{"id":170900,"date":"2025-10-30T16:01:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T20:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=170900"},"modified":"2025-12-15T13:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:19:07","slug":"clarisa-perez-armendariz-professor-of-politics-receives-kroepsch-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/30\/clarisa-perez-armendariz-professor-of-politics-receives-kroepsch-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz, professor of politics, receives Kroepsch Award"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz, professor of politics, at the Kroepsch Teaching Award Pedagogy Panel. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before she joined the U.S. Foreign Service, Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz, professor of politics, was certain that she would never make a career out of studying Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her family is from Mexico \u2014 she was born in Monterrey before moving to the U.S. at age 2 \u2014 and she felt that studying the region would give in to people\u2019s stereotypes about what was expected of her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, when she was assigned to Mexico for her first post as a Foreign Service officer, everything changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was really upset,\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz says. \u201cBut then, it turned out it’s the most incredible thing that happened in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her experience in Mexico inspired much of her thesis work for her PhD in politics and continues to impact her research and teaching. In recognition of the latter, P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz is this year\u2019s recipient of the Kroepsch Award for Excellence in Teaching, Bates\u2019 highest honor for teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really like teaching, and it felt really exciting for people to recognize something that I care about a lot,\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201c<\/em>Hearing from them and taking seriously their observations, I like that a lot. That’s what makes me come up with a new idea for a course.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nProfessor of Politics Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

She helped establish the college\u2019s Program in Latin American and Latinx Studies, and her courses frequently cover comparative politics, Latin American and Latinx politics, and international migration. This semester, she\u2019s teaching a first-year seminar, \u201cHow Democracy Dies,\u201d and a 300-level course, \u201cPolitical Challenges in Latin America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For politics major and \u201cPolitical Challenges in Latin America\u201d student Elizabeth Holcombe \u201926 of Takoma Park. Md., what makes P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz stand out as a teacher is her ability to develop close, honest relationships with her students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClarisa makes everyone feel capable and smart in their own way,\u201d Holcombe says. \u201cEveryone has something to share and contribute.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Holcombe and Leslie Jimenez \u201926 of Chicago, Ill., a politics and Latin American and Latinx studies double major also in \u201cPolitical Challenges in Latin America,\u201d took their first courses with P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz their sophomore year. They jump at any opportunity to enroll in a course with her, they say, and are constantly recommending her courses to their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClarisa is this light that guides a lot of people in this world,\u201d Jimenez says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another strength of P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz\u2019s teaching is the way that she uses her experience as a Foreign Service officer to make her lessons come alive, Holcombe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s pretty clear in her teaching that a lot of her life before Bates is informing what we’re learning about in a powerful way,\u201d Holcombe says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Foreign Service officer, P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz was responsible for issuing visas for entry into the U.S. and helping people with dual citizenship in Mexico and America resolve various administrative problems. She began to notice interesting patterns among her clients with dual citizenship or who had emigrated out of Mexico and were returning or visiting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her experience inspired her to begin thinking about how Mexican emigrants influence the political state of their home country from abroad or through their families, a topic that would go on to influence her doctoral thesis and later research. P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz is currently working on several research projects, including investigating election participation of Mexican citizens who vote from abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz\u2019s courses touch on complicated, contested political concepts, such as, for her first-year seminar students, the often-debated definition of populism. As a teacher, one of her priorities is ensuring that her students both understand and can explain these intricate topics. She wants them to be able to share what they\u2019ve learned, whether while educating family members or discussing their work in a job interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe complicate things a lot,\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz says. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to lose your audience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz helps students grasp ideas by teaching them how to create and analyze visual tools such as graphs. She\u2019s laid back and approachable when she\u2019s at the front of the classroom, using humor to help students relax and feel comfortable approaching difficult topics, and quick to remind them that there is often more than one way to view an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her classroom, \u201cyou’re allowed to have a very nuanced opinion,\u201d Jimenez says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz seeks feedback from students on what they want to learn and provides opportunities for students with unique global perspectives, such as international students or those returning from study abroad, to share their insights with their classmates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHearing from them and taking seriously their observations, I like that a lot,\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz says. \u201cThat’s what makes me come up with a new idea for a course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her changing, topical ideas for her courses are part of what makes students return to her repeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClarisa has her finger on the pulse,\u201d Holcombe says. \u201cShe knows what people want to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Professor of Politics Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz teaches courses in comparative politics, Latin American politics, Latinx politics, and international migration. (Theophil Syslo\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though her courses are all taught in English, P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz encourages her students to engage with source materials in other languages, whether they access them because they speak another language or through using AI translation services. She discussed the importance of accessing sources in different languages during the Kroepsch Pedagogy Panel in September, which P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz organized and moderated around the theme of \u201cpreparing our students to be global citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same vein of having students who have spent time abroad share their experiences, engaging with scholarly work in different languages offers a glimpse into ideas beyond what is available in the English scholastic catalog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s not just \u2018same stuff, different language,\u2019\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz says. \u201cIt’s \u2018different stuff.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lexie Jamieson \u201920, a double major in politics and Spanish, embraced P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz\u2019s enthusiasm for using multiple languages while writing her thesis analyzing perceptions of foreigners in Argentina. With P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz encouraging her as her advisor, Jamieson conducted surveys and interviews in Spanish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Jamieson worried that it wasn\u2019t possible to complete her thesis virtually. But P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz assured her that she could do it. They met online nearly every day until she was finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe’s the definition of what an amazing professor is like, and she really truly cares about her students and their lives,\u201d Jamieson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz enjoys supporting students who are interested in research and encourages them to pursue their interests, even when their ideas are unusual. When she herself was a PhD student, her advisors cautioned her against studying her primary interest of immigration, claiming that it was not a topical part of politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later, immigration is one of the most relevant and examined topics in political science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have a really strong reaction to when people are like, \u2018You don’t want to do that.\u2019 It’s really negative,\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz says. \u201cIt keeps us from knowing and learning stuff we don’t know. Maybe a student is from a place that hasn’t been represented in academia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimenez spent a summer as P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz\u2019s research assistant through an internship funded by the Center for Purposeful Work. Even though Jimenez began the summer without the research skills needed for the work, such as coding data, P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz was confident that she could learn \u2014 and she did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClarisa is just meeting you where you’re at and really wanting to make sure you like what you’re doing,\u201d Jimenez says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz has high expectations for her students. Her courses taught Jamieson that her brain and work ethic were capable of more than she previously thought possible. Today, as a bilingual English-Spanish kindergarten teacher in Washington D.C., Jamieson views her students\u2019 potential the same way that P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz viewed hers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt really influences the way I also hold those high standards and expectations of my students,\u201d Jamieson says. \u201cEven as five-year-olds, I’ve been very amazed at their abilities to have critical conversations about the world around them and understand.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz knows personally that the path to purposeful work is often winding and full of surprises. With her unfailing belief in her students\u2019 ability to succeed, she is equipping them for the journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne thing will lead to another, and you can’t predict it,\u201d P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz said. \u201cJust be ready and be open and listen to your instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Before she joined the U.S. Foreign Service, Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz, professor of politics, was certain that she would never make a career out of studying Latin America. But, when she was assigned to Mexico for her first post as a Foreign Service officer, everything changed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1827,"featured_media":170980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":["clarisa-perez-armendariz"],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,11011,1,44],"tags":[11146,5089,10770],"class_list":["post-170900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-awards","category-batesnews","category-enewsletter","tag-clarisa-perez-armendariz","tag-kroepsch","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170900"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171338,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170900\/revisions\/171338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}