“Part of what I’m taking a trip like this to do is to learn more about what many people see as a more positive example,” Summers said. “I think we need to strengthen study abroad. There are many ways of doing it—just what the right way is something we’ll all have to think about over time.”
Coatsworth said the Sao Paulo portion of the visit was also included because the Rockefeller Center “has given top priority to the development of Brazilian studies at Harvard.” He added that this has begun through film series and encouraging faculty and student research.
“Brazil is one half of Latin America, and it’s the most understudied part [by scholars] in the U.S.,” Coatsworth said.
Summers said the visit also highlighted his own interests. He added that relations with Latin America need to be improved and said he hoped this trip could help.
“Latin America has also been a major area of interest of mine, going back for the last 15 years, since my time at the World Bank, and it’s a period when Latin America is not getting the attention it should be getting from the U.S., so I was also eager to renew some past connections and be involved in the dialogue about the future of the Americas,” Summers said.
Coatsworth said the impetus for this trip came from a series of discussions he had with Summers about the importance of the region.
The conversations, Coatsworth said, “had both to do with the David Rockefeller Center’s contributions to his efforts to globalize the University and to how Summers could express his conviction that Latin America is important—both to Harvard and the U.S.”
Coatsworth said the University also aims to facilitate connections between Latin American alums and Harvard students.
“One of the things that President Summers wants to do is to thank the alumni who have been so helpful in the past and urge them to be committed to Harvard’s globalization,” Coatsworth said.
Next week’s trip comes just four months after a major alum conference in London that Summers attended along with many other top University administrators. Summers said the internationalization of the University would likely mean he would travel more than his predecessors, though he added that his trips would likely be shorter than those taken by previous University presidents.
“I think that one of the really important transitions underway is towards becoming a more global university,” he said. “Inevitably, that will mean that University leaders will travel more widely than they have in the past.”
The University also has a role in helping to smooth ties between the region and the United States, Summers added.
“Relations between nations are not just relations between governments,” he said. “Leading institutions have an important role to play in forging connections, and certainly Harvard, which is very respected and recognized through the world and Latin America, can make an important contribution. That’s part of the thrust of my trip as well.”
—Staff writer Stephen M. Marks can be reached at marks@fas.harvard.edu.