in the country’s international business sector and diplomacy corps,
working every day to build a stronger North America.
When serving his country as a diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs at the beginning of his career, former Mexican President
Felipe Calderon selected him as one of his foreign affairs advisers.
In this role, Dr. Fernández de Castro was selected for the great
honor of writing a white paper which proposed a roadmap for U.S.-
Mexico relations during the four years that Felipe Calderon (2006-
2012) and Barack Obama (2008-2016) overlapped in office.
After three years of working on Mexican foreign policy, he decided
to go back to academia. During a long flight back from South
Korea, Dr. Fernández de Castro told President Calderón that he
wanted to return to the classroom in order to share all that he had
learned, ultimately becoming a professor at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego and the
director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies. His goal is to instill in his students, fellow researchers, and
the CaliBaja community that there still is a lot to do to improve the relationship between the two countries.
The goal of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies is to
ensure that the research that the university produces
helps resolve the two countries’ shared challenges.
Ranging from bilateral education between California
and Baja California and how they can inform the course
of the U.S.-Mexico security cooperation. Reflecting
on those who have made an impact on his mission,
Dr. Fernández de Castro wanted to especially thank
Southwest Airlines, who he says has “been instrumental
in helping us achieve our mission of connecting leaders
from government, civil society, and academia through
conferences, workshops, and cultural events. We look
forward to continuing this fruitful friendship between the
Center and Southwest Airlines.”
JULY 2018 | GBSAN.COM 51