While the overall size Faculty of Arts and Sciences has remained flat, the History Department has increased the number of professors specializing in Latin American history in the last two years. The expansion is part of the department’s larger effort to restore its faculty in Latin American history after several years with no professors specializing in the field.

“This has been a priority for the department for five years now,” History Department Chair David R. Armitage said. “Student interest in the region is enormous, and we want to make sure that its importance is understood in Harvard and beyond.”

Assistant professor of History Kirsten A. Weld was the first to join the department last year.

“The changing demographic realities of the United States means that there are more people who look around themselves and realize that knowing something about Latin America is necessary to living in the United States,” she said....