Naperville are creating a collective memory of a 19th Century community for its residents along with a present orientation toward high-tech business development. Latinos are a vital part of the unskilled workforce but are "invisible" in the projected self-image of the suburb. Naperville for the last decade has been one of the fastest growing suburbs in the Chicago area. It has been featured numerous times in the national media. As part of its image projection Naperville has created an historic park Naper Settlement) filled with 19th century buildings that come from the county but not the town. Many activities are staged there that reinforce the image of the community.
K. Watts - Modern Languages & Lit.: Interests - Spanish Liguistics; Research/Scholarship - Contributing to the new Evolution and Revolution theme and developing articles from the dissertation, "English Language Maintenance in a Quaker Community: The Case of Monteverde, Costa Rica."
J. Weber - Geology: Interests - Plate tectonics in the Caribbean and northern South America; Research/Scholarship - Continuing research in Trinidad related to geological develops and hazards in the Caribbean and contributing to LAS 210 and the Evolution and Revolution in the Americas theme.
C. Welch - History: Interests - Coodinating the LAS Program; Brazilian history; labor studies; rural society in Latin America; Research/Scholarship - Welch is producing a documentary video about land struggle in Brazil; revising for publication a research article on Communist farm labor organizing in Brazil; and developing a book about rural workers in Latin America.

7. Measures the Unit Has Taken to Foster a Working Relationship with Community Colleges and High Schools.

The LAS Coordinator has developed relationships with area school districts in an effort to reach local high school students. These began with the second Conference on the Americas when keynote speaker Dennis Valdes was taken to speak to students at two area high schools. This practice continued in expanded form through the fourth conference where speaker Sandra Maria Esteves visited schools in Grand Rapids, Wyoming, and Holland. In Fall 2000, the Second Language Acquisition Program coordinator of the Grand Rapids Public Schools appointed the LAS coordinator to serve on the Hispanic Education Committee.

Additional efforts have revolved around two primary activities. One has been to extend invitations to high school teachers and their students to attend campus events and the Conferences on the Americas. In addition, the program's newsletter, LAS Noticias is mailed to over 1000 off-campus addresses including Spanish language teachers around the state, Latino and Latin American studies scholars and programs, and leaders of the region's Latino organizations.

The LAS Program has also worked to bring the public at large to campus events. One large public event is scheduled each semester and the LAS Forum series brings speakers to campus monthly during the fall and winter semesters. All events are open to the public and are widely announced. Some of the speakers are from the local Latino community which helps to maintain communication between the Latino and GVSU communities.

Several direct connections with high schools and colleges have been developed with; Aquinas, Hope, Kalamazoo, and Calvin Colleges; Western, Central, and Michigan State Universities; and the public and private school systems of Grand Rapids and Holland. Indirect connections with schools have been established through the Art Museum, Community Media Center, and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (all in GR); Latin Americans United for Progress (Holland) and Latinos Working for a Better Future (Muskegon); the Urban League, Hispanic Forum, Hispanic Center for West Michigan, League of United Latin American Citizens, and Latin American Services (all in GR). The Latinos in West Michigan Project also provided a forum for outreach to the local schools.

Because the program has such a diverse range of faculty and interests, the lengthy list of collaborations and connections is essential to the development and integration of the program across the broad spectrum of Latin American studies. A specific goal of the LAS Program for the next five years will be to maintain the current connections and strengthen or create new connections when and wherever possible.

8. Desired Outcomes for Graduates and Assessment Procedures.

a. What are the Program's expectations for progress of enrolled students and what are the desired outcomes for graduates of the Program? How do the activities of your unit help students progress through your program and achieve the desired outcomes for graduates?

In general, students that have selected a LAS minor are expected to make progress toward completion of their requirements at a rate similar to that expected for any degree-seeking student. Ideally, students start the program in the fall semester of their sophomore year by taking LAS 210. Most students take the course because it fulfills General Education requirements and some then enroll as minors. Others take the course because it is an elective in their major or is recommended to them by the Admissions and Minority Affairs office. By entering as sophomores, the requirements of the program are easy to fulfill within two years.

Because the LAS minor does not fall within a traditional academic discipline (e.g., Biology), however, some students become aware of the program only during their junior year. Because the program strongly encourages students to study abroad, students may find that they have to work at an accelerated pace or enroll for an additional semester. In either event, LAS 374 is the capstone course for the minor, with the higher numbered courses emphasizing as ways to develop their knowledge through practice.

The desired outcomes for graduates with an LAS minor closely parallel the program's stated goals, particularly Ch. 2, Part II, Secs. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 (LAS Bylaws):

Sec. 2- To create awareness of the fact that the Latino population of West Michigan is growing rapidly, and that Latinos will soon constitute the most populous ethnic group in the United States,

Sec. 3- To educate about the U.S.'s economic, political, and cultural relations with its Latin American neighbors, from Mexico and the Caribbean, to Central and South America,

Sec. 5- To encourage student participation with Latin American and international student organizations on campus, the West Michigan Latino community and its institutions, and groups dealing with international relations such as the Institute for Global Education and the World Affairs Council,

Sec. 6- To encourage student participation on the Latin American Studies Program's Advisory and Executive committees and on faculty- and student-directed research projects,

Sec. 7- To encourage study abroad, either in Grand Valley State University's summer programs in Mexico or Central America or in other appropriate programs in Latin America, and

In general, the desired outcomes of the LAS Program are: 1) Prepare students in the spirit of the liberal arts, 2) Provide students with a breath and depth of knowledge, 3) Develop a reasonable level of individual thought and synthesis, and 4) Prepare students to contribute to a complex, multicultural society.

Clearly, the diversity of the faculty involved and the multi-disciplinary nature of the LAS Program all but guarantee that students will be trained in the spirit of the liberal arts. Similarly, an academically diverse faculty combined with a solid academic program, broad exposure to the local, national, and international Latin American community, and close working relationships between LAS faculty and students support the progress of, and desired outcomes for LAS minors.

b. What assessment plans (or previously developed procedures and instruments) does your unit have to assay student progress and the extent to which desired outcomes are achieved?

Because the LAS minor was recently instituted, the primary focus of the program has been to establish the essential academic and outreach foundation. In light of this, assessment plans for students have not been created.

During the next five years, the LAS minor will develop assessment tools that help measure the success of the program in achieving its academic goals. As a first step, we plan to use the entry core course, LAS 210, and the outgoing core course, LAS 374, to measure student progress and the effectiveness of the program. Students will be required to complete a substantive questionnaire on their understanding of Latinos and Latin America at the beginning of their work in the minor and upon its completion. A copy of the questionnaires will be retained by the LAS Coordinator. Every two years, a task force of LAS faculty will be assembled to review the papers to assess the content and synthesis of issues presented and change and continuity in student knowledge after completing the LAS minor.

In addition, students will be required to assemble a portfolio of their papers and exams from their LAS courses and electives. The need to keep these portfolios and their contents will be explained to students in a letter welcoming them to the program when they register for the minor. The faculty task force will also evaluate the content of the portfolios in light of the stated goals and desired outcomes of the program and make recommendations based upon their findings.

Because several students have now graduated with an LAS minor, surveys will be mailed on an annual basis to graduates to assess the utility of the minor to individual student preparation, careers, and world view.

c. The assessment schedule.

Assessment of LAS minors will begin in LAS 210 during Fall 2001 with assignment of the questionnaire and an outline of the portfolio. The questionnaire will also be assigned to minors taking LAS 374 in Winter 2002.

d. How the LAS Program plans to use the assessment results.

The task force reviewing the questionnaire and portfolios will write a brief summary of their work and conclude with recommendations regarding what seems to be working and what seems to be failing in the course of study. This report will be distributed to the LAS faculty for review and will be scheduled for discussion by the LAS executive and advisory committees.

D. ASSESSMENT OF STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE PROGRAM

Some strengths and weaknesses of the LAS Program were addressed in the introduction to this report. Among the strengths of the program are the breadth and diversity of the faculty, the variety of course offerings, the unique internal governance structure, the consistency of guest speaker and events programming for internationalizing and diversifying the campus, assistance to the campus diversity campaign through support for faculty and staff hiring and retention efforts as well as support for Latino and international student groups, and the development of strong outreach relationships with regional institutions and groups. Among the weaknesses of the program are the lack of a reward structure for faculty, an inability to determine faculty hires and assignments, structural obstacles to tracking minors, inadequate funding, and the absence of effective and consistent staff support.

This self-study has already emphasized the program's many strengths and achievements. The introduction commented on how the program has generally succeeded in turning weaknesses into strengths. A recent example of this was the composition of the LAS Bylaws, a process completed in December 1999. By 1997, steady growth in the number of faculty, staff, and students interested in the program had begun to cause communication and administration problems. Some people felt excluded, others felt overwhelmed. Since the program was not a regular unit with its own faculty, learning how to be inclusive yet manageable proved a significant challenge. In response to complaints, the program decided to create bylaws in order to make its administration transparent. The aid of visiting professor Luis Samuel Gonzalez, a philosopher and lawyer, was enlisted to draft the bylaws. Through many meetings and much discussion, the rules were finally adopted and approved by interim Dean Jonathan White. They create a broad unit membership in a body called the advisory committee. The coordinator and a smaller executive committee are selected, reviewed, and monitored by this wider group. While the Bylaws are new, the promise to be an effective means for managing both efficiently and democratically a growing program.

As for the LAS Program's weaknesses, most have external origins that are beyond the direct control of the unit. As a non-traditional unit, the program has no faculty an thus no evaluation or reward structure. LAS faculty virtually volunteer because they either enjoy the group or somehow find it useful for their interests. We have tried to make this problem manageable by delegating responsibility in a way that makes the work itself rewarding. The coordinator writes letters for faculty under review in their home units and sends memos to chairs reporting on the LAS activities of their faculty. We have also made a small amount of money available for supporting research and scholarly travel. These measures help but they do not solve the problem of the program's outsider status in faculty governance and administration.

Much the same elaboration fits the problem of determining faculty teaching schedules and the hiring of Latino or Latin American specialists. In units where LAS faculty have lines, they have had an influence on these decisions. Partly because of this lobbying, Anthropology added a Latin Americanist (R. Rhoads), Sociology a Latino specialist (D. Malaret), Business a Latin American specialist (C. Sanchez), Geology a Caribbeanist (J. Weber), English a Latin Americanist (D. Alvarez), Biology a tropical specialist (S. Menon), History a Caribbeanist (S. Buckridge), and Spanish a Latin Americanist (N. Strejilevich). The presence and lobbying of the program has also helped influence hiring Latino specialists in Admissions and the Minority Affairs Office. In units where no LAS faculty reside, no Latin Americanists have been added: Economics, Political Science, and International Relations are three prime examples. Thus, influence is not control. And influence has its limits-it is an annual struggle to buy away faculty from other units to teach LAS 210.

Another grave concern is that of tracking minors. Because the registrar keeps records of only the most recent minor declared by a student, we cannot count on the computer system to keep track of our students. Because we had no staff support until the past year, we had no reliable place for students to hand in their registration forms in order to keep our own inventory. When we finally did get some staff, we started to develop a data base of minors, but this was only begun in the Winter semester. We no there is a wide discrepancy between the number of minors listed by the registrar and those students who say they are minors. This was underscored by a recent survey conducted by G. Pozzi of students in one Spanish class. Twelve of twenty-five claimed to be minors yet not a one is formally registered according to the registrar. In a system where numbers of students count more than anything else, this is a serious problem. Although we are once again without staff support, we are working on this problem and hope that by offering a major, the registrar's methods will help us keep consistent records.

The LAS Program gained a significant budget increase in Fall 1999. Our CSSM budget until then was $2,000 and every other year we asked the president to support the Conference on the Americas with a grant of $4,000 to $6,000. Thus, our effective budget was about $5,000 a year. Without our asking, President Lubbers increased it to $12,000 a year but this adequate amount is locked in only through 2002, and exists solely due to the generosity of the president. We hope that our wise use of this money will prove to the administration that $5,000 is inadequate and that the LAS Program is capable of exceeding its mandate and enriching all with a larger sum.

Finally, the program both benefitted and suffered from having/not having staff support over the course of its brief history. The program is very pleased that the administration, especially the dean, has been working to provide us with part of a COT's time. Yet the personnel hired by the dean's office caused more problems than they solved. [IN WHAT WAY??] This is another area where the program's lack of control, due to structural obstacles, has caused significant stress on the program. One of the most important assets the program could have is an office and administrative assistant it could call its own and arrange to present an image of the program. We urge the administration to provide the funding to allow for a full time, bilingual assistant and an office we can use to accommodate meetings with students and faculty and add a Latin flare.

E. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE UNIT'S PERSONNEL POLICIES

As a program, LAS has no faculty lines and hence no peer review or evaluation responsibilities or procedures. Each year, no more than two faculty members have any sort of appointment to the unit. These are the program coordinator, who receives one release time each semester to coordinate the program, and the coordinator of team-taught LAS 210.

Chapter 7 of the LAS Bylaws provides some guidelines for the review and appointment of the LAS Coordinator.

CHAPTER 7- Election and Review of Coordinator (Mod. 6/6/99)

PART I- Election

Sec. 1- The Coordinator shall be elected for three-year renewable term by the Advisory Committee.

Sec. 2- The vote shall take place at the first meeting of the Winter Semester prior to the beginning of the coordinator's term of office.

Sec. 3- The nominee with the majority of the votes shall be the Coordinator Elect and his or her nomination shall be submitted to the dean for approval.

PART II- Renewal

Sec. 1- The review starts in the Fall Semester of the third year.

Sec. 2- The procedure for review must be consistent with the University's Administrative Manual.

Sec. 3- The criteria for review shall be consistent with the declared goals of the LAS Program.

Sec. 4- The results of the review shall be reported to the Executive Committee for further action.

These newly established guidelines were followed for the first time in Winter 2000. New procedures for the review process were developed. A Personnel Review Committee was established and the coordinator was asked to submit a self-evaluation. He was then evaluated by members of the advisory committee (Bylaws, Chapters 3 and 4) on the basis of his success in fulfilling the declared goals of the program (Bylaws, Chapter 2).

No review or evaluation procedure is in place for the coordinator of LAS 210. Getting units to agree to let their faculty members teach the course has been challenging enough so we have focused on encouraging the lending units to include the review of teacher effectiveness within their own departments.

SECTION II: DATA

Introduction:
This section provides a summary and interpretation of numerical data on the LAS program provided by the Student Information System, the Office of Institutional Analysis, and the Office of International Affairs.

What to look for:

Table 1 presents data on LAS Minor students and faculty measured by Full-Time Equivalency (students and faculty) and faculty-to-student ratio, as well as averages from 1995 to 1999.

Table 2 presents Student Credit Hours (SCH) of all students taking LAS-designated courses from fall 1993 to winter 2000, disaggregated by course.

Table 3 presents the number of students who are officially-declared LAS minors from 1995 to 1999.

Table 4 presents the number of GVSU students participating in study abroad in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1993 to 2000 (estimated), and rate of increase of student participation per year.
Data Summary and Interpretations:

Table 1 describes three kinds of data:

FTE Students averages 4.3. This indicates low numbers of officially-declared minors, and correlates with the data in Table 3 (see interpretation below).

The FTE faculty figure is low, indicating that LAS courses minimally draw on faculty resources. The result is that the LAS program is giving GVSU an program at a minimum of investment in faculty resources.

For LAS-designated courses only, the faculty-student ratio averages 13, but this increased when the LAS 210 gained general education status.

Table 2 describes Student Credit Hours (SCH) for ALL students (not just minors) taking LAS-designated courses. LAS 210 is the most popular course, particularly since 1997 when the course joined the general education program. Over 65% of the total program SCH (1993-1999) have been generated since 1997, indicating a significant increase in the popularity of LAS-designated courses in recent years.

Table 3 describes the number of enrolled LAS Minors. (For a thorough discussion of this issue of students reached, including the recruitment of minors, see Section I: Narrative, Part C. 1. a.; and Part D "Strengths and Weaknesses") Although the number of minors is low, we suggest two possibilities for the future: (a) the LAS program needs to increase the intensity of the recruitment of minors, and (b) students need to officially declare the minor. In response to the issue of potential "anonymous" minors (those who believe they are LAS minors, but are not officially declared as such), the LAS Executive committee members took an informal survey of their students to determine who would response in the affirmative to the question: "Are you a LAS minor?" The results suggest that roughly 15 different students think they are an LAS minor. In summary, we believe that two ways to increase the number of minors is to get anonymous minors to officially declare and to increase efforts at general recruitment.

Table 4 describes the number of students participating in study abroad in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1993 to 2000 (estimated). The types of programs are: GVSU faculty-led summer programs, non-GVSU summer programs, GVSU semester/year exchange programs, and non-GVSU semester programs. Programs include language and discipline study, including special GVSU-led programs ranging in sponsorship from the biology to the nursing programs. Although students have traveled to 13 countries in the region, one can see that 50% of all students study in Mexico where LAS recently helped initiate an exchange program in Puebla between GVSU and the Universidad de las Americas in Puebla. Sixty-five percent of all students during the data period (1993-2000) have studied abroad since 1997, indicating a significant popularity among students in travel to Latin American in recent years.
APPENDIX

Table of Contents

1. Table 1: FTE Students, Faculty Used and Student Faculty Ration, 1995-1999

2. Table 2: Student Credit Hours for LAS-Designated Courses, 1993-2000

3. Table 3: Enrolled LAS Minors, 1995-2000

4. Table 4: Study Abroad Activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, 1993-2000

5. "Final Plan for a Latin American Studies Minor Program"

6. Issues 1-5 of LAS Noticias

7. "Voces Latinas/Latino Voices"

8. "Latin American Studies Bylaws"