A new research center at UCLA will foster research and instruction on international migration.
The Center for the Study of International Migration, based in the UCLA International Institute, will be led by Roger Waldinger, a UCLA distinguished professor of sociology and a well-known migration expert. Waldinger is the author of seven books, including “The Cross-Border Connection: Immigrants, Emigrants, and their Homelands,” which was published this year.
“In light of the migration crisis currently enveloping Europe, the creation of the Center could not be more timely,” said Cindy Fan, vice provost for international studies and global engagement. “From both the global and local perspectives, UCLA is the perfect place to establish a leading center for migration studies.”
The center will foster research that cuts across intellectual, disciplinary, institutional and geographic boundaries to study the myriad aspects of migration in a world increasingly defined by the global movement of people. It will host a biweekly interdisciplinary speaker series, as well as workshops and conferences that bring together scholars from diverse disciplines and community members working on migration matters. Its first major conference, scheduled for February 25–26, 2016, will invite emerging immigration scholars to present their latest research and hear the feedback of senior scholars in the field.
An impressive array of more than 20 scholars are affiliated with the center, including Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, a UCLA professor of education, who will serve as associate director. Her new book, “Immigrant Children in Transcultural Spaces: Language, Learning, and Love,” will be published in early 2016.
The center will build upon the achievements of UCLA’s former Program on International Migration. Rubén Hernández-León, associate professor of sociology and director of the UCLA Center for Mexican Studies, and Hiroshi Motomura, an immigration and citizenship law expert and the Susan Westerberg Prager Professor of Law at UCLA, who both made seminal contributions to the international migration program, will continue their work through the new center.
The center also will serve as a point of connection for undergraduate and graduate instruction. Public events will enable students to reach out to mentors beyond their home departments and create opportunities for small group or one-on-one conversations with prominent visiting scholars. An undergraduate minor in migration studies is also planned.
The center’s upcoming events include “The New Immigration Federalism” (October 16), “Immigrant Spatial Desegregation Trends and Inequality along Ethnoracial Lines in France” (October 28), and a graduate student workshop on migration (October 30).