# Executive Committee [### Alejandro de la Fuente ](/people/alejandro-de-la-fuente-0) Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics; Professor of African and African American Studies; Chair, Cuba Studies Program; Director, Afro-Latin American Research Institute A historian of Latin America and the Caribbean who specializes in the study of comparative slavery and race relations, Professor de la Fuente’s works on race, slavery, law, art, and Atlantic history have been published in Spanish, English, Portuguese... ![alejandro](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/51322_ONLINE_ALARI_WKSHP_MelissaBlackall_-23-1.jpg?h=030ef6e1&itok=q__EW6Q_) [### Alisha C. Holland ](/people/alisha-c-holland) Professor of Government, Department of Government Alisha C. Holland studies the comparative political economy of development with a focus on Latin America. Her first book, Forbearance as Redistribution: The Politics of Informal Welfare in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2017), examines the... ![alisha](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/Alisha-Holland-e1669652325704.jpg?h=47751115&itok=d40cnWug) [### Bruno Carvalho ](/people/bruno-carvalho-1) Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies; Co-Chair, Art, Film, & Culture Faculty Committee Bruno Carvalho works on cities as lived and imagined spaces. He studies relationships between cultural practices and urbanization, specializing on Brazil from the eighteenth century onward. Carvalho’s interdisciplinary approaches bridge history, literary... ![Bruno](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-08/Captura%20de%20tela%202024-08-20%20170954.jpg?h=59816339&itok=pjF1NQx0) [### Davíd Carrasco ](/people/dav%C3%ADd-carrasco-0)Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America, Harvard Divinity School and Department of Anthropology Davíd Carrasco is a Mexican American historian of religions with particular interest in Mesoamerican cities as symbols, and the Mexican-American borderlands. His studies with historians of religions at the University of Chicago inspired him to work on the... ![carrasco.jpeg](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas2/files/carrasco_0.jpeg?h=03618316&itok=6PPSe0qQ) [### Diane E. Davis ](/people/diane-e-davis-0) Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism, GSD; Co-Chair, Mexico Faculty Committee Diane E. Davis is the Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism in the Department of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Davis served as Chair of the Department of Urban Planning and Design... ![diane davis](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-08/59-Diane%20Davis_2.jpg?itok=k7yyESVZ) [### Doris Sommer ](/people/doris-sommer-0)Ira Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures; Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative Doris Sommer, Director of the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard University, is Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies. Her academic and outreach work promotes development... ![doris_sommer](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/doris_sommer%202.jpg?h=57c42cb5&itok=rLWk46xi) [### Fernando Reimers ](/people/fernando-reimers-0) [fernando\_reimers@harvard.edu](mailto:fernando_reimers@harvard.edu)Ford Foundation Professor of International Education; Director, International Education Policy Program; Director, Global Education Innovation Initiative Fernando M. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of the Practice of International Education and Director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative and of the International Education Policy Masters Program at Harvard University. An expert in the... ![fernando](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/fernando-reimers-252.jpg?h=0dc9813e&itok=iHDzZ8Jt) [### Forest L. Reinhardt ](/people/forest-l-reinhardt-0)John D. Black Professor of Business Administration, HBS; Unit Head, Business, Government and the International Economy; Co-Chair, Andes & Southern Cone Faculty Committee Forest Reinhardt is a global expert on the interface between climate change, business, and energy. He is co-chair of the Harvard Business School’s Global Energy Seminar, an executive education course for leaders of firms that play important roles in the... ![forest](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/Captura%20de%20tela%202024-09-11%20155751.jpg?h=38d19386&itok=rm6A2EZj) [### Gabriela Soto Laveaga ](/people/gabriela-soto-laveaga-0) Professor of the History of Science; Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico; Co-Chair, Mexico Faculty Committee Gabriela Soto Laveaga is Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico at Harvard University. Her research and teaching interests include modern Latin America, the intersection of science and culture, public... ![gsl.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas2/files/gsl.jpg?h=80a5426a&itok=-5V0ehBr) [### Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof ](/people/jesse-hoffnung-garskof)Professor of History, History Department Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof is Professor of History at Harvard University. His research and teaching focus on the history of Latinx people in the United States, the history of Latin America and the Caribbean, immigration and asylum law, publicly engaged... ![picture_of_jesse_hoffnung-garskof](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas2/files/picture_of_jesse_hoffnung-garskof.png?h=36d984c5&itok=JvnRxdou) [### Jocelyn Viterna ](/people/jocelyn-viterna-0) Professor of Sociology; Chair, Central America & the Caribbean Faculty Committee Jocelyn Viterna is Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate studies at Harvard University. She is also the co-director of the Politics and Social Change workshop, and Co-Chair of the Central America and the Caribbean committee in the David... ![jocelyn_viterna.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas/files/jocelyn_viterna_1.jpg?h=e12f0a92&itok=unTj46ex) [### Kirsten Weld ](/people/kirsten-weld-0) Professor of History Kirsten Weld is a historian of modern Latin America. Her research explores 20 th-century struggles over inequality, justice, historical memory, and social inclusion. Her first book , Paper Cadavers: The Archives of Dictatorship in Guatemala (2014)... ![weld_0_1.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas/files/weld_0_1.jpg?h=fe769f29&itok=xStSVwTO) [### Marcia Castro ](/people/marcia-castro-0) Andelot Professor of Demography; Chair, Department of Global Health and Population, HSPH; Chair, Brazil Studies Program Faculty Committee Marcia Castro is Andelot Professor of Demography, Chair of the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and Chair of the Brazil Studies Program of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies... ![Marcia](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-08/MarciaCastro.jpg?h=7bc44de0&itok=956n6nzf) [### Mariano Siskind ](/people/mariano-siskind-0) Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Comparative Literature; Co-Chair, Andes & Southern Cone Faculty Committee Academic Degrees: BA in Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; MA, PhD, in Comparative Literature, New York University Research Interests: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Latin American Literature; Travel Writing; Histories and Theories of... ![mariano](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2024-09/thumbnail_ef827cdc-90ef-4e23-956d-43a8cd02015d.jpg?h=a3b851d6&itok=CAgcrfBt) [### Michael Starnbach ](/people/michael-starnbach-0) Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, HMS Research in Dr. Starnbach’s lab uses a combination of cellular and molecular approaches to analyze the mammalian responses to bacterial infection. Many virulence factors have been identified that allow bacteria to survive and replicate within the host. Dr... ![starnbach.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas/files/starnbach_1.jpg?h=b2fe3416&itok=c5dpgf_a) [### Steven Levitsky ](/people/steven-levitsky-0) Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies; David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government; Co-Chair, Tuesday Seminar Series Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government and Director of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard. ![Steven Levitsky 2](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2026-04/a612e9a4-898a-4506-ae0f-7cceaf6ee508.jpg?itok=Rw8THy1L) [### Thomas B. F. Cummins ](/people/thomas-b-f-cummins-0) Dumbarton Oaks Professor of the History of Pre-Columbian and Colonial Art; Co-Chair, Art, Film, & Culture Faculty Committee; Director of Dumbarton Oaks Thomas Cummins is The Dumbarton Oaks Professor of the History of Pre-Columbian and Colonial Art. He has a PhD from UCLA, 1988. He taught for eleven years at the University of Chicago and was the Director of The Center of Latin American Studies from 1998... ![t_cummins_1.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum12451/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/drclas2/files/t_cummins_1_0.jpg?h=8ac9f532&itok=CdGhfJGy)