Established in 1968 to coordinate University interests in research and teaching on Latin America, the University of Chicago Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) has evolved to become a locus for intellectual exchange and innovation in Latin American studies. The Center organizes and supports various activities that contribute to the richness of Latin American Studies at the University of Chicago and promote public understanding of Latin America. The Center:

• Administers interdisciplinary Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts degree programs in Latin American Studies and a Joint MA in Latin American Studies/Masters of Business Administration with the Graduate School of Business;
• Coordinates academic workshops, seminars, and conferences;
• Hosts Visiting Professors and Visiting Scholars;
• Provides financial and organizational support for preliminary student field research, library acquisitions, and the teaching of less-commonly taught languages of the region; and
• Organizes outreach events that enhance public understanding of the region.

Distinguished faculty at the University of Chicago have earned recognition for bringing particular thematic programs of study to prominence. The study of Mexico has a venerable history at the University of Chicago, with particular emphasis on the Mexican Revolution; the history and sociology of the public sphere; the social study of migration and transnationalism; land tenure and the political economy of agriculture; democratic consolidation; and corruption and elections fraud. The study of Caribbean cultures emphasizes Afro-Cuban religious formations, the uneven integration of Afro-Caribbean populations into the world economy, and cultural production and the formation of modern socio-political identities in 19th- and 20th-century Cuba. For more than 75 years University of Chicago linguistic anthropologists have led the scholarly study of Latin American indigenous languages, particularly Mesoamerican indigenous languages. These efforts have been consolidated in recent years by faculty working on personhood and subjectivity, moral discourse, and the role of language in the development of conceptual thought and self among speakers of Mayan languages. University of Chicago scholars are also leaders in the development of instructional resources in Yucatec Maya, K'iche' Maya, N'ahuatl, and Aymara. Faculty from multiple disciplines research and teach on Latina/o studies, with particular emphasis on literary and cultural history, colonial social history, gender and family relations, and Mexican migration to the US. Collaboration between the Center for Latin American Studies and the Human Rights Program sustains research into the relationships between development, migration, and human rights in Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Central America.

The Center works closely with several of the Graduate Workshops in the Humanities and Social Sciences sponsored by The Council on Advanced Studies. The aim of these workshops is to bring together faculty and graduate students from the University of Chicago and elsewhere in an effort to create scholarly dialogue and to foster exchange of ideas. The workshops are a hallmark of the University of Chicago's interdisciplinary tradition. The Center works directly with the Latin American History Workshop and the Workshop on the Anthropology of Latin America & the Caribbean by providing space for their meetings, publicity, and supplementary funding.

In consortium with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Center for Latin American Studies has been awarded a National Resource Center grant from the United States Department of Education consistently since 1976. This funding provides a wide range of support, including Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships for graduate study.

In 1980, the Edward Laroque Tinker Foundation established at the University of Chicago an endowment to support the Tinker Visiting Professor program. Tinker Visiting Professors are selected each year through departmental nominations and faculty sponsorship. Tinker Professors spend one academic quarter at the University of Chicago during which time they conduct research, write, and teach. They also offer at least one public lecture during their tenure. Tinker Professors significantly enrich academic life and research on Latin America by giving University of Chicago faculty and students access to current discussions and debates generated at some of Latin America's top universities and research and cultural centers.

In 2007, the Center was awarded a three-year US Department of Education International Research and Studies grant to modernize teaching resources for courses in Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya and Modern Spoken K'iche' Maya. First developed at the University of Chicago in the 1960s with support from the then Office of Education, these courses have since been widely distributed and form the basis of nearly all Yucatec Maya and K'iche' Maya teaching programs in the US and abroad. The current funding will support modernization of the course presentation, enhancement of the course content, and improvements to course pedagogy.

In order to extend the impact of the ample teaching and research resource at the University of Chicago, the Center is engaged in an active outreach program with local, regional, and international scope. The Center regularly organizes public lectures and training workshops for area high school and community college teachers, and publishes a quarterly newsletter to disseminate the results of original research developed or first presented at the University of Chicago.