Conferences

Rutgers SPAA at LACSUG 2026

LACSUG 2026 hosted the launch of the Handbook of Latin American Politics (Edward Elgar Publishing), co-edited by Dr. Ricardo Bello-Gómez.

SPAA had a strong presence at the Latin American Conference on Subnational Governance (LACSUG 2026), one of the leading conferences on local and subnational governance in Latin America. The conference was held in Santiago, Chile, and brought together scholars working on public administration, local government, decentralization, and governance from across the region.

Several members of the SPAA community participated:

  • Lorena Cuenca Cardozo, doctoral student, presented "Understanding School- and Teacher-Level Drivers of Technology Use in the Classroom: Evidence from the Implementation of an Offline-First Learning Platform in Rural Honduras" (co-authored with Alan Zarychta, University of Chicago). She also served as a conference discussant.
  • Tomás Soto-Jara, doctoral student, presented "Strategic Planning Use among Public Decision Makers: Evidence from a Survey Experiment on Political Continuity and Institutionalization." In addition, he co-authored "Women's Participation in the Chilean Senior Civil Service System: A Subnational Analysis," presented by Cristian Pliscoff (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) and co-authored with Mariana Chudnovsky (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile).
  • Monica Aldea, MPA'19; PhD'26, presented "Merit or Discretion? The Selection "Funnel" of Local Public Managers in Chile." She also served as a conference discussant.
  • Ricardo Bello-Gómez, associate professor, served as a member of the conference organizing committee, panel chair, and discussant. He also co-authored "Measuring Organizational Capacity: Divergence Between Archival and Perceptual Indicators," presented by Pablo Sanabria-Pulido (Universidad ICESI).

In addition to these research presentations, the conference hosted the launch of the Handbook of Latin American Politics (Edward Elgar Publishing), co-edited by Ricardo Bello-Gómez, Claudia Avellaneda, and Nathalie Méndez. During the event, Dr. Bello-Gómez joined the other editors to present the volume, which also includes various chapters co-authored by Dr. Bello-Gomez, José Acevedo, doctoral student, and doctoral graduates Mauricio Astudillo-Rodas (PhD'23) and Nicolas Lagos (PhD'26).

Category
Conferences