We are very proud to have funded the following KU students for these awards: Stansifer, Tinker, Herzfeld, and FLAS. 

Charles Stansifer Fellowship 

The Charles Stansifer Fellowship is a $6,000 award to outstanding doctoral students who are working to complete their dissertations on a Latin American or Caribbean topic.  Preference is given to research on Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and US-Latin American relations, respectively.  

2024

Luisa Garcés Sierra (PhD Student in Spanish & Portuguese): Echoes of Resistance: Memory and Activism in the Stories of Madres de Abril

Danny Ibanez IV (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology): Assessing Effects of Demographic and Environmental Variables on Viral Community Richness in Bats

Manuel Rodriguez (Spanish & Portuguese): Regional Analysis of Teenek Maya Cultural and Literary Production in the Huastec Potosina Region of Eastern Mexico

Tinker Field Research Grants 

Tinker Field Research grants are co-funded by a grant from the Tinker Foundation and KU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.  Tinker grants support Masters and pre-dissertation doctoral students for 2+ weeks of travel to Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking Latin America for exploratory research.  

2023 - 2024

Soji Adedipe (MA Student in History): Brazil

Nathaniel Blum (MA Student in Geography): Guatemala

Gabriel Castro (PhD Student in Political Sciences): Brazil

Elizabeth Chunda (MA Student in African & African-American Studies): Brazil

Kiera Eckhardt (PhD Student in Anthropology): Ecuador

David Martinez (PhD Student in Education & Human Sciences): Paraguay

Cap McLiney (MA Student in Geography): Peru

Christa Osarczuk (MA Student in Anthropology): Guatemala

Laryssa Rodrigues (MA Student in Spanish & Portuguese): Brazil

Claudia Salas-Forero (PhD Student in Spanish & Portuguese): Brazil

Emily Tummons (PhD Student in Curriculum & Teaching): Guatemala

Anita Herzfeld Study Abroad Scholarship 

The Anita Herzfeld Study Abroad Scholarship honors former Center Undergraduate Director, Study Abroad Director, and Latin American linguist who helped shape the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies into what it is today.  

2023 - 2024

Bernice Abolga (MA Student in African & African-American Studies)

Chrishayla Adams (BA Student in Sociology and African & African-American Studies

Oluwakorede Ajibona (PhD Student in Philosophy

Nicholas Caterine (BA Student in Political Science / Spanish)

Maddie DeWitt (BA Student in Business Administration)

Grace Larson (BA Student in Global and International Studies)

Kristina Lincoln (BA Student in Biochemistry & Pre-med)

Leah Loura (BA Student in Social Work)

Kaden Ray Miller (BA Student in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)

Delainey Miltner (BA Student in Business)

Margarita Núñez Arroyo (PhD Student in American Studies)

Yareli Ortiz (BA Student in Social Work

Angelina Rinella (BA Student in Architecture & Design)

Kyra Schrock (BA Student in Behavioral Neuroscience & Linguistics)

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships 

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships are funded via an institutional grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE).  The intent is to build a reservoir of scholars with linguistic and cultural expertise on all areas of the world.  FLAS Fellowships focus on “Less Commonly Taught Languages,” which currently include all non-U.S. languages except Spanish, German, French, and Italian.  Due to generous support from the USDE and the KU College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the Center funds instruction in the indigenous languages of Guaraní, Kaqchikel Maya, Mískitu, Quechua, Tlapanec (Me’phaa), and Yucatec Maya, as well as Haitian Creole, and Portuguese.

ACADEMIC YEAR 2024 - 2025  

Graduate Students

Nathaniel Blum (MA student in Geography): Kaqchikel Maya

Christa Osarczuk (MA Student in Anthropology): Kaqchikel Maya

Raul Rangel (MA student in Indigenous Studies): Quechua

Salem Sanfilippo Solindas (MA Student in Indigenous Studies): Kaqchikel Maya

Mary Self (MA Student in Global and International Studies): Portuguese

Undergraduate Students

Raine Flores-Peña (BA Student in Visual Arts): Portuguese

Alysia Martínez (BA Student in Psychology & Linguistics): Yucatec Maya

Ana Silva (incoming freshman): Quechua

SUMMER 2024  

Graduate Students  

Luisa Garcés Sierra (PhD Student in Spanish & Portuguese): Quechua

Raul Rangel (MA student in Indigenous Studies): Quechua

Salem Sanfilippo Solindas (MA Student in Indigenous Studies: Kaqchikel Maya 

Jorie Stump (PhD Student in Curriculum & Instruction): Quechua

Sarah Thornsberry (PhD Student in Rhetoric & Composition): Quechua

Davilyn Yates (PhD Student in Spanish & Portuguese): Yucatec Maya

Undergraduate Students 

Devin Rogers (BA Student in Spanish & Portuguese): Yucatec Maya

Graduating Students

B.A. MAJOR Mateus Arruda Pinto Bandeira