EVENTS

Winter 2020 events

Webinar: Staying in the US

Do you want to know how do Harris People found a job in the U.S. LAM will host a webinar on March 12 with 4 Harris and LAM Alumni!

Use this link to join the webinar:

 

https://uchicagogroup.zoom.us/j/957566610

Meeting ID: 957 566 610

Speakers:

Edgar Braham: 
Edgar currently serves as the Trade Counselor at the Government of Mexico Trade Office in Washington DC. He finished his MPP at the Harris School of Public Policy in 2019 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Instituto Técnológico Autónomo de Mexico (ITAM).  Prior to graduate school, he worked as public finance, infrastructure and policy consultant for federal and subnational governments as well as public and private agencies in Mexico. He also advised the Majority Leader of the Mexican Congress and was Executive Vice-president of a national political think tank also in Mexico.

Estefanía Garavito
Estefanía Garavito holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia and an MPP from the University of Chicago (2019). While at Harris she was a research economics assistant at the Becker Friedman Institute and at the Behavioral and Insights Parenting Lab and worked as a consultant at the Polsky Small Business Growth Program.  She did her internship in the Government of the District of Columbia. Before Harris, Estefanía worked as a consultant in the Financial and Commodities Risk Consulting Division at Management Solutions in Colombia. She currently works as a financial and economic consultant at Castalia in Washington D.C. where she develops frameworks to improve efficiency and accountability of public utilities in developing countries.

Valerie de la Fuente
Valerie finished her MPP at Harris in 2018. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and another in Political Science from Instituto Tecnológico de México (ITAM). She works as a Consultant for Latin America at Euromonitor International, based in Chicago. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked as Director of Access to Financial Services at the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission. She also worked in the Mexican Ministry of Finance and in the Mexican President’s Cabinet in topics related to financial inclusion and crime prevention.

Jose Beltramino
Jose is a Consultant at the IDB Lab (former FOMIN) the innovation lab within Inter-American Development Bank. He is an MPP’19, he holds an MBA from Fundacao Getulio Vargas, a B.A in Economics and a B.A. in International Relations. He’s also a Founding Researcher at the Public Policy Observatory of the State of Parana (Brazil). He is interested in the intersection of Public and Private sectors, innovation and Impact Investing.

Fall 2019 events

LAM Trip: Brazil!

In 2019, our LAM Trip was to Brazil. We travelled to Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon Jungle. In Rio, aside from the beaches, mountains, street arts, and amazing food, we also had policy meetings with Renan Ferreira (the State Deputy of Rio), and Dr. Roberto Castello Branco (CEO of Petrobras). We visited the Institute of Public Security (ISP-Rio) who works with crime data and program evaluation, and Prefeitura in Rio (Nudge Unit) who uses behavioral economics for public policies. Then, we travelled to the Amazon Jungle where we had the chance to connect with nature by swimming with pink dolphins and piranhas, watching the stars at night and sunrises in the morning, and visiting an indigenous tribe called Cipia. We also volunteered in Acajatuba community by building garbage bins, painting, translating signs, and helping the community any way possible. The trip provided a lot of different experiences to each participant and hope Harris comes back to make more impactful work like this and also be inspired by the stories of local people from the Amazon.

LAMSGiving

We had the opportunity to meet 1st and 2nd years on November 26th! check out some pictures of our amazing LAMSGiving

Did you attend our COP25 discussion? please give us some feedback!!

 

Post Argentina's elections discussion

did you attend the discussion? do you have comments? please give us some feedback! if you have more curiosity on the subject, then continue reading, there is more info below!

Do you want to know a bit more about Argentina's current situation after our first “Friends&Politics”? Did you think it was an excellent discussion and definitely want more arguments to discuss with a friend and a beer? 

Here you go:

The third largest economy in Latin America went through presidential elections on October 27. That day, the former President Mauricio Macri became the first presidential candidate in losing a re-election in the history of Argentina. His coalition is called “Juntos por el Cambio”, represents a free-market driven view of economics and includes some conservative sectors of Argentine politics. The new President is Alberto Fernández, from a coalition called “Frente de Todos”, which includes the peronism and a more developmentalist view of the economy.

Macri leaves office with the following rates: poverty went from 29.7% in 2015 to 35.1% in 2019; GDP per capita (in dollars) went from 14.8 to 10.9; inflation went from 27.5% to 54.5%; unemployment from 6.5% to 10.6%, public debt/GDP from 52.6% to 92%, among other indicators. He has also signed the biggest loan in the history of the IMF, which is also more than 60% of the entire IMF portfolio. 

To know more about the current economic situation:

A third way for Argentina: reprofiling

The Roots of Argentina’s Surprise Crisis by Martin Guzman and Joseph Stiglitz 

The Trouble with Argentina’s Economy by Martin Guzman

Argentina: The superpower that never was by Alan Beattie

The IMF Is Fueling an Argentine Crisis by Hector R. Torres (former Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund and a staff member at the World Trade Organization)

To understand peronism:

Peronism and the working class 1943-1955 by Daniel James

Macri's Economy:

Yes, Macri Failed on the Economy. But It Wasn’t All for Naught by Federico Sturzenegger 

Comments on Macri's Macro by Federico Sturzenegger by Rafael Di Tella

Texts in spanish on poverty, inequality and fiscal deficit:

El esfuerzo fiscal de 2016-2019 en Argentina by Sebastian Galiani

Evolución Histórica de la Desigualdad de Ingresos y de la Incidencia de la Pobreza en Argentina by Martin Gonzalez-Rozada

El desafío de la pobreza en Argentina. Diagnósticos y Perspectivas by Leopoldo Tornaroli

We have a new space to discuss Politics with our friends! 

It will start today at 6pm at Ida Noyes pub:

Come, meet friends who want to talk about politics in Latin America and have a drink with us!

LAMFootball!

On Saturday 19th October we had our first LAMFootball tournament, we had 5 teams participating on a beautiful 20 degrees day! Thank you all who participated! we hope to repeat this tournament on the spring quarter!

LAM info session

Come meet LAM! have you heard about LAM? do you know the events we host? most importantly, do you know WHY LAM exists? Come to our info session tomorrow October 15th at 12:30 on Keller Center 0021!!

Fall Events

Hi all! we are really excited to meet you this new academic year! we have been working during the summer to offer the best events, look out for our next meetings:

  1. Info session about LAM (first years)
  2. Assembly (all members)
  3. LAM 5K – info coming soon
  4. Argentina elections discussion
  5. LAM Football – info coming soon
  6. Puerto Rico situation
  7. Taste of Latin America
  8. LAMTrip to Brazil

Moreover, we have a new blog for op-ed's, we want all of our members interested in writing op-ed's to write with us about our precious Latin America! (details coming soon)

see you all soon!

LAM Trip Brazil | UPDATE (Important)

Hi all,

We hope that you're making the most of this summer wherever you happen to be.

This email is very important, so please read it carefully.

We're working on securing impactful and policy-driven activities in Brazil – that said, we had to make some updates on upcoming deadlines/tips.

1) If you are certain about going on this trip, please fill this application (if you haven't yet):

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1sXi90KdokdCqv344dTmihQTIQrkdBo-TJAQXCWebFHg/edit

2) Payment information

3 installments (1,400 USD): 1) $350 by September 1st, 2) $350 by September 20th and 3) $700 by October 20th

After September 1st, you can still secure a spot but the total price of the trip goes up to $1500 USD, with 2 installments: 1) $800 by October 1st and 2) $700 by November 1st

A third wave will be announced if needed subject to ticket prices.

Payment details: on our LAM website and application form

3) Flights to Brazil are currently ranging from $800 USD to $1,000 USD. We highly encourage you to buy your ticket soon because they tend to sell well over $1,000 USD.

4) Visa: Please check your visa requirements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Brazil and make sure you have everything needed before the trip

5) Vaccination: the yellow fever vaccine is recommended for our Amazon trip.

Further details will be provided for participants during our Fall Quarter info session.

We apologize for this short notice update. We are trying our best to build an incredible trip, led by Harris students.

If you are very interested in the trip but have some financial constraints after our updates, please contact us to see how we can help you.

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions!

Best,

The LAM Board

Brazil is not about what you see but what you feel. Once you spend time here – a week, two weeks- you get in the vibe. It’s intoxicating.
Francisco Costa

Do you want to know more about the trip? Click here for some details!

Past Events

LAM Asado

Last 8th of June we had our yearly LAMAsado, we had a great time with friends and family! 

Young Women Leaders (YWL)

The goal of this event is to address the advancement and challenges of female representation in leadership roles by inviting six female leaders in both private and public sectors from all over the world. The speakers come from diverse contexts and will share their experiences leading in different fields and the challenges they face. YWL is composed of two-panel discussions followed by a short cocktail reception, the event will be held in the Spring Quarter.

Young Women Leaders will be held on the 30 of May. YWL is a half-day event led by several Harris student organizations:

  • Women in Public Policy (WiPP)
  • Asia Policy Forum (APF)
  • Black Action in Public Policy Studies (BAPPS)
  • Muslim Affairs and Public Policy (MAPP)
  • South Asian Students Policy Association (SASPA)

LAM Cup 2019

Continuing the tradition, LAM partnered with the Harris Student Government for the Harris After Hours. An event that seeks to unite Harris’ community. In this event, students from Harris competed in a Fifa cup. The winner team was Perú with our current peruvian students Fernando Alonso (MPP’20) and Luis Eduardo San Martin (MSCAPP’20).

Venezuelan Crisis: How Did We Get Here?

 LAM organized an event with Professors Luis Martinez and Maria Bautista from Harris, and Chang-tai Hsieh from Booth to take an overview on how Venezuela arrived to the actual situation. The event was held on Harris’ Keller Center and hosted more than 70 students from the Law School, Booth School of Business, and Harris School of Public Policy.

LAM Trip 2018: Colombia

As our tradition, on 2018 we had a group of more than 35 students who went to Colombia. The trip started in Bogotá with an alumni meeting night at the famous “Andrés Carne de Res”, then we had a unique perspective of the city on a beautiful sunday afternoon, on the third day we had policy meetings with mckinsey’s leader for the organization practice, including the public policy practice Felipe Child, then with LAM’s founder and deputy minister of Mines Carolina Rojas, and finally with congresswoman Juanita Goebertus. On the second part of the trip we went to the amazing Cartagena where we had the opportunity to rest and get to know the importance of the city for the independence of Colombia. More than a trip, LAMtrip was a life experience!

Special thanks to Jonathan Torres Sotelo and our board member Estefanía Garavito for an amazing scheduling and unique experience for all the attendants.

 

LAM Wine Tasting 2018

As our traditional signature event, LAM started the academic year with a taste of Latin America's Wine and food. We hosted more than 100 students at Ida Noyes Hall for a unique moment to meet the new members from Harris. In the night we had the opportunity to learn more about our member countries and get to know better our fellow members.

LAM Trip 2017: Mexico

36 students traveled to Mexico for the LAM Trip 2017 during December. The trip began in Mexico City, where we visited the pyramids of Teotihuacán, Mexico’s Congress, Chapultepec’s Castle, the National Palace, the Cathedral, Las Trajineras (Mexican gondolas), Diego River and Frida Kahlo’s house, among other famous spots downtown.

We had interesting policy meetings with the Minister of Finance, Dr. José Antonio González Anaya; Congress Majority Leader, Dr. César Camacho and the Undersecretary of Revenue, Dr. Miguel Messmacher.

Afterward, we traveled to the colonial City of Puebla, where we had a tour at the historic downtown and then we had a meeting at the Municipal Palace with Luis Bank, Mayor of Puebla. To close the activities, Marco Mena, Harris alumnus and Governor of the State of Tlaxcala offered a reception for the attendants.

Special thanks to Evelyn Sánchez, Jorge Quintero, Pedro Liedo, Isidoro García, Rodrigo Merino and Arturo Joachin for their time and effort dedicated to this amazing trip.