We are pleased to announce that Ernesto Castañeda has been named the next director of American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS), effective January 1, 2023. A university-wide center, CLALS engages scholars and practitioners to promote cutting-edge multidisciplinary research and enrich understanding of Latin America and Latino communities in the United States. 

An expert on immigration, categorical inequality, social movements, urban life, and health inequities, Dr. Castañeda joined the AU community in 2015 and currently serves as an associate professor of sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is also the founding director of the Immigration Lab, which brings together more than twenty faculty and students across AU to advance immigration research. Throughout his career, Dr. Castañeda has focused on transnational issues connecting the United States and Latin America. His publications include five books, twenty-five peer-reviewed articles, as well as numerous book chapters, special issues, reports, policy briefs, and op-eds in English and Spanish.  His monograph titled A Place to Call Home: Immigrant Exclusion and Urban Belonging in New York, Paris, and Barcelona received CLALS’s 2019 William M. LeoGrande Award. 

Dr. Castañeda has been involved with CLALS as a faculty affiliate throughout his time at AU and has made important contributions to several key research projects, initiatives, events, and partnerships. A highly collaborative scholar, he maintains active affiliations with AU’s Center on Health, Risk, and Society; the Metropolitan Policy Center; the Transatlantic Policy Center; and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center. He frequently appears on international news broadcasts discussing issues of import regarding migration and U.S.-Latin America relations. He is also an inspiring teacher with a track record of engaging students in the research process, mentoring them toward co-authorship, publication, and awards.   

Dr. Castañeda earned a PhD in sociology from Columbia University and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a BA in interdisciplinary studies.

He succeeds CLALS founding director Eric Hershberg, who has decided to step down at the end of 2022 and retire during 2023. Many thanks to Dr. Hershberg for his outstanding leadership of CLALS since 2010. We are also grateful to the CLALS-affiliated colleagues who advised us during the nomination process.

Please join us in congratulating Ernesto on his new role!