The search for a new Latino Studies professor is still underway, Chair of Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department Marysa Navarro said.
"We are still in the middle of our search," Navarro said, "but we hope to have [the position] filled by next fall."
The College decided to offer the tenure-track position in January of this year in response to students and faculty who wished to add a Latino Studies program to the already existing LACS Department.
Last term, the Student Assembly, with the help of La Alianza Latina, passed a resolution to make Latino Studies a permanent area of study at Dartmouth.
Associate Dean of the Social Sciences George Wolford said while "there is no official Latino Studies program" currently, "what I think they would like to do is join it officially with LACS."
He added that this merger would allow for more administrative efficiency, but it has not yet been approved by the administration.
"Anything like this requires official faculty approval," he said.
Wolford and Navarro previously told The Dartmouth that they would like to see LACS renamed Latino, Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Visiting Mellon Professor Brenda Bright, who the College hired two years ago to teach four Latino courses, said she is applying for the new Latino Studies professor position.
Bright added that the search "was a national search," but "they advertised it very late."
Wolford admitted the search was begun late but said that in order to start it, "one of the prerequisites was to make sure we could follow all of the normal procedures."
"We would like to have this person start on July 1st," he said.
Two other departments recently added Latino Studies professors to their repertoire, Bright said.
"The Spanish Department recruited someone to do Latino literature," Wolford said.
The English Department was the other department to add a Latino professor after a search led by English Department Chair Bill Cook. Cook could not be reached for comment.
