Institute for the Study of the Americas

Louis Pérez

Director, ISA; J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History
Phone: (919) 962-6880

Louis A. Pérez, Jr. is the J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History and the new Director of ISA. His most recent books include On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture, winner of the 2000 Bolton-Johnson Prize, The War of 1898: The United States and Cuba in History and Historiography, Winds of Change: Hurricanes and the Transformation of Nineteenth-Century Cuba, winner of the 2001 George Perkins Marsh Prize, and To Die in Cuba: Suicide and Society, winner of the 2007 Elsa Goveia Prize. Pérez’s principal research interests center on the nineteenth and twentieth-century Caribbean, with a research emphasis on Cuba. Contact Louis Pérez

Beatriz Riefkohl Muñiz

Associate Director, Director of Undergraduate Studies, and FLAS Coordinator, ISA
Phone: (919) 962-2418

Beatriz joined ISA in 2005 after nearly a decade working to strengthen Latin American studies at the University of Chicago and Yale University. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in Anthropology. At ISA, Beatriz advises students on academic and funding opportunities, manages and develops grant and endowment programs, and oversees the activities of the UNC and Duke Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She volunteers with local organizations working to provide opportunities to Latin American immigrants. Contact Beatriz Riefkohl Muñiz

Sharon Mújica

Public Service and Yucatec Maya Program Director, Carolina and Duke Consortium
Phone: (919) 962-2414.

Sharon received a certificate in Latin American Studies from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and a B.A. from UNC-CH. She serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the national Consortium of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Programs (CLASP) and chairs the CLASP Committee on Language Teaching. In her years with the Institute and the UNC-Duke Consortium, Sharon has traveled frequently to Mexico and also to Peru, Belize, Cuba, Central America, and Brazil. She lived in Spain for two years and in Mexico for twenty years. Sharon has published materials and curated exhibits on Mexican culture and Yucatec Maya culture and language. Contact Sharon Mújica

Hannah Gill

Assistant Director, ISA
Phone: (919) 962-5453

Hannah Gill is an applied anthropologist with a specialization in Latin American/Caribbean migration studies. She joins ISA from the UNC Center for Global Initiatives, where she has worked as a Rockefeller Postdoctoral Scholar, Research Associate, and Adjunct Professor since 2004. At CGI, she co-authored the book, "Going to Carolina de Norte, Narrating Mexican migrant experiences." Dr. Gill’s course "Latin American Immigrant Perspectives: Ethnography and Action" involves an APPLES alternative spring break trip to Guanajuato, Mexico each year. She received a DPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford, England in 2004. She is a native of North Carolina and an alumnus of UNC Chapel Hill. Contact Hannah Gill

Shelley Clarke

Business Manager, ISA
Phone: (919) 962-6879

Shelley received an A.A. from Inver Hills Community College in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. She has several years' experience in accounting. Shelley is responsible for departmental management--including travel requests, accounts receivable and payable, general accounting, and equipment and space--as well as other duties. Contact Shelley Clarke

Leila Elmergawi

Program Assistant, ISA
Phone: (919) 966-1484

Leila joined ISA in February 2008. She graduated in 2007 from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Japanese Language and Culture Studies. She also speaks Arabic and French fluently, and right now learning Spanish. As the program assistant, she is responsible for technology, databases, and communications at the Institute. She and her student staff also handle routine queries for information. Contact Leila Elmergawi

Bill Wisser

Dr. Wisser received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a concentration on nineteenth-century Latin American political culture. His dissertation examines the rise of a political print culture in Rio de Janeiro Brazil during the First Empire (1827-1831). The dissertation traces the impact of newspapers on the urban riots that ended Brazil's first independent government. Dr. Wisser currently is an Assistant Professor of History at Elon University and teaches courses on Nineteenth-Century Latin America and the World since 1900. Contact Bill Wisser