Renowned Latin American scholar returns to Tulane as head of Stone Center

Anthony “Tony” Pereira, a leading Latin American Studies scholar who once chaired the Department of Political Science at Tulane University, is returning to Tulane for what he calls his dream job. 

Pereira, director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Florida International University in Miami, will take the helm of the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies effective Aug. 8. 

“The Stone Center is one of the nation's preeminent centers for research and teaching about Latin America,” said Senior Vice President and Provost Robin Forman. “We were committed to recruiting a director who would further enhance its already extraordinary standing and the breadth of its impact.” 

Forman said Pereira met all the search committee’s criteria: a renowned scholar known for groundbreaking research, an effective administrator with experience building cross-disciplinary programs and communities and someone who values the Stone Center’s role and brings ambitious vision for its future. 

“The search attracted an exceptionally strong pool of candidates, but from Tony’s very first meeting with the search committee there was broad enthusiasm for his candidacy and agreement that he met and surpassed each bar,” Forman said. 

Pereira will succeed longtime executive director Thomas Reese, who retired at the end of the 2024-25 academic year. 

“It’s a crown jewel among such centers,” Pereira said of the Stone Center. “I am so happy that in the end I received the offer. It is no exaggeration to say that it is my dream job.” 

Pereira arrived at Tulane in 1999, and in 2001 he was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the Department of Political Science. He was on leave from 2005 until 2008, during which he held positions at the University of East Anglia in the UK and Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil. He returned to Tulane in 2008, serving as professor and chair of the Department of Political Science from 2008 to 2010. 

As chair he managed a department of 30 academic staff and led the search for several high-profile positions, including an endowed chair and director of the Murphy Institute of Political Economy. 

Pereira left Tulane in 2010 to become a professor and founding director of the Brazil Institute within the School of Global Affairs at King’s College London. Working with a team of four academics, he created the institute’s master’s and PhD programs and assisted in the building of the new master’s program in global affairs. He also helped create a joint PhD in international relations with the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and a chair for visiting academics. 

In 2022, a position at Florida International University brought him back to the states — director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center. 

When the Stone Center position opened, Pereira applied. He felt his experience and expertise — as well as his connection to the Stone Center from his years at Tulane — made him an ideal fit. 

“One of the strengths of the center is the scope and variety of research being done, and the way it is being done, within a community where there is respect for people’s differences and unique talents,” Pereira said. “Overall, the center is large, formidable, productive and internationally known. But it is also a warm and vibrant community.” 

The Stone Center is a multidisciplinary hub for Latin American and Caribbean studies, coordinating research and teaching across Tulane’s campuses with over 70 core and 35 affiliated faculty from different fields. Outside of the professional schools, it involves more faculty than any other university program. 

Pereira said the structure of the Stone Center is excellent, with well-defined faculty research clusters, faculty governance committees, an executive committee and high-performing staff. The challenge, he says, will be to nurture and sustain all those accomplishments while engaging in some exciting new partnerships and activities. 

A London native who grew up in Sacramento, California, Pereira holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University, where he majored in comparative politics with a concentration in Latin America. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Government from Harvard and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics and African and Asian Studies from Sussex University in the United Kingdom. 

He has held positions at the New School for Social Research, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Pereira has also been a visiting professor in the Department of Political Science at the Federal University of Pernambuco and at the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.