The [sophomore/junior] US-Mexico Border Institute at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) explores the ways in which international relations and local phenomena are inter-related.  Topics such as migration, border security, economic development and trade, drugs, health, environmental change, and education entangle local interests and problems with the relationships between nations on a global scale.  A border community such as El Paso/Ciudad Juárez that embodies this entangling in distilled form is an ideal site for exploration of the “glocalism” that is increasingly found everywhere.  It is also an ideal site for showing students that their experiences in local communities, viewed correctly, can have relevance on a world-wide stage, and a career in international relations can have important impacts in local communities, both their own and in more distant countries. 

El Paso/Cd. Juárez is the world’s largest urban center on a geopolitical border.  At over 2 million inhabitants, it offers a complete range of international diplomatic, national, state, and local government, NGO and community organizations, and commerce.  UTEP is a Carnegie Research/Doctoral Intensive university of over 18,000 students, of whom 70% are US-citizen Hispanic and 10% are Mexican citizens who cross the international boundary every day to attend school.

The institute includes academic experiences focused on international relations in local perspective (and the reverse), field trips to sites in the US and Mexican border regions, presentations by governmental and NGO administrators and staff, observations of local institutions interacting with institutions and individuals in another country, internships, cultural experiences, and practical language training.  Participants will not only study about international relations, they will also experience a taste of international life on a daily basis.