05/07/2008

Francie Chassen-Lopez Named 2008-09 A&S Distinguished Professor

Francie Chassen-Lopez, a professor in the Department of History has been named the 2008-09 Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor. Chassen-Lopez is the sixth woman to win the prestigious award.

She arrived in Lexington in 1988, having previously taught for ten years in Mexico City, first at the National University and later at the Metropolitan University where she became an associate professor. In the ensuing twenty years, she has distinguished herself as an internationally respected historian of Latin America, as the former director of the Latin American Studies Program at UK, as a superlative teacher, as a proponent of university-community relations, and as the chair of the history department.

Chassen-Lopez is a historian of Mexico. At first a specialist in labor history, she has expanded her research to include the social, economic, political, and cultural history of Mexico and Latin American. Among the many topics about which she has written are the role of labor movements and indigenous participants in the Mexican Revolution, mining and commerce in southern Mexico, and women’s social movements in 20th-century Latin American. She has produced two single-authored books, two co-authored books, thirty seven journal articles and book chapters, and numerous smaller pieces.

Her 1998 article, “Maderismo or Mixtec Empire? Class and Ethnicity in the Mexican Revolution (Costa Chica of Oaxaca, 1911),” won the Tibesar Article Prize from the Council on Latin American History. Her 2004 book, "From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico 1867-1911," received  the 2004 Thomas McGann Prize for the Best Book on Latin American History from the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies. She is currently working on a monograph about an Oaxacan woman, Juana Catarina Romero, which is tentatively titled "Gender and Power in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Juana Catarina Romero, Cacica of Tehuantepec." A  Spanish translation of her 2004 book is forthcoming and Chassen-Lopez has twice been a visiting scholar at the University of Oaxaca.

“The College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor award is given to a faculty member who has conducted outstanding research, has been unusually effective in teaching and has distinguished professional service,” said Steven Hoch, dean of the college. “Professor Chassen-Lopez has excelled at all of these criteria. In her past 20 years at UK, she has become internationally known as a respected historian of Latin America and has excelled as a teacher. Her work has and will continue to make an impact.”

Chassen-Lopez teaches all aspects of Latin American history, and in 2000 was named a Teacher Who Makes a Difference by the UK College of Education. She is affiliated with many interdisciplinary programs at UK, including Latin American Studies, Women’s Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Appalachian Studies and Social Theory. She has served on doctoral committees in four departments and has been particularly sought out by graduate students in Hispanic Studies.

In addition to her involvements with the interdisciplinary programs, Chassen-Lopez served as director of the UK Latin American Studies Program for four years and as adviser to several student organizations. She presently serves on multiple journal editorial boards and prize committees and is a member of the North America Organizing Committee of the XIII (2010) Conference of Mexican, United States and Canadian Historians – projected to be the largest meeting of its kind in a century. 

Chassen-Lopez has also been instrumental in building relations between UK and the local Hispanic community. In addition to bringing representatives of the local Hispanic community into conversations with university faculty and staff, she often does a spot on the WLEX-18 morning news, explaining the historical significance of Mexican holidays. She is a cofounder of the Kentucky Coalition on Comprehensive Immigration Reform and occasionally appears in local Spanish radio and print media outlets. She is presently working to create a Foundation for Latin American and Latino Arts and Culture in Lexington.

UK Public Relations