Catherine Bartch, PhD, is the Associate Director of Latin American and Latinx Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests include Latin American politics, democratic theory, civic education and participation, international development and identity politics. She has taught an array of courses on these topics and others, including Latin American Politics and Culture, Latin American Political Economy, Gender and Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Constitutional Law, American Politics and Politics of Identity – to name a few—at various regional private and public universities and community colleges. Prior to her arrival at Penn, she was an Instructor at Monmouth University, where she also served as the Model UN advisor and a United Nations DPI/NGO Monmouth University representative. She recently completed her dissertation examining how university based civic education initiatives could educate for a participatory democracy, and she is currently expanding these research interests to the Latin American region.