{"id":50847,"date":"2025-12-15T04:06:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T10:06:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/?p=50847"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:16:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:16:30","slug":"alberto-vargas-the-transdisciplinarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/alberto-vargas-the-transdisciplinarian\/","title":{"rendered":"The Transdisciplinarian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"drop-cap\">Over his storied career, Vargas has collected fields, expertise, and ecosystems as some collect trading cards or stamps. Vargas is an agronomist, a conservationist, an economist, an ecologist, with strong interest in philosophy, psychology and social sciences and humanities. He\u2019s a researcher, a teacher, an analyst, an advisor, a mentor, an administrator and an advocate. \u201cI can&#8217;t help it,\u201d he laughs. \u201cIt\u2019s appealing to learn something new and from scratch \u2026 It&#8217;s like a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It would be easy enough to say that Alberto Vargas is an interdisciplinary scholar, teacher, and mentor. Accurate, too, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/interdisciplinary\">Merriam-Webster\u2019s definition<\/a> of \u201cinvolving two or more academic, scientific, or artistic disciplines.\u201d But <em>interdisciplinary<\/em>, in this case, feels like a woeful understatement.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"gb-element-dd97372a commons-quote quote-left\" role=\"complementary\">\n<div class=\"gb-element-2979623f\">\n<span class=\"gb-shape gb-shape-08a4f953\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\"><svg data-name=\"Layer 2\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 96.58 80.22\"><path d=\"M2.2 74.25c14.47-8.81 26.43-21.08 26.43-35.24 0-4.4-1.57-8.18-5.35-9.75l-10.7 9.75C7.55 36.18 0 30.2 0 19.19 0 9.12 7.55 0 19.82 0 34.29 0 43.1 11.64 43.1 27.06c0 23.6-17.3 40.9-37.12 53.17l-3.77-5.98Zm53.49 0c14.47-8.81 26.43-21.08 26.43-35.24 0-4.4-1.57-8.18-5.35-9.75l-10.7 9.75c-5.03-2.83-12.58-8.81-12.58-19.82C53.49 9.12 61.04 0 73.31 0c14.47 0 23.28 11.64 23.28 27.06 0 23.6-17.3 40.9-37.12 53.17z\" fill=\"#c5050c\" data-name=\"Layer 1\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text gb-text-3f1a5369\"><strong>\u201cYes, we need specialists, but we also need generalists. A varied background is a plus, not a hindrance.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text gb-text-f74bf45a\">\u2013 Alberto Vargas<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">The thrill of learning something new, of finding a new perspective, has energized his experience from his roots in Hidalgo, Mexico, to his office in Ingraham Hall on the University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison campus, where he has served as the associate director of the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program for the past two decades. \u201cInterdisciplinarity and collaboration,\u201d Vargas says. \u201cThat&#8217;s sort of what defines my arc.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Arid\/Tropical&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Vargas\u2019s academic journey began at <a href=\"https:\/\/tec.mx\/es\">Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education<\/a> in the late seventies \u2014 \u201cat the time of the Green Revolution,\u201d he says \u2014 where he studied agronomy. \u201cWhat attracted me to agriculture was that you needed to learn very different things: the science base, a little bit of economics, a little bit of water management, and sociology,\u201d he says. \u201cThat breadth caught my attention.\u201d His coursework had breadth, but so did the environments of Central Mexico. Learning about different types of agriculture, including rain-fed fields and poor soils, piqued his interest in the environmental fields outside of \u201ctechnified agriculture\u201d \u2014\u202fparticularly watershed conservation, forestry, indigenous agriculture and traditional ecological knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"401\" height=\"551\" class=\"gb-media-df73f3cc\" alt=\"Alberto Vargas\" title=\"Vargas_400x550\" src=\"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vargas_400x550.webp\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">To learn more, he went south to the state of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Quintana-Roo\">Quintana Roo<\/a> on the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula. \u201cI almost had to retrain myself because the tropics are a completely different reality.\u201d Though its history dates to the ancient Mayan world, it wasn\u2019t until 1974 that Quintana Roo gained statehood within the Mexican Republic. Shortly after, tourism exploded, becoming a global destination with port cities like Canc\u00fan and the Mayann Riviera. Vargas was among the founders of the Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo, an eco-development research group hoping to guide the new state toward sustainable development. \u201cThat was a dream that did not entirely succeed, but it was very exciting,\u201d Vargas says, although the team did have some lasting impacts, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/whc.unesco.org\/en\/list\/410\/\">Sian Ka\u2019an Biosphere Reserve<\/a>. What started as an interest in agriculture and forestry grew to a broader interest in conservation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Actions\/Academics&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To both explore this interest and get back into a more technical field, Vargas moved to the United States and enrolled at Texas A&amp;M University. He earned his master\u2019s in horticulture and international development, working on irrigation issues along the U.S.-Mexico border. Now with agricultural, conservation, and development feathers in his cap, he headed east to the heart of where those fields were just starting to merge into policy and action: Washington, DC. He was awarded the Barbara Ward Fellowship at the International Institute for Environment and Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">\u201cOne of the highlights of my work there was working on the first consultative meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank with representatives of environmental NGOs fostering environmental protection and natural resource conservation in Latin America,\u201d Vargas recalls. Environmental government agencies have just started to emerge in the region, and this 1987 meeting was pivotal to bringing together environmental considerations in economic and development projects. It was also in that meeting, Vargas remembers, that the Brundtland Report, or <em><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainabledevelopment.un.org\/content\/documents\/5987our-common-future.pdf\">Our Common Future<\/a><\/em>, was presented to a curious audience \u2014 with an agenda to guide development and laid the groundwork for today\u2019s Commission on Sustainable Development.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">Vargas\u2019s work in DC attracted the attention of Diana Liverman, a geography professor at UW\u2013Madison. She recruited Vargas and his wife, Laurie Greenberg (the pair met in Quintana Roo and had been working alongside each other since) \u2014 to pursue their PhDs in Madison. \u201cIt took a couple years to put it together,\u201d he says, but the duo finally made their way to the Midwest. \u201cUW\u2013Madison had everything we wanted \u2026 and we didn\u2019t mind the winter.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">Both Vargas and Greenberg started coursework in the land resources program in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. Vargas was ready to put his hands-on work into an academic setting. \u201cI took several courses in agricultural economics, particularly institutional economics, that really captured my attention as a framework to understand environmental problems,\u201d he says. He felt like he needed another piece to complete the puzzle, so he reached out to the forestry department and Professor Jeffrey Stier in the <a href=\"https:\/\/cals.wisc.edu\/\">College of Agricultural and Life Sciences<\/a> (CALS). That led to the completion of a joint PhD within the two schools in 1998.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">As Vargas was writing his dissertation, he needed a job to support his growing family. He\u2019d taken a couple of classes in geographic information systems (\u201cFollowing the advice of Diana Liverman,\u201d he remembers), which landed him an offer with the <a href=\"https:\/\/doa.wi.gov\/Pages\/LocalGovtsGrants\/CoastalManagement.aspx\">Wisconsin Coastal Management Program<\/a>. His work focused on natural hazards and coastal erosion in Wisconsin\u2019s Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shorelines. \u201cThat&#8217;s another big jump to work in something that was entirely new to me,\u201d he says. He ended up staying for nine years. He was the liaison of that government program to UW\u2013Madison Sea Grant, mentored by Al Miller and Philip Keillor, and supported research of many graduate students who became close colleagues, such as David Hart.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">Throughout his coastal work, Vargas kept strong ties to the Nelson Institute. As an honorary fellow, he worked closely with <a href=\"https:\/\/50.nelson.wisc.edu\/our-stories\/tom-yuill\/\">Tom Yuill<\/a> on a variety of projects, including the institute\u2019s collaboration with the <a href=\"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/news-archive\/story.php?story=3190\">Universidad de Guadalajara<\/a>, a partnership that continues today.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Present\/Future&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2005, Vargas returned to campus full time to serve as the associate director of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lacis.wisc.edu\/\">Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) program<\/a>, a position he held until his retirement in August 2025. During his tenure, Vargas helped put LACIS on the map through expanded academics (they offer a bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s, a PhD minor, and dual degree with the Law School) and partnerships both on and off campus. His interdisciplinary background played a key part: \u201cBecause I spoke the language of people in CALS, in agriculture, in life sciences, in plant pathology, in forestry, in dairy science, I could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">While leading LACIS, Vargas also taught courses in international studies and the Nelson Institute. Early into his teaching career, he was asked to craft and lead a graduate seminar on sustainable development, taught in the Nelson Institute\u2019s conservation biology and sustainable development master\u2019s program. After teaching the seminar for a few years, the program was reworked into today\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/graduate\/professional-programs\/environmental-conservation\/\">environmental conservation<\/a> (EC) MS. Vargas played a critical role in the program\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/enviropros10-history-in-the-making\/\">transformation and continued success<\/a>. He taught the seminar for 17 years, updating the coursework each year, and has advised dozens of students in the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">In mentoring today\u2019s students, Vargas stresses the unique synergies of taking an interdisciplinary approach. \u201cYes, we need specialists,\u201d Vargas argues, \u201cbut we also need generalists. A varied background is a plus, not a hindrance. You need someone who can speak the language of different disciplines and put them together to understand a particular situation or problem, and then decide on next steps,\u201d he says.&nbsp; \u201cBut this is not easy or easier; it is hard work and has to be approached with a great deal of humility.\u201d He also supports students when they need to \u201cpivot\u201d \u2014 encouraging them to try new things and adjust their careers to best express themselves and contribute to the public good.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1081\" height=\"811\" class=\"gb-media-b3bb881d\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vargas_Col-Width_1080x810.webp\" title=\"Vargas_Col-Width_1080x810\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vargas_Col-Width_1080x810.webp 1081w, https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vargas_Col-Width_1080x810-600x450.webp 600w, https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/wp-content\/uploads\/Vargas_Col-Width_1080x810-768x576.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1081px) 100vw, 1081px\" \/>\n\n\n\n<figcaption class=\"gb-text\">Vargas (center) with past and current leadership of the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program at his retirement party. Photo courtesy of Alberto Vargas<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">While leading LACIS, Vargas started a new collection of sorts: cross-campus collaborations. To name a few, he has held affiliations with the Global Health Institute; the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and its agroecology program; the Center for Culture, History, and Environment; the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes; the UW-Native Nations Working Group; and, most recently, the Transdisciplinary Center for Research on Psychoactive Substances through the School of Pharmacy, whose executive committee he helped found and participates on.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">In mentoring today\u2019s students, Vargas stresses the unique synergies of taking an interdisciplinary approach. \u201cYes, we need specialists,\u201d Vargas argues, \u201cbut we also need generalists. A varied background is a plus, not a hindrance. You need someone who can speak the language of different disciplines and put them together to understand a particular situation or problem, and then decide on next steps,\u201d he says. \u201cBut this is not easy or easier; it is hard work and has to be approached with a great deal of humility.\u201d He also supports students when they need to \u201cpivot\u201d \u2014 encouraging them to try new things and adjust their careers to best express themselves and contribute to the public good.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">While leading LACIS, Vargas started a new collection of sorts: cross-campus collaborations. To name a few, he has held affiliations with the Global Health Institute; the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and its agroecology program; the Center for Culture, History, and Environment; the Wisconsin Intensive Summer Language Institutes; the UW-Native Nations Working Group; and, most recently, the Transdisciplinary Center for Research on Psychoactive Substances through the School of Pharmacy, whose executive committee he helped found and participates on.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">Besides Vargas, what could all of these programs <em>possibly <\/em>share? The questions they\u2019re trying to answer, Vargas argues. \u201cFundamental philosophical questions, such as, \u2018What am I doing here? What is this for?\u2019\u201d he lists. \u201cWhy do we care about this ecosystem or this species? What&#8217;s the relationship with our well-being?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"gb-text\">He may not have all the answers \u2026 at least, not yet, but he has a strong thesis. \u201cBecause we are <em>here<\/em>,\u201d he states. \u201cWe have a responsibility. We have a connection to the beauty of what <em>is<\/em>: the universe and life and the planet. We must care for it \u2026 We <em>have<\/em> to care for it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How Alberto Vargas turned interdisciplinary interests into a career-defining strength. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":50995,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[36,41],"tags":[46,60],"post_template":[],"class_list":["post-50847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservation","category-education","tag-alumni-in-focus","tag-winter-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alberto Vargas: The Transdisciplinarian | The Commons Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How Alberto Vargas turned 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