Brazil’s future is topic of lecture

NEW PALTZ — Dr. Brian Godfrey, professor of geography and Latin American studies at Vassar College will speak at the State University of New York at New Paltz at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, in Lecture Center 108. Godfrey’s lecture topic is “Brazil: A Country of the Future?”

Godfrey has done fieldwork in Brazil and has published many research papers on urbanization and economic development about Brazil. His most recent book is “Rainforest Cities: Urbanization, Development, and Globalization of the Brazilian Amazon.” Godfrey specializes in comparative urban and regional studies. Favoring a historical-geographical approach, he focuses especially on the social and spatial evolution of cities in the Americas.

This program is part of a series of guest speakers that have been visiting New Paltz for two years through a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program grant. Elisa Davila, Chair of Foreign Languages, and Linda Greenow, professor of geography, received the grant. The grant funds activities designed to strengthen the SUNY New Paltz Latin American Studies program by providing faculty development for teaching Spanish and topics about Brazil in new and existing courses.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages, Department of Geography and Center for International Programs.