Instituto Cervantes creates the Cervantes Chair at the University of Puerto Rico

The Diplomat The Instituto Cervantes and the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras Campus (UPRRP) have signed an agreement for the creation of the Cervantes Chair, which will be directed by Puerto Rican writer Luis Rafael Sánchez. The director of the Instituto Cervantes, Luis García Montero, and the rector of the academic institution, Angélica Varela Llavona, signed the agreement last Thursday at the University of Puerto Rico Theater in San Juan. García Montero thus began his stay in the Puerto Rican capital, which continued with several literary meetings and a meeting with the governor of the State, Pedro Pierluisi. This is the second chair of the Instituto Cervantes in the world, after the inauguration, in May 2023, of another extension in Edinburgh, directed by the Hispanist and professor Alexis Grohmann. This agreement will be valid for seven years from the date of its signing and the Cervantes Chair will be attached to the Department of Hispanic Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Puerto Rico. Luis Rafael Sánchez is one of the most prominent writers in the Caribbean country, an honorary member of the Puerto Rican Academy of the Spanish Language and with an extensive work that covers various genres. Among his best-known works is his first novel, ‘La guaracha del Macho Camacho’, published in 1976, which narrates life in San Juan during the mid-twentieth century. Among his duties, carried out in collaboration with the direction of the Instituto Cervantes de Albuquerque —currently occupied by Silvia Grijalba—, and with the Consulate General of Spain in Puerto Rico, Professor Cervantes will support the presence of the Spanish institution in cultural and academic events organized within the framework of the University and other Puerto Rican Higher Education institutions. He will also identify and propose avenues of collaboration between the Cervantes, the various States of the United States and the rest of the cultural centers of European countries represented in Puerto Rico, among other duties. In addition to the creation of the new Chair, the agreement aims to regulate the commitments between Cervantes and the University of Puerto Rico for the promotion of the Spanish language and culture among the university community, as well as to carry out complementary academic and cultural activities in the facilities of this academic institution. Specifically, the institution will collaborate with the University by offering professional development courses for Spanish teachers, specialization courses in Spanish language and Hispanic culture and cultural activities, as well as by organizing any other type of events within the framework of its objectives. In addition, it will design the programming and teaching content of the courses it teaches, focused on teacher training courses and workshops, in person or at a distance, at the University of Puerto Rico. Also present at the signing ceremony were the president of the UPRRP, Ferrao Delgado; the director of the Instituto Cervantes of Albuquerque, Silvia Grijalba; the director of Culture of the Spanish institution, Raquel Caleya; and the Consul General of Spain in Puerto Rico, Josep María Bosch Bessa. The signing of the agreement was part of García Montero's trip to Puerto Rico, which began with this event, and which included various meetings and activities scheduled in San Juan. This past Friday, the director of the Cervantes met with the Governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, at the consular residence.

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