John D. (Jody) Blanco

Director, Latin American Studies

Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, Spanish and Cultural Studies

email: las-director@ucsd.edu or jdblanco@ucsd.edu
office: LASB 3

John D. (Jody) Blanco teaches the literatures and cultures of early modern globalization under the Spanish Empire (Philippine, Latin American, and Asian), comparative empire studies (Spanish and US) and modern Philippine, Latin American, and Asian-American literatures at the University of California, San Diego. He has taught at UCSD as a member of the Literature faculty since 2001. Prior to the publication of his book Frontier Constitutions: Christianity and Colonial Empire in the 19^th Century Philippines (UC Press, 2019), he translated and published Julio Ramos’s book Desencuentros de la modernidad en América Latina: cultura y política del siglo XIX [Divergent Modernities of Latin America: Culture and Politics of the Nineteenth Century] (Duke UP 1999).

In addition to research and teaching, Professor Blanco also served as the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Division of Arts and Humanities (2016-18); as well as the editorial boards of the Journal of Early Modern Cultural Studies and the Philippine journal Unitas. He also serves on the collective board of the Tepoztlán Institute, which hosts an annual conference in Tepoztlán, México.

Sarah Carvalho

Program Coordinator
Undergraduate and Graduate Advisor 

email: sjcarvalho@ucsd.edu or las@ucsd.edu 
phone: (858) 534-7967
office: LASB 1

Sarah is the Program Coordinator for Latin American Studies. She is the academic advisor for graduate and undergraduate students, the TA coordinator, and works with admissions and events. Sarah has an MA in Linguistics from CU-Boulder and a BA in Anthropology from Tufts University. She speaks Portuguese and has a great interest in Brazil.

Shanley Miller

Management Services Officer 

email: smiller@ucsd.edu
phone: (858) 534-4757
office: SSB 401

Manages program administrative functions including finance/budget, academic personnel, human resources, facilities, and staff supervision. 

Sarah Buck Kachaluba

Brenda Guzman

Academic Personnel Specialist
Email: b1guzman@ucsd.edu

Manages the hiring process for LAS Lecturers

Luciana Marcos Laberge

Community Relations

email: llaberge@ucsd.edu
phone: (858) 534-9247
office: LASB 6

Luciana engages in media and event planning, coordinates with visiting scholars and visiting graduate students, and assists with operations and finances. Luciana has an MFA in Film Production from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and is a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a martial art that originated in Brazil and is very popular in California. Luciana also speaks French and Spanish.