Dr. Federico Navarro has announced he is stepping down as editor in chief of the Latin America Section of the International Exchanges on the Study of Writing book series published by the WAC Clearinghouse.
Dr. Navarro founded and established the Latin America Section of the International Exchanges book series as one of great productivity, expanding the reach of the WAC Clearinghouse across South America and making its contributions available to readers of Spanish and Portuguese. In collaboration with co-editors Vera Cristovao and Violeta Molina Natera, his work in this position was key to the consolidation of the international presence of Latin American writing studies.
Under his leadership, the section edited 13 books, including the re-edition of 11 canonical works in the Latin American tradition and 2 original volumes.
We celebrate his enormous contribution to the cross-border conversations in our field and the ongoing friendships between writing scholars North and South that his work continues to foster.
Following are remarks by Dr. Terry Myers Zawacki, co-founding-editor of the International Exchanges book series, followed by remarks from Dr. Mike Palmquist, founding publisher of the WAC Clearinghouse, given at the book launch for Centros y Programas de Escritura en América Latina Opciones Teóricas y Pedagógicas para la Enseñanza de la Escritura Disciplinar (Writing Centers and Writing Programs in Latin America: Theoretical and Pedagogical Options for the Teaching of Disciplinary Writing).
Dr. Zawacki:
As founding editor of the Latin America Section, Federico Navarro has brought his vision and extraordinary work ethic to the series, creating a robust list of peer-reviewed, open access publications comprising original books and re-editions of well-known peer-reviewed books originally published in the region. Now, as he steps down as chief editor, we will miss his energy, knowledge, and amazingly wide network of academic colleagues, both in the Latin American region and transnationally.
We International Exchanges series co-editors also want to recognize the work of the other departing Latin America Section editors Violeta Molina-Natera and Vera Cristovao, without whom, as Federico would no doubt agree, such an impressive booklist might not have been possible.
With Federico stepping down as chief editor, we have been pleased to be joined by the new Latin America Section co-editors Ana Cortés, who moved into the role after being an associate editor, and Soledad Montes, former secretary to the Latin American Association of Writing Studies in Higher Education and Professional Contexts, ALES. Both have already made valuable contributions to the series.
Dr. Palmquist:
It is a privilege to work with so many dedicated, thoughtful, and energetic colleagues at the WAC Clearinghouse. Among many who stand out for their commitment to open access publishing and the free circulation of cutting-edge scholarly work, I'm pleased to be able to point to the work of the editorial team--past and present--of the Latin America Section of the International Exchanges on the Study of Writing book series. The work that Federico Navarro did to establish the series was impressive and well thought out. He had a clear vision and the energy to bring it to life. And along with his colleagues--Violeta Molina-Natera, Vera Cristovao, and Ana Cortés Lagos--they formed an editorial team that worked extremely well together to bring the series to life.
Now we mark a passage in leadership, as a new group of editors take up the work of leading this important series. I know that Ana Cortés Lagos and Soledad Montes Sanchez are up to the challenge, and I know they will grow the series in innovative and engaging ways. We are fortunate to have such strong leaders taking up this important work.
As we look back at the excellent work that has been done with this series, I think it is worth noting its impact. Both the re-editions and the original books in the Latin America Section have enjoyed wide circulation. Together, more than 500,000 visitors have viewed the book pages in the series, and the complete books and book chapters have collectively been downloaded more than 470,000 times. These are impressive numbers, and even more impressive when it is remembered that the re-editions were all out of print and thus unavailable to most scholars.
The goal of the series has been more than achieved, and the vision of its founders has been more than realized. They have been far exceeded. And I know we can look forward to more excellent work in the future.
We owe a great debt of thanks to everyone who has and soon will take on the work of leading the Latin America Section. Please join me in thanking Federico, Violeta, Vera, Ana, and Soledad, as well as the editorial team of the larger International Exchanges series--all of whom worked so hard to establish and support this series.