LASPAU Executive Director, Angélica Natera

2015 has been a year of incredible accomplishments at Laspau. We have completed significant projects that will expand our capacity in several dimensions and have begun celebrations of a key milestone: our 50th anniversary. 

During the past year, we benefitted greatly from the support and feedback of our partners in informing our strategic planning and rebranding processes. We are deeply grateful for their contributions. Once again this year we were inspired by the dedication and successes of the grantees and participants in the programs we administer.   As I reflect on this year’s accomplishments, I would like to share some of the highlights, many of which we hope you will experience in 2016 as we continue our work together:

• We launched a new client relation management system that places us on the path to becoming a more data-driven organization.
• We continued administering a diverse portfolio of programs that include the Fulbright Program for the US Department of State in collaboration with the Institute of International Education, the OAS Scholarship Program with the Organization of American States, the Social Leadership Program for Latin America and the Caribbean with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Ciência sem Fronteiras program with the government of Brazil, and Fincyt with the government of Peru, among others.
• We consolidated the Brazil STHEM Consortium, a unique and vibrant network of Brazilian universities working on innovating learning and teaching. This partnership has grown from 22 universities when it began in 2013 to 40 universities in 2015.
• Our programs on institutional effectiveness served over 1,700 faculty and academic leaders from a variety of countries including Aruba, Chile, Costa Rica, Brazil, Bolivia, Panama, and Peru.
• We are honored to have established key partnerships with organizations that have a longstanding commitment to advancing education: Inter-American Organization for Higher Education, American Councils for International Education and International Language Institute of Massachusetts.
• We signed agreements with the National Council of Science and Technology of Paraguay (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología – Conacyt), the National Council of Deans of Panama (Consejo Nacional de Rectores de Panamá) and the Association of Private Universities of Panama (Associación de Universidades Privadas de Panamá-AUPPA) to expand opportunities for educational exchanges around research and innovation in teaching and learning and other relevant topics.

Celebrating our 50th anniversary will include a celebration of our partners, our international and dedicated staff, and the accomplishments of the grantees and participants of the programs we have developed together during this half-century.   We are proud of Laspau’s enduring impact on over 16,000 individuals throughout the Americas during this time. We remain deeply committed to the region and envision providing educational opportunities for thousands more individuals in the years to come.     Over the next year, we will continue to share details about the celebration of our 50th anniversary. I encourage you to stay in touch with us throughout the year by signing up for our quarterly eNews and connecting with us on social media.