Faculty Share Insights on Cuba
Beloit’s faculty and staff possess significant expertise on Cuba, including Beatrice McKenzie (history), Elizabeth Brewer (director of International Education), Oswaldo Voysest (Spanish), and Pablo Toral (political science). In January, the group hosted a discussion on campus titled “U.S.-Cuba Relations: History and Recalibration.”
Each panel member had participated in a Beloit College delegation that visited Cuba in January 2014. Additionally, McKenzie, Voysest, and Toral have all made independent visits to the Caribbean island.
The group covered topics ranging from the reactions on both sides to normalized relations, to foreign policy, to expected opportunities for educational exchange. Brewer said that the Office of International Education is already fielding requests from students who wish to study in Havana.
The panel also discussed the high quality of education in Cuba and the country’s literacy rate, which is nearly identical to that of the United States.
