Dra. Blanca G. Silvestrini

I. EDUCATION

Ph.D., History, State University of New York at Albany, 1973
Major Fields: Latin American History and U.S. Social History (20th Century); Cognate Field: Anthropology
J.S.M., Stanford University, 1990
J.D., University of Puerto Rico (Magna Cum Laude), 1987
Postdoctoral Studies, Department of History of Science,
Harvard University, 1980-81
Graduate Studies, University of Louvain, Belgium, 1967-68
B.A., History, University of Puerto Rico (Magna Cum Laude), 1967

II. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

University of Connecticut, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, 1998-, teaching Latin American and Caribbean history. Areas of research: Socio-Cultural Changes in the Caribbean, 1880-1940, gender history, history of public health and tropical medicine, law and society issues. DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF PUERTO RICAN AND LATINO STUDIES, 2000-2005.

University of Puerto Rico, VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, 1994-1997 (Chief Academic Officer for the eleven campus system, 68,000 students; largest Hispanic doctoral university in the US). Coordination of academic programs and research; formulation and supervision of admissions policy, faculty development programs, student recruitment and retention policies, exchange and international programs, accreditation and federal and state law compliance.

UPR-Río Piedras, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, 1984-1998. Began teaching at the University of Puerto Rico as an Assistant Professor in 1973. Undergraduate Courses: History of Latin America, Historical Methodology (Senior Seminar), and Theory of History. Graduate courses: Historiography and Historical Criticism, Research Seminar in Women in Caribbean Societies, Inter-American Relations, Social Movements in Latin America. Have directed 21 M.A. thesis and dissertations. Academic Senator (two three-year terms), faculty representative to the University Board. Collaborating Professor of Law, teaching seminar on cultural rights.

UPR-Río Piedras, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES, 1983-85. Responsible for coordinating the academic offerings in the area, offered the Latin American senior seminar, coordinated collaborative agreements with other institutions, advised students on opportunities for study in Latin America and the Caribbean, coordinated activities with Latin Americanists in American universities, oversaw a specialized reference collection

UPR-Río Piedras, Associate DEAN FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS, College of Humanities, 1975-78. Responsible for academic programs, faculty development, increasing external funding and research opportunities for faculty

Stanford University, VISITING PROFESSOR OF LAW, 1988-1990, teaching Seminar on Civil Rights and the Latino experience in the US, Family Law. Collaborated actively with the Chicano Research Center and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender

UNESCO, Division for the Dissemination of Cultures, PROJECT DIRECTOR, 1982-1984. Cultural Contacts in the Caribbean Project. Responsible for the organization of an international conference on migration in the Caribbean and the development of a research program

Harvard University, VISITING SCHOLAR, 1980-1981, 2002, Department of History of Science

UPR-Río Piedras, Social Science Research Center, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 1969-1972

SUNY-Albany, DOCTORAL TEACHING FELLOW, 1970-72

NY Department of Education, Long Island site, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 1970-71. Bilingual School Project

Caribbean Economic Development Corporation, San Juan, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, 1968

IV. AWARDS AND RESEARCH GRANTS

• National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship, 2005-2006
  
• University of Connecticut, Chancellor's Research Award, Spring 2002
  
• Grant, Social Science Research Council, IUP-SSRC Program, 1989, for work on Cultural Citizenship project (with Renato Rosaldo and William Flores, Stanford University)
  
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, National Research Council, 1980
  
• Postdoctoral Fellowship for Minorities, Social Science Research Council, 1973, for work on women's changing roles in Caribbean society
  
• Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, 1971
  
• Fulbright-Hays Fellowship (Belgium), 1967
  

V. ACADEMIC DISTINCTIONS

• Visiting Scholar, Harvard University, Department of History of Science, 2002
  
• Member, Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1999-
  
• Mead Lecture, Department of History, Trinity College, 1999
  
• Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, CA, 1987
  
• Elsa Goveia Memorial Lecture on Caribbean History, University of the West Indies, Jamaica, 1989
  
• Member, UNESCO Commission for the Study of Caribbean Cultures, 1985-
  
• Distinguished Academic Award, University of Puerto Rico Law Review, 1987
  
• Editor-in-Chief, University of Puerto Rico Law Review, 1986
  
• Award of the Honorary Historical Society, Phi Alpha Zeta, 1967
  

VI. OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

• Editorial Board Curbstone Press, 2003-2005
  
• Member of Board of Directors, Hispanic Health Council, 2001-2003
  
• Member Research Committee on Sociology of Law, International Sociological Association
  
• Co-Editor, Contemporary Caribbean Societies, (ed.), vol.5, General History of the Caribbean, UNESCO. Macmillan, 2004
  
• Chair, Premio Iberoamericano Committee, Latin American Studies Association, 1999-2000
  
• Vice President, Advisory Council, College Board, Latin American Office, 1994-97
  
• Member of Steering Committee, International Book Fair of Guadalajara, 1997-98
  
• External Review Board for Middle States Association (CHE), 1995, 1996
  
• Member, Board of Trustees, Law and Society Association, 1991-1994
  
• Admitted to the Puerto Rican Bar Association, 1988
  
• External examiner in various dissertations, University of the West Indies (Jamaica)
  
• Chair, evaluating panel, NRC, predoctoral fellowship program, 1984, 1987, member of the panel 2000-2003
  
• Proposal review, National Endowment for the Humanities
  
• President, Association of Caribbean Historians, 1981-1983
  

V. Publications

• General History of the Caribbean. Vol V. The Caribbean in the Twentieth Century (eds. Brereton, Martinez-Vergne, Romer & Silvestrini). London: UNESCO Publishing/Macmillan, 2004.
  
• Historia de Puerto Rico: Trayectoria de un pueblo (with M.D. Luque). San Juan: Cultural Puertorriqueña, 1987.
  
• Politics, Society and Culture in the Caribbean. (Ed.) San Juan: University of Puerto Rico, 1984.
  
• Violencia y criminalidad en Puerto Rico, 1898-1973: Un estudio de historia social. Río Piedras: University of Puerto Rico Press, 1980.
  
• Los trabajadores puertorriqueños y el Partido Socialista 1932-1940. Río Piedras: University of Puerto Rico Press, 1979.
  
• Citizens Running to the Courts: The Legal System and Modernization in Puerto Rico. In Friedman, Lawrence. Legal Cultures in the Age of Globalization, Stanford University Press, 2003.
  
• Los ciudadanos corren a los tribunales: El sistema legal en Puerto Rico ante los cambios de la 'modernización.'In Héctor Fix-Fierro, Lawrence M. Friedman, Rogelio Perez Perdomo, eds. Culturas jurídicas latinas de Europa y América en tiempos de globalizaciónLos sistemas legales en Latinoamérica. México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2002.
• "The World We Enter When Claiming Rights": Latinos and the Quest for Culture, in Benmayor, R. and Flores, B. Eds. Latino Cultural Citizenship. Boston, Beacon Press, 1997.
  
• Género e historiografía (los relatos y las vidas), en Cancel, Mario, ed. Historia y género. San Juan: Asociación Puertorriqueña de Historiadores, 1997.
  
• Igualdad y protección: La legislación sobre la mujer en Puerto Rico, en El Senado de Puerto Rico: Ensayos de historia institucional. San Juan, 1992.
  
• Los derechos de libre expresión de los estudiantes universitarios: el caso de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Revista Jurídica de la Universidad de Puerto Rico 56 (1987), 31-73.
  
• La cláusula de derecho directo del beneficiario en el seguro de vida individual y el derecho de los hijos como herederos, Revista Jurídica de la Universidad de Puerto Rico 55 (1986), 259-277.
• Review, S. Silva-Gotay, Protestantismo y política en Puerto Rico, 1898-1930 (San Juan: UPR Press, 1997), Historia y sociedad, 10, 1998,143-150.
  
• Women and Resistance in Caribbean Contemporary Societies. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies, 1990.
• "Contemporary Puerto Rico: A Contrast Society," in Modern Caribbean, edited by Franklin W. Knight and Colin Palmer. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press (1988).
  
• Social Studies Elementary School Series. 6 vols. Chicago: Scott, Foresman Publishers, 1987-1990 (used as textbooks in Puerto Rican school system).
  
• "The Puerto Rican Needleworker: A Transition from Home to Factory Work." In K. Lawrence (ed.) Social Transformation of the Caribbean. Kingston: Heinemann Educational Books, 1985.
  
• "Research Resources in Puerto Rico: University Collections and Municipal Archives." In K. Greeb (ed.) Research Guide to Central America and the Caribbean. Madison: Wisconsin University Press, 1985.
  
• "Health and Cultural Change," in Politics, Society and Culture in the Caribbean. (Ed.) San Juan: University of Puerto Rico, 1984.
  
• "Los libros de texto de historia de Puerto Rico y el contexto caribeño." Cuadernos 11, 1984.
  
• "Perspectivas de los estudios históricos en Puerto Rico en la década de los setenta." Cuadernos 10, 1983.
  
• "La visión de los estudiantes universitarios puertorriqueños en torno a los roles propios de cada sexo." (With A. Colón & A. Pacheco). In G. Marín (ed.) La psicología social en Latinoamérica. Mexico: Trillas, 1982.
  
• "Sources for the Study of Puerto Rican History: A Challenge to Imaginative Research." (With M.A. Castro) Latin American Research Review 16 (1981).
  
• "La violencia en Puerto Rico, 1898-1940, ¿Cambio en el tiempo?" (Part I) Revista/Review InterAmericana 8, 1979.
  
• "La mujer puertorriqueña y el movimiento obrero en la década de 1930." In Cuadernos, Facultad de Humanidades 3, 1979.
  
• "La violencia en Puerto Rico, 1940-1970," (Part II), Revista/Review Interamericana 8, 1978.
  
• "Women as Workers: The Experience of the Puerto Rican Women in the 1930's." In Leavitt, Ruby (ed.) Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Women's Movement. World Anthropology Series: Le Hague: Mouton Publishers, 1975.
  
• "Los obreros en la lucha social y politica de Puerto Rico durante los años 1932-1940." In Social Groups and Institutions in the History of the Caribbean. San Juan, 1975.
  

VI. MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• American Historical Association
  
• Law and Society Association
  
• Conference on Latin American History
  
• Latin American Studies Association
  
• Caribbean Studies Association
  
• Association of Caribbean Historians
  
• Society for the Social History of Medicine
  
• American Association for the History of Medicine
  
• International Commission for the Study of Historiography
  
• American Bar Association
  
• Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences
  
• Connecticut Hispanic Bar Association
  

VII. SELECTED CONFERENCES, COLLOQUIA, SYMPOSIA

• "La salud es nuestra:" Breaking Ground in New Colonial Spaces as Nurses and Teachers, Working Seminar on Citizenship, Stanford, University, November 2005.
  
• New National Spaces in the Spanish Caribbean: A Methodological Inquiry. Pan-Caribbean Conference, York University, Canada, October 2004.
  
• Between Citizenship and Political Participation: Latinos Views of Rights. Legal Scholarship Conference, University of Connecticut Law School, April 2004
  
• Expanding Latino Studies Programs, Conference on Latinos and Education, Tufts University, May 2004
  
• The Future of Latino Studies. Conference of Latino Studies Directors, University of California, Santa Barbara, April 2003.
  
• When Citizenship is not Enough: Latino Rights and the US Census, Colloquium presented at UCLA, January 2003.
  
• Building Bridges: Citizenship, Modernization and the Concigan Immigration in Puerto Rico. University of Puerto Rico, November 2002
  
• Gender, Work and Citizenship in the Caribbean. New England Council on Latin American Studies, Worcester, October 2002.
  
• Empire, Freedom, Identity: Gender and Race in the Modern Caribbean, Berkshire Conference, June 2002.
  
• Disease and Modernity in Puerto Rico, Colloquium, Northeastern University, Department of History, January 2002
  
• Claiming Rights as Second-Class Citizens: Implications for Policy, Department of Social Welfare, State of Connecticut, October 2001
  
• Why Cultural Citizenship? Latinos and the Search for Political Space in the 1990s, U.Q.A.M. (Montreal), October 2000.
  
• New Cultural Identities and the Construction of Citizenship in Puerto Rico. Latin American Studies Association meeting, Miami, March 2000.
  
• The Citizens Run to the Courts: Changes in Puerto Rico's Legal System and the Modernization Process. Symposium on Latin American and Southern European Legal Systems, Stanford University, September 1999.
  
• Expanding Citizenship and Women's Rights. Latino Judicial Conference. Connecticut Supreme Court, August 1999
  
• Claiming Rights, Expanding Citizenship: Puerto Rican Women's Search for Public Spaces, 1999 Mead Lecture, Trinity College, February 1999.
  
• Bailey K Ashford and the Challenges of Scientific Progress: Hookworm Disease Research and the US Expansion to the Caribbean, University of Guadalajara, November 1998
  
• The Search for Citizenship and the Women's Suffrage Movement in Puerto Rico, Museum of Our National Heritage, Boston, October 1998
  
• Claiming Rights, Claiming Culture: Puerto Ricans and the Construction of Citizenship, "Foreign in a Domestic Sense" Conference, Yale University, 1998
  
• The Transformation of Culture: Public Health and Modernization in Puerto Rico, Institute of Puerto Rican Studies, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 1997
  
• Access, Opportunity, and New Avenues of Participation of Culturally Diverse Students: The Importance of International Education, UNICA Annual Meeting, Jamaica, 1996
  
• Revising General Education: What's Ahead? Middle States Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, 1995
  
• Educational Rights and the Transformation of the University, Latino Law Professors Colloquium, Hispanic National Bar Association Meeting, San Juan, 1995
  
• Technology and the Teaching of Humanities: New Challenges for the 21st Century. Third International Symposium on the Humanities, Ponce, PR, 1995
  
• Forum on Higher Education in Puerto Rico: Challenges and Perspectives, San Juan, 1994
  
• The Invisible Woman: The Search for Legal Identity among Adolescent and Elderly Women. Invited Address, Puerto Rican Association of Women in Judicial Careers, UNESCO Conference, May 1992.
  
• Cultural Rights and Group Rights: Against Methodological Individualism, Law and Society Association Meeting, Berkeley, 1990
  
• Assessing Identity and Claiming Rights: Latinos Search for Public Space in a Multi-ethnic community, Law and Society Association Meeting, Madison, 1989
  
• Our Diverse Histories: Legal Issues and Contemporary Legal Research, National Conference on Women and the Law, San Francisco, 1989
  
• Women and Resistance in Contemporary Caribbean History, Elsa Goveia Memorial Lecture in Caribbean History, Mona, 1989
  
• Caribbean Peoples as Objects, Subjects, and Actors, Association of Caribbean Historians, Guadeloupe, 1988
  
• La migración en el Caribe: Nuevos rumbos de la historia social, Conference on Caribbean Migration, Jamaica, 1984
  
• Scientists vs. Soldiers: Cultural Implications of the U.S. Health Policy in Puerto Rico. Annual Meeting of American Historical Association, San Francisco, 1983
  
• The Impact of Economic and Environmental Changes in the Health of the Puerto Ricans, 1898-1920, Annual Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Mexico City, 1983
  
• Fever Control vs. Anemia Research: Priorities in Public Health in Puerto Rico at the Turn of the Century, XXXI Congress of the American Society of Tropical Medicine, San Juan, 1981
  
• Public Health and Research Priorities in Puerto Rico, Department of History of Science, Harvard, 1981
  
• The Needlework Industry in Puerto Rico, 1915-1940, Conference of Caribbean Historians, Trinidad, 1980.
  
• Sources for the Study of Puerto Rican History in the Caribbean Context, Conference of Caribbean Historians, Curacao, 1979
  
• Patterns in Work Participation of Puerto Rican Women, Seminar on New Social Science Research, sponsored by the Social Science Research Council, New York, 1975
  
• Work Patterns of Puerto Rican Women in the Rural Industries, Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Chicago, 1975
  
• Women as Workers: The Experience of the Puerto Rican Woman in the 1930s, IX International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Chicago, 1974
  

Jan 2006