Mary Pat Brady, assistant professor of English at Cornell University, has been appointed director of the university's Latino Studies Program (LSP) for 2003-04. Brady replaces Maria Cristina García, professor of history, who served as LSP director for three years.

In accepting her appointment, Brady praised Garcia's accomplishments, while outlining a plan to build on the work of her predecessor.

"All of the campus community is grateful for the extraordinary work of Maria Cristina Garcia over the past three years," said Brady, who served as associate director with García in 2000. "Maria's dedication and skill have transformed the program, tripling its concentrators, expanding course offering and broadening its appeal."

Brady said LSP is poised to assume a position of national prominence in the field of Latino studies. As director, she plans to launch a series of new initiatives that include: hiring three new faculty members; expanding the program's scholarly potential through development of new course offerings; working with Cornell University Library to strengthen LSP-related collections; and continuing to host major events in spring 2004.

Brady said she is working with scholars throughout the Northeast in the hopes of forming an East Coast consortium for Latino/a studies "that will serve as a broader resource for students and faculty."

In the LSP fall 2003 newsletter, Brady also describes her plans to strengthen academic connections with other minority programs at Cornell.

"I will be working with the directors of the Asian American Studies Program and American Indian Program as well as the vice provost for academic affairs on the development of comparative programs and resources that will further enhance all of these programs individually and collectively," Brady wrote. Other plans include the creation of Web resources to support high school teachers who wish to add a Latino studies component to their curriculum.

Brady, a Chicana from Arizona, joined the Cornell faculty in 1999 from Indiana University, where she was an assistant professor of English. Her scholarly and professional interests include: U.S. Latino and Latina literature and culture; cultural studies and American multi-ethnic literature. Brady received a B.A. in English from Arizona State University in 1984, an M.A. in English from the University of California-Los Angeles in 1993 and a Ph.D. in English from UCLA in 1996.

Established in 1987, LSP is an interdisciplinary academic program that focuses strictly on Latino/a issues in the United States. LSP faculty and students study the historical, linguistic, literary, social, economic and political experiences of a vastly heterogeneous population in the United States, now estimated at more than 35 million people. The Cornell program has four joint faculty members, one full-time staff person, one part-time staff member as well as a number of affiliated faculty who serve a diverse student community. Last fall, 14 undergraduate students opted for a concentration in Latino studies, and three graduate students enrolled through LSP as minors in the field of Latino studies. In addition, LSP courses are cross-listed in several departments.