WorldCity Business Magazine

Q&A with Susan Kaufman Purcell

by Joachim Bamrud

After 16 years at the Council of the Americas in New York, Dr. Susan Kaufman Purcell, vice president of the council and its sister organization, the Americas Society, is packing up and moving to Miami. She will be the first director of the University of Miami’s new Center for Hemispheric Policy, which rises from the ashes of the North-South Center, closed in 2003. The new center will be housed in U.M.’s School of Business Administration.

Purcell, who was a speaker at WorldCity’s DHL Connections event in January, is a sound choice to head UM’s resurrected think-tank. One of the pre-eminent “Latin Americanists,” Purcell has lived throughout the region, in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador, is the author of several books on Latin America, including Mexico Under Fox and Cuba: The Contours of Change and is a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. In addition, she has taught political science at U.C.L.A. and at Columbia University, and was a member of the U.S. Department of State’s Policy Planning Staff, serving under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Purcell, who says she will not miss the New York winter, is tying up loose ends at her office on Park Avenue and plans to start work at her new job at the Center for Hemispheric Policy in mid- March. She hopes to be a full-time resident by April 1. In the interim, she will be commuting between New York and Miami. She spoke to WorldCity about her plans for the new Center and her move to Miami.

What enticed you to leave the council after so many years?

I was presented with this exciting offer in Miami. I enjoyed working at the council and will do similar work at the center.

What’s your main goal for the Center?

To build a strong policy program that will help clarify the issues in Latin America and in U.S – Latin America relations. I would like the center to be a locus of activity regarding Latin America, where high-level officials from Latin America come to convey their message, network with people in Miami and work together to solve problems.

You’re clearly excited about the job.

I like working in a place where I can bring people together to discuss development in Latin America. And I like participating in discussion on policy, really working on policy. This new position will broaden my policy expertise because we’ll end up thinking about issues I hadn’t been involved in, such as the environment and health issues. At the Council of the Americas we focused on issues of relevance to business and that will clearly be important at the new center as well, because I’m a strong supporter of free trade and institutionalizing democracy in Latin America.

When will we see the first concrete results?

There’s a program on March 15 on U.S.-Mexican relations based on an interesting study by [Mexican think tank] CIDE and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. In terms of producing [policy papers], that will take a while.

When will the center’s staff be in place?

I expect to have hired my associate director by early March. I will then start looking for one or two people to work on programs, as well as some interns from the university. The size of the staff will depend in part on the funding we are able to obtain for specific projects. My intention is to keep the core staff rather small, and to hire people to work on projects as they are needed and in accordance with the funding for each project.

Will you rely less on government grants than the North-South Center did?

I will focus on private foundations, the business community and the U.S. government. We will work hard to get U.S. government money, hopefully we’ll be successful, but not use that effort to ignore other sources that exist. At the Council of the Americas I focused on getting grants from private foundations.

What policy issues or countries will the center focus on?

I hesitate to be specific… I want to start talking systematically with business community people involved in FTAA issues, university people working with Latin America, etc. I also want to see what FIU is doing, so that we don’t do exactly the same thing. I really would like to collaborate with other organizations in Miamithe chambers of commerce, etc.

So, you’re a believer in building alliances, coalitions?

It’s always good to collaborate. When we bring people for programs from Latin America, they want to reach as large an audience as possible. I would like the center to be a place where experts on Latin America, whether in the United States, Latin America or Europe can come for short affiliations, become center fellows or something like that, so we can draw on their presence. I really would like to attract people who are doing interesting work on Latin America for short periods. Jaime Suchlicki [head of the U.M. Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies] gives short courses, a week or two, on Cuba, for example. If feasible, we could do something similar.

*What will you miss most about New York? *

Just everything being very close by.The things that I would have missed if I hadmoved to Miami 10-15 years ago would havebeen restaurants, but now Miami has greatrestaurants. What I won’t miss is winter.

What are you most looking forward to about Miami?

The weather and the beauty of the place. I love blue skies, blue water, warm breeze, palm trees and beaches. It’s just a beautiful place.