UB forges landmark exchange agreement with Cuba

Program with University of Havana is first for U.S. university since Castro took over

The formal academic exchange program that UB has forged with the University of Havana in Cuba is the first such agreement between that university and an American university under the Castro regime.

The landmark exchange agreement signed last summer by Kerry Grant, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Yolanda Wood, dean of the University of Havana Faculty of Arts and Letters, was the first of its kind between UH and an American university since 1959, the year Havana fell to the revolutionary forces of Fidel Castro.

The agreement commits UB and UH to the joint development of a Caribbean Studies Program with an integrative and interdisciplinary nature for the purposes of conducting research and teaching. It already has launched several initiatives:

- A joint working group has been established to develop the Caribbean Studies Program and will meet at UB in April.

- A master's-degree program in Caribbean studies is expected to be in place at UB by the Fall 1999 semester. The two universities also will develop a master's degree in the arts and letters of the Caribbean that will be jointly designed and managed.

- Fernando Remirez de Esternoz, first deputy minister of the Cuban Republic and head of the Cuban Interest Section in Washington, D.C., will visit UB March 4-6 to discuss the new initiatives and their possible expansion.

- UB expects to establish a research center in Caribbean Studies at UH as soon as possible. Given the current state of economic affairs in Cuba, the center will be outfitted by UB with PCs, a fax machine and other office and conferencing equipment.

- The two universities also have agreed to develop a research program with jointly sponsored activities and publications focusing on Caribbean studies.

- UB's very successful summer abroad program, conducted in Cuba in 1997 and 1998, will be expanded. In 1998, the summer program enrolled 33 students from UB, Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and Binghamton University.

Eight courses offered in Havana during the summer were taught by three UB faculty and two UH faculty. Students chose from among five study options and earned up to six credit hours from UB. In addition, the program featured 15 visiting lectures and opportunities for student contact with an extensive network of artists and intellectuals throughout Cuba.

The 1999 program is expected to enroll 35 students who will remain in Cuba throughout July and will earn graduate and undergraduate academic credits. Three professors at UH will be teaching in this year's program with two members of the UB faculty: José Buscaglia, assistant professor of modern languages and literatures and director of the Cuban and Caribbean programs at UB, and Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., associate professor of American studies and director of the UB Center for Urban Studies.