The UNM School of Architecture and Planning and the Latin American and Iberian Institute (LAII)  host three finalists next week for the position of Assistant Professor of Latin American Development Planning.

Ric Richardson, director, Community and Regional Planning program in the School of Architecture and Planning, said, "Because LAII Director Susan Tiano successfully acquired a Title VI grant, Provost Abdallah provided a fulltime faculty line for us to hire a Latin Americanist with a background in planning and development." Title VI grants are given to educational institutions to strengthen the capability and performance of American education in foreign languages and in area and international studies. 

Each finalist presents a lecture featuring his or her research and academic interests. The lectures are all from noon to 1 p.m. and are in George Pearl Hall room P104. Pearl Hall is located on Central and Cornell on the UNM campus. The lectures are all free and open to the public.

Elizabeth Sweet, Monday, March 30. Sweet presents, “Cuerpo – Tierra: Linking Embodied Experiences and Community Spaces.”

Sweet received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research focuses on sustainable, safe community economic development with marginalized groups, mainly women of color. Drawing on planning, policy, geography and sociology, she examines individual and community-level responses to institutional and global pressures and constraints, such as new immigration policies, economic opportunities/barriers and workforce development. She has explored populations and their intersections of gender, citizenship, race, space, violence and economic barriers in Mexico, Colombia and the United States. 

Julianne Hazlewood, Wednesday, April 1. Hazlewood presents, “Decolonizing Post-Extractive Development in Ecuador: Geographies of Hope?”

Hazlewood received her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. Her research examines sustainable community development and indigenous community-based development planning in Latin America, from critical conservation and development studies, to political ecology and post extractive development and degrowth. She specializes in geographies of hope, alternative forms of planning that are rooted in indigenous and Afro-descendent peo­ples' mobilization towards self-determination of their territories and decolonization of knowledge. 

Christian Casillas, Thursday, April 2. Casillas presents, “New Forms of Communication in Grassroots Economic Development: Participatory Modeling with Garifuna and Creole Fishing Communities in Nicaragua.”

Casillas received his Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley. His research focuses on the role of energy systems in rural community development. He also studies how lack of information impacts community perceptions of development interventions, and ultimately their efficacy. He has been involved in various aspects of design, testing and implementation of renewable energy systems in the United States, Central and South America, India and Africa.