The new position is one of a series of professorships being established through the center since its founding in 1994.
Rudenstine will be responsible for appointing the new chair--and deciding which department the professor should come from--with advice from the Rockefeller center.
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A search committee will scour the country and the world for suitable candidates.
"[The chair] gives us an opportunity to attract someone to the University who is a very distinguished scholar on Latin American studies," Coatsworth said.