This document summarizes the recipients of certificates in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from Duke University in 2015. It provides biographies for each recipient, including their degree program, favorite courses and professors, thesis or dissertation topic, publications, fellowships, and post-graduation plans to work on issues like social policy, sustainable development, journalism, entrepreneurship, environmental law, and more. The recipients represented a variety of disciplines and countries of focus in their studies of Latin America and the Caribbean.

1. COMMENCEMENT
2015
RECIPIENTS OF THE CERTIFICATE IN
LATIN AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN STUDIES

2. GRADUATE
CERTIFICATES

3. Sebastián José Bowen Carranza
Master of International
Development Policy

4. While at Duke
Favorite Courses
Development, Security, and Violence—Natalia Mirovitskaya
School & Social Policy—Helen Ladd
Indigenous People & Development—Rosemary Fernholz
Poverty Reduction—Phyllis Pomerantz
Latin American NGOs—Jerry VanSant
Site Coordinator DukeEngage Chile
Social Policy Learning Games
The Chilean State & Mapuche
Conflicts: Strategies to Address
Structural Factors & Polarization
Thesis

5. Upon Graduation
Travel
the
U.S.
and
return
to
Chile
to
work
on
social
policies
to
improve
vulnerable
communities

6. Maria Carla Cella
Master of Arts in
Liberal Studies

7. While at Duke
Favorite Courses
The Amazon with Paul Baker
Creative Communities with Miguel Rojas-Sotelo
ModernidadesBrasileiras with Gustavo Furtado
Portuguese with Madga Silva
The Darwinian Revolution with Jon Shaw
Thesis: Transforming Globalization--From
Deterioration to Regeneration
Academic Year FLAS Fellowship
Graduate Liberal Studies Research Grant
CLACS Field Research Grant

8. Upon Graduation
Explore
opportunities
in
sustainable
development
and
environmental
conservation

9. Vanessa Freije
PhD in History

10. While at Duke
Dissertation:
Journalists, Scandal, and the Unraveling of
One-Party Rule, 1960-1988
Favorite Professors: Jocelyn Olcott and Pete Sigal
• Katherine Goodman Stern Dissertation Fellowship
• UCSD Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies PredoctoralFellow
• Fulbright-García Robles Fellowship, U.S. State Department
• Multiple Duke research awards

11. Upon Graduation
Dartmouth Society of Fellows Postdoctoral Fellowship
Tenure-track faculty position University of Washington

12. Luis Felipe Gil Solis
Master of International
Development Policy

13. While at Duke
Favorite Courses
Poverty Reduction with Phyllis
Pomerantz
Fiscal Decentralization with Roy Kelly
• Future International Development
Leaders Programin Udaipur, India
• Fulbright Scholarship
• Co-President Sanford LAC

14. Public-Private Partnership in Peru: Peru’s
Experience of the Works for Taxes Law
Thesis
Upon Graduation
Consulting with governments to
provide more efficient delivery
of public services

15. Jessica Eileen Jones
PhD in Literature

16. While at Duke
• James B. Duke Fellow
• Academic Year FLAS
Fellowship
• Summer FLAS Fellowship for
Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro
• CLACS Travel Grant
Feeling America Otherwise: Ground as an Earth that Quakes
Favorite Professors
Richard Rosa, Walter Mignolo, Fredric
Jameson, Wahneema Lubiano, Nathaniel
Machey
Dissertation

17. Publications
“El espectro descolonial de la izquierda Argentina, 1955-1976” In
Pensamiento Argentino y la Opción Descolonial. Ed. Zulma Palermo.
Buenos Aires. 2010
“Spatializing Sexuality in Jamie Hernandez’s Locas” Aztlán: A Journal of
Chicano Studies. 2009

18. Felipe Ignacio Magofke Rodríguez
Master of International
Development Policy

19. While at Duke
Favorite
Courses
Global
Development
with
Gary
Gereffi
Assistant
Development
with
Anirudh Krishna
Governance with
Phyllis
Pomerantz
Storytelling with
Catherine
Admay
Behavior
Economics
with
Dan
Ariely
• CLACS Grant for the Chilean Public Policy
Conference in Washington, D.C.
• SEAD SAC Member
• MIDP 1st Year Representative
• Internship at the World Bank
Fostering Innovation: Moving from Start-up to Build-
up Entrepreneurship in Chile

20. Upon Graduation
Work in the U.S. for a few years (hopefully at the World
Bank or in the Triangle)

21. Xiao Recio Blanco
Doctorate in Juridical
Sciences, Duke Law

22. While at Duke
Favorite Courses
Environmental Law and Policy with Jim Salzman
Ocean and Coastal Law with Steve Roady
Risk Regulation with Jonathan Wiener
Energy Law with Jonas Monast
Fieldwork conducted in Mexico (Baja California, Mexcaltitán)
Conferences at Cornell and University of Vienna
World Wildlife Fund Scholarship
Dissertation
Beyond Area-Based Ocean Management

23. Upon Graduation
Publish dissertation as separatelaw review
articles
Find work in an International Organization or
NGO in the Washington, D.C. area

24. Luiz Alberto Teixeira Pinto, Jr
Master of International
Development Policy

25. While at Duke
Favorite Courses
• Policy Analysis and Development, Security, and
Violence with Natalia Mirovitskaya
• Capacity Development with Frank Webb
Thesis: Bringing Peace to
the Brazilian Amazon
Outreach to Durham public schools to
teach about peace building policy
around the world

26. Upon Graduation
Develop an Amazon Peace
Center NGO in Brazil

27. Daniela Tort-Sanchez
Master of International
Development Policy

28. While at Duke
Thesis: Increasing Protection and Resilience of
Unaccompanied Children
Favorite Professors
Phyllis Pomerantz, Cory Krupp
Rotary International
Scholarship
Internship in India
Duke-UNC Consortium
Conference

29. Marie Veyrier
Master of International
Development Policy

30. While at Duke
Thesis: Food Insecurity Among
Small Family Farms in
Guatemala
Internship in Costa Rica with FUNDES
DCID Training program in Haiti
Sanford Scholarship
Phyllis Pomerantz
Frank Webb
Rosemary Fernholz
Fernando Fernholz
Favorite Professors

31. Upon Graduation
Projects focused on improving rural development, agriculture, and food
security in Latin America