Former Mexican foreign minister to speak at Baker Institute

Former Mexican foreign minister to speak at Baker Institute

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

Former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda will speak at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Aug. 28 on “Neighbors of Consequence: Mexico-U.S. Relations in the 21st Century.” His lecture begins at 6:30 p.m.

	JORGE CASTANEDA

Castañeda, an author and scholar, is currently the Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University. He served as foreign minister of Mexico from 2000 to 2003, and he ran for president of Mexico as an independent candidate in 2006. 
 
Castañeda is a regular columnist for the Mexican daily Reforma, the Spanish daily El País and Newsweek International. He has been a member of the board of Human Rights Watch since 2003. Castañeda is also a member of the board of One Laptop per Child. In April 2008, he was elected as a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an international member of the American Philosophical Society. 
 
He taught at Mexico’s National Autonomous University; Princeton University; University of California, Berkeley; and NYU. Castañeda was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from 1985 to 1987, and he was a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation research and writing grant recipient from 1989 to 1991.

Among his many books are ”Limits to Friendship: The United States and Mexico” with Robert Pastor, ”Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left after the Cold War,” ”The Mexican Shock,” ”Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara,” ”Perpetuating Power: How Mexican Presidents Were Chosen” and ”Ex-Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants.”
 
Born in Mexico City in 1953, Castañeda received bachelor’s degrees from Princeton University and Université de Paris-I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), a master’s from the Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes and a Ph.D. in economic history from the Université de Paris-I. 

The event will be held in James A. Baker III Hall’s Kelly International Conference Center.

Rice faculty, staff and students who want to attend must RSVP by e-mail (bipprsvp@rice.edu) or by fax (713-348-5993).