[129] Visiting scholar to offer insights on 21st century Cuba at MTSU Monday

MURFREESBORO — Visiting scholar Rodrigo González will return to MTSU on Monday, Sept. 23, for a special public lecture and discussion on “Revolution and Progress in 21st Century Cuba.”

González, a resident of Cuba, is director of the academic and cultural partnership of Cuba Girasol and Estévez Travel, a nonprofit research and education center that works to promote cross-cultural understanding and education among the people of the United States, Canada, Central and South America.

His free lecture is set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday in Room 164 of MTSU’s College of Education Building, and a catered reception is scheduled after the discussion. A campus map with parking notes is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTSUParkingMap13-14.

González has 20 years’ experience in research, consulting and U.S./Cuba exchange programs, including a number of years as director of the Global Exchange Cuba program. Since 2000, his work has concentrated on researching U.S.-Cuba relations, social and environmental development in Cuba and coordinating academic and cultural programs for universities and colleges, including MTSU and the Kentucky Institute for International Studies.

During an MTSU visit in fall 2010, González helped kick off campus meetings on educational exchanges between MTSU and the University of Havana. The following summer, after a six-year hiatus forced by strict U.S. controls on American travel to Cuba, MTSU revived its successful study-abroad program to the Caribbean island nation for undergraduate, graduate and faculty participants.

González’s visit is sponsored by MTSU’s Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Political Science.

For more information about González’s lecture, email Dr. Richard Morris at richard.morris@mtsu.edu.