Gilbert Merkx

Vice Provost for International Affairs

Gilbert W. Merkx was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. He received his A.B. from Harvard University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University. He has been a Fulbright scholar in Peru; a visiting scholar at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina; and a visiting scholar at Stockholms Universität. He has taught on the faculties of Yale University, Göteborgs Universität and the University of New Mexico, where he was Professor of Sociology and Director of the Latin American and Iberian Institute. At Duke University he is Professor of the Practice of Sociology, Director of the Center for International Studies, as well as Vice Provost for International Affairs.

As Vice Provost, Professor Merkx is responsible for furtherance of the internationalization of the University as a whole, general oversight of Duke's numerous international and foreign language and area studies programs, and the development of new international initiatives.

Professor Merkx is President of the Association of International Education Administrators, co-Chairman of the Council of Directors of Title VI National Resource Centers for Foreign Language and Area Studies, and a member of the Board of the OAS Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas and of the Board of the Scholars at Risk Network. He has served as Chairman of the Group of Advisors of the National Security Education Program of the Department of Defense, and was Editor of the Latin American Research Review from 1982 to 2002.

Professor Merkx's research has focused on the social causes and consequences of public policy. He has conducted field research in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and Sweden. His most recent books are Contructal Theory of Social Dynamics, with Adrian Bejan; International Education in the New Global Era, with John N. Hawkins; and The Jewish Presence in Latin America, with Judith Laikin Elkin.