Staff Listing
Staff
Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Director of Institute for the Study of Americas and Professor of History
Global Education Center 3202
919-962-6880
perez@email.unc.edu
Louis A. Pérez, Jr. is the J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History and the Director of ISA. His most recent books include Rice in the Time of Sugar: The Political Economy of Food in Cuba (2019) and Intimations of Modernity: Civil Culture in Nineteenth-Century Cuba (2017) Pérez's principal teaching fields include twentieth-century Latin America, the Caribbean, and Cuba. Research interests center on the nineteenth and twentieth-century Caribbean, with an emphasis on Cuba.
Beatriz Riefkohl Muñiz
Executive Director and Director of Undergraduate Study
Global Education Center 3203
919-962-2418
riefkohl@email.unc.edu
Beatriz Riefkohl Muñiz 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, she 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.
Hannah Gill
Associate Director, Director of Latino Migration Project
Global Education Center 3205
919-962-5453
hgill@email.unc.edu
Hannah Gill is an anthropologist and oral historian with a specialization in Latin American and Caribbean migration studies. She is Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas and oversees the Latino Migration Project. She received a DPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford, England and a BA from UNC Chapel Hill.
Corin Zaragoza Estrera
Outreach Coordinator
Global Education Center 3204
(919) 962-2414
czaragozaestrera@unc.edu
Corin Zaragoza Estrera joined the Consortium in Latin American and Caribbean Studies as the Outreach Coordinator in 2019. In this role, she coordinates outreach programs and events for the educational community and the general public. Previously, Corin worked with students for nine years as an English as a Second Language teacher. She also provided professional development to teachers working with English language learners. Corin holds a B.A. in English with a double minor in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Loyola University New Orleans and her M.A.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction in ESL and Multicultural Education from Virginia Tech.
Joanna Shuett
Department Manager
Global Education Center 3206
919-966-1484
joshuett@email.unc.edu
Joanna Shuett is from Melbourne, Florida, and graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, where she also worked a little over a decade in administrative roles. She moved to the Chapel Hill area in 2006, and after working many years in the operations and finance areas within the manufacturing industry, she realized her passion was working in academia and wanted to join UNC to provide support to those making improvements both locally and globally through research and education. As the Department Manager, she coordinates administrative, financial, and personnel duties, and is especially enthusiastic about supporting the faculty, staff and students in their pursuit of knowledge of the Latin American experience in the Western Hemisphere.
Brianna Gilmore
Program Assistant
Global Education Center 3219
919-946-4584
briannag@live.unc.edu
Brianna Gilmore recently graduated with a degree in Latin American Studies with a double minor in Hispanic Studies and Geography from UNC-Chapel Hill. In addition to her studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, she volunteered in Ecuador with Global Citizen Year and studied sustainable development with the School for Field Studies in Costa Rica. As a work-study student with the Institute for the Studies of the Americas for the past three years, she has created promotional material for events, managed the ISA website, social media accounts, and the Latin American Film Library. She looks forward to continuing her work with ISA as a Program Assistant.
Isa Cruz
Research Associate, Building Integrated Communities
Global Education Center 3219
919-966-1484
isaurag@live.unc.edu
Isa Cruz received her B.A. in Anthropology, Latin American Studies, and Biology from the California State University – Chico in 2013. She is currently a doctoral student in the Anthropology Department’s Human Biology Program, where she obtained her MA in 2016. Isa’s interested in examining the changes in the sociocultural and physical environment brought about by international migration and how these are reflected in human biology and health. For her dissertation research, she works alongside Purepecha communities in Mexico and the U.S.