Lifetime Achievement Award
The Latin American Studies Association is pleased to announce the LASA2023 Kalman Silvert Awardee: Susan Eckstein, Professor of Sociology and International Relations at Boston University, and Past President of the Latin American Studies Association.
The award committee concluded that Dr. Eckstein richly deserves this lifetime career recognition, on the grounds of prolific, high-quality, interdisciplinary scholarship, truly exceptional service to LASA, and broader service to the profession.
Professor Eckstein has been a highly productive scholar whose work has been influential in several important subfields of Latin American studies. She has written and edited nine books focusing on three countries – Mexico Bolivia, and Cuba – with systematic comparisons to additional Latin American countries. Her work has illuminated a remarkably broad range of social, economic, and political interests: Latin American urbanization, poverty, immigrant labor market niches, social revolutions and their impacts, protest movements, agrarian reform, Latin American immigration to the United States, and various human rights issues.
Additionally, the committee expressed that probably no one has done more to create “LASA as we know it today” than Susan Eckstein. During her presidency (1997-1998) she secured the first major contribution to LASA’s permanent endowment: a $2 million gift from the Ford Foundation. Susan also helped to raise nearly half a million dollars from the Mellon Foundation to bring LASA into the 21st Century technologically, funding that enabled LASA to put the Latin American Research Review and the LASA Forum online. She worked to expand the number of LASA Sections, which have become a vibrant part of the Association and have served to democratize participation in LASA. She initiated a prestigious LASA award for younger scholars engaged in human rights activism and secured funding for the award from Oxfam.
About LASA
The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest professional association in the world for individuals and institutions engaged in the study of Latin America. With over 13,000 members, over 60% of whom reside outside the United States, LASA is the one association that brings together experts on Latin America from all disciplines and diverse occupational endeavors, across the globe. LASA's mission is to foster intellectual discussion, research, and teaching on Latin America, the Caribbean, and its people throughout the Americas, promote the interests of its diverse membership, and encourage civic engagement through network building and public debate.
If you wish to interview a LASA Executive Council member, you can contact the LASA communications office at (412) 648-7929 or send an email to lasa@lasaweb.org.