After receiving his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 2004, Lucio R. Rennó was a visiting professor at the University of Arizona, a Fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg, and at Stony Brook University, New York. His main research interests include political institutions, electoral behavior, public opinion, and the analysis of social inequalities in Latin America. In this latter field he will be cooperating with the desiguALdades.net research alliance at the Institute for Latin American Studies. For students in master's degree programs, Rennó will be offering a project seminar on "Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America" during the 2014/2015 fall/winter semester. For students in under-degree programs, he will be teaching a seminar on the political system and institutions in Brazil in light of the Brazilian Presidential elections in October 2014.

It is expected that this visiting professorship will help to increase the amount of research on Brazil that is being done at the institute. It should also contribute to further internationalizing the research and teaching at the institute. The Sérgio Buarque de Holanda visiting lectureship has been sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service since 2012. It is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research and by Freie Universität Berlin. Its aim is to promote academic exchange between Freie Universität and Brazilian institutions.

In light of current events, the Brazil Research Center at the Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, is hosting a panel discussion on November 10, 2014, to discuss the Presidential elections in Brazil. Prof. Lucio Rennó along with the sociologist, Prof. Sérgio Costa, and the economist, Prof. Barbara Fritz, both from the Institute for Latin American Studies, will discuss the results of the elections.

Time and Location

• Monday, November 10, 2014, 6 p.m.
• Institute for Latin American Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Room 201, Rüdesheimer Str. 54–56, 14197 Berlin; subway station: Breitenbachplatz (U3)