If there is one thing everyone seems to agree on, it is that the economic maladies afflicting Latin America have defied easy solutions.

Although it has been a generation since Latin America began to implement structural reform, difficult questions remain: Was the region given the wrong medicine, not enough of the right medicine or did it fail to follow the prescribed treatment regime?

Read more: Latin America in the Global Economy

It is safe to say that even among overachievers, the 2005 Notre Dame class valedictorian, Enrique Schaerer, is exceptional.

For most class valedictorians, finishing top of the class-never mind doing it with a 4.0 GPA as Schaerer did-would be an extraordinary accomplishment; but doing it and writing the equivalent of a master's thesis in political science puts him in a whole new league.

Read more: A Valedictorian Who is ‘Exceptional Even among High Achieving Students’

HHELEN MACK CHANG will accept the 2005 Notre Dame Prize for Distinguished Public Service in Latin America at a ceremony to be held in Guatemala City on September 7, 2005.

The award will be presented by REV. JAMES MCDONALD, CSC, senior executive assistant and counselor to University of Notre Dame President REV. JOHN I. JENKINS, CSC, on behalf of Jenkins and Notre Dame.

Read more: Guatemalan Human Rights Activist to Receive Notre Dame Prize

Faculty Fellow Profile: Robert M. Fishman

Robert M. Fishman's 2004 book Democracy's Voices: Social Ties and the Quality of Public Life (Cornell University Press) takes up a fascinating paradox of the Spanish case: Why does the democracy's public sphere elicit disappointment and disengagement despite the country's much admired transition from authoritarianism to democracy?

Read more: Faculty Fellow Profile: Robert Fishman