Center for Latin American Commerce explores international partnerships

By Alec Jennings
University News Service
September 5, 2008

With an eye on a competitive global economy, Texas State University-San Marcos along with its partners in the San Marcos community are traveling to build relationships in Latin America.

Representatives with the Center for Latin American Commerce (CLAC) will be traveling to Monclova, Mexico, Sept. 24-26 along with representatives from the City of San Marcos, the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and San Marcos Economic Development.  Jack Mogab, CLAC director, said more than 20 representatives from the San Marcos area will make the Sept. trip to the sister city.

“This trip is really an opportunity for us--from the city, the university, the business community--to go and meet our counterparts in Monclova and learn more about them and discuss and develop partnerships in these different areas,” Mogab said. “The function of the center is to serve as a link between the McCoy College of Business Administration, the local community and the international community.”

The sister city relationship between San Marcos and Monclova was formed with the signing of an agreement in 2004.  The purposes as stated in the agreement are to promote culture, tourism, economic improvement, education, health, service, technology, international understanding and other factors as agreed to by the leaders within each community.

CLAC is sponsored by Texas State’s McCoy College.  In relation to CLAC’s goals, the McCoy College also offers a summer study abroad program for its MBA students.  The three part program provides its students with a period of study in the classroom before traveling abroad and returning back to their classroom in Texas for in-depth analysis.

Mogab said that there is an added challenge to create a quality study abroad program for graduate students. He said while undergraduate students can often travel abroad for an entire summer, a typical graduate student is often juggling family and personal obligations along with a full-time career. The McCoy College study abroad program looks to limit the travel period for about 10 days of heavy work, which includes meetings and seminars with business professionals, community leaders and experts in the country’s educational institutions.

“They get more from speaking with and interacting in these environments than they could ever learn from a book,” Mogab said.