Message from the Director, Prof. Luciano Tosta

Greetings from Bailey Hall. We hope you had an enjoyable summer and are ready for the semester! Last year was a busy one for CGIS and it looks like 2026-2027 may be just as productive.

As a recap, last semester we hosted renowned Brazilian historian, João José Reis, who shared his extensive research on slavery in Brazil. CGIS also organized the hybrid conference "Global Food (In)Security: Interdisciplinary Perspectives." Keynote speakers Drs. Elisabetta Recine and Paul Howe spoke about malnutrition, famine and their work with the UN. Academics and community groups from 8 different countries joined us during this event. In May, CGIS graduated 32 majors, 13 minors, and 15 graduate students. Usually, commencement marks the end of the year for us but 2026 was different.

On June 12-13, CGIS and Dept of Spanish & Portuguese hosted the XV EMEP (Encontro Mundial Sobre o Ensino de Português), the annual conference of the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese (AOTP). Over 50 Portuguese language educators, researchers, and cultural practitioners dedicated to teaching Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, and other Lusophone cultures worldwide came together at KU. Prof. Ana Laura Marques, SpanPort grad student Caio Castro, and I gave presentations. It was a vibrant opportunity for sharing ideas, strengthening international networks, and celebrating the multiple pathways that shape the field. 

Chris Brown, Prof. of Environmental Studies, and I received funding from KUIA to develop a study abroad program in the Amazon. After the spring semester, we traveled to sites in the rainforest and met with André Luiz Nunes Zogahib, Provost of the Universidade Estadual do Amazonas and others to establish a partnership between the university and KU. This collaboration will yield a study abroad program and a joint conference on The Amazon.

In July, Jennifer Duhamel, CGIS assistant director, and I represented KU at the Brazilian Studies Association’s (BRASA) XVIII Congress held July 7–10 at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) in Salvador, Brazil. More than 1,600 scholars from interdisciplinary fields—including history, anthropology, geography, literary and cultural studies, political science, and the medical sciences—gathered on the UFBA campus for the congress.

KU is now the institutional home of BRASA and will host the association for the next six years, during which it will support three conferences. This initiative is a collaboration among the Center for Global & International Studies, the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, the Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, and KU International Affairs. As the director of CGIS, I have been appointed BRASA’s new executive director. Jennifer Duhamel, will serve as the association’s administrative director.

CGIS applied for the Centers Aligned with Areas for National Need (CAANN) program grant this summer. Prof. Rami Zeedan, CGIS director of graduate studies, and I submitted an application with a focus on the Middle East, one of the center's areas of focus. The Department of Education's CAANN grant estimates to distribute $70,000,000 among 50 awardees. If awarded, the grant will also benefit the Jewish Studies Program, the Religious Studies and Political Science Departments, as well as all KU scholars whose work focuses on the Middle East.

We are happy to announce that as of July 1st Prof. Rami Zeedan is our new Director of Graduate Studies. We thank Prof. Elizabeth MacGonagle for serving as DGS for the past few years. We truly appreciate all that she has done in that capacity. Prof. Zeedan was our DGS before Prof. MacGonagle and is a core member of our Global and International Studies team. Welcome Rami!

This fall, we will host two large events. “Global Restitution and Reparative Efforts in Museums” will take place October 29-30. We are organizing this conference with the Kansas African Studies Center (KASC), Spencer Museum of Art, and Museum Studies. “The Indian Ocean from African Perspectives: Interdisciplinary Approaches” will take place November 19-20. CGIS is collaborating with KASC and the Center for African Studies at the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique to host this online symposium. Potential events for the spring semester include a conference on Global Human Rights and another on the Amazon.

We wish you well as the new semester begins and we look forward to seeing you on campus!

Sincerely,
Luciano Tosta
& the CGIS Team

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