Established in 1983, IUPLR is a national consortium of university-based research centers, departments, and programs dedicated to advancing Latino, Latin American, and Hispanophone Caribbean scholarship. With member institutions across 21 universities in the United States, IUPLR serves as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration and the promotion of Latino intellectual contributions.
Over the years, the consortium has received support from major organizations, including the Ford Foundation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Mellon Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, among others.
IUPLR promotes and disseminates interdisciplinary and policy-focused research; expands the pool of Latino scholars and leaders; establishes projects with scholars in the arts, STEM fields, social sciences, health, culture and the humanities; enhances the institutional capacity of Latino-focused research centers and supports work that strengthens and serves Latino communities.
The IUPLR consortium has rotated its headquarters from its first home at Stanford University (1983-1988) to Hunter College, CUNY (1988-1995) to the University of Texas at Austin (1995-1999), the University of Notre Dame (1999-2012), University of Illinois-Chicago (2013-18), and the University of Houston (2018-24). The CUNY Dominican Studies Institute was recently selected to host the IUPLR headquarters for the years to come.