The Interamerican University Studies Institute (IUSI) fosters educational and cultural exchange between the U.S. and Latin America to address the need for better understanding among the peoples of the Americas. Over the past 21 years, IUSI has sponsored more than 2,000 US citizens in the city of Querétaro

Santiago de Querétaro

Santiago de Querétaro is the capital and largest city of the state of Querétaro, located in central Mexico. It is located 213 km northwest of Mexico City, 96 km southeast of San Miguel de Allende and 200 km south of San Luis Potosí...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, and in Costa Rica

Costa Rica

Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....

. The institute has conducted successful programs with Dartmouth

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

, Middlebury

Middlebury College

Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...

 and Westmont

Westmont College

Westmont offers 26 majors, including: alternative major, art, biology, chemistry, communication studies, computer science, economics and business, education program, engineering physics, English, history, European studies, kinesiology, liberal studies, mathematics, modern languages , music,...

 Colleges; the Universities of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

, Mississippi

University of Mississippi

The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...

, Northern Arizona

Northern Arizona University

Northern Arizona University is a public university located in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. It is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and has 39 satellite campuses in the state of Arizona. The university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.As of...

, and Mary Hardin-Baylor

University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

The University of Mary Hardin–Baylor, generally referred to as UMHB, is a Christian co-educational liberal arts institution of higher learning located in Belton, Texas, United States. Founded by the Republic of Texas in 1845 as "Baylor Female College," it has grown to approximately 2,700 students...

; and the Catholic University of America. Primary institutional partners in Querétaro include the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro (UAQ is the state university); the Queretaro Museum of Art, and the Centro de Educación Artística (CEDART) an arts-based public high school under the national Instituto de Bellas Artes. The goal of IUSI’s programs is to promote high-quality academic learning and cross-cultural integration between US and Latin American peoples. IUSI's board of directors includes Alicia Andreu, Araceli Ardón

Araceli Ardón

Araceli Ardon is a Mexican writer from Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro.-Biography:Araceli Ardon was born in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, in 1958, during a local holiday: on January 21, when the birthday of don Ignacio Allende is celebrated. He was a hero of the Independence, in whose honor...

, David Curland, Juan Armando Epple, Robert M. Jackson and Fernando de Necochea,

Since 1985, IUSI has provided intensive Spanish language

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

and cultural immersion programs for undergraduate and graduate level college students. As well, IUSI administers two high school programs for exceptional youth, Artes en Mexico and ¡Pura Vida!, an intensive field biology program in the Costa Rican rain forest. IUSI sponsors the participation of Mexican high school students in a summer jazz music camp in Oregon. It holds a binational workshop in literary translation for Mexican and US participants, now in its ninth year. In collaboration with the University of Oregon it will offer a new graduate seminar in Mexican literature and language.

Participants are recruited nationally; courses run from one week to a full college semester.