Havana Professor to Discuss Cuban Economics in UA Lecture

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Juan A. Triana Barros, an economics professor at the University of Havana in Cuba, will present “Cuba in the 21st Century: Capitalism or Socialism?” Monday, May 18 at 2 p.m. in room 115 of Woods Hall on The University of Alabama campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Barros, a member of the Polytechnic Institute of Havana, will discuss the history of Cuba’s socio-economic system and the implications of current reforms. The lecture will focus on how Cuba might continue serving the social demands of its people while developing itself economically in the context of open market relations with the United States and other countries.

Barros’ visit is supported by the Havana-Mobile Society and UA’s Center for Cuba Collaboration and Scholarship.

Barros received a degree in economics in 2011 from the University of Havana, a diploma in foreign trade and international cooperation in 2011 from the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Cooperation, and a master’s degree in business administration in 2013 from the University of Havana.

He is working on his doctorate in economics at the University of Havana.

Barros is the first lecturer to visit UA since the UA Board of Trustees approved earlier this year the Center for Cuba Collaboration and Scholarship, which builds on the activities of the 13-year Alabama-Cuba Initiative by continuing to develop scholarly activities for UA faculty and students with institutions and programs in Cuba.

Both the center and the initiative efforts have been led by UA’s College of Arts and Sciences.

UA and Cuban educators and academic institutions have worked together since 2002, through an academic travel license from the U.S. Department of Treasury, which permits travel to Cuba for certain specific educational activities.

More than 45 disciplines and departments, approximately 85 faculty, and nearly 75 graduate and undergraduate students at UA have participated in the initiative.

For more information about the center, visit http://cuba.ua.edu.

UA’s College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.