High School: Instituto Ariel Hebreo Uruguayo
Degree: Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies
Year of Graduation: 2002
Occupation: Researcher
Interview published in January 2010.
In 1999, Roberto began pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies at ORT University. In 2002, he began working at Radio El Espectador as a producer for the program “En Perspectiva.” In 2003, he traveled to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. in International Relations at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is currently working on a book based on his doctoral thesis, which will be published in 2010.
As he recalled, he had been interested in various topics since his teenage years, which is why he chose to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies, realizing that the program offered the interdisciplinary approach he was seeking to better understand the analysis of international relations.
“My experience at ORT was positive. The organization was always excellent, and overall, the faculty were very good.” He formed a group of friends and study partners: in particular, he remembers his thesis colleagues Soledad Claramunt and Tomás Mandl, who are still among his closest friends, Roberto noted.
In 2003, he traveled to the United States. “There, I continued working for El Espectador as a correspondent, and I was also a researcher at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts,” he said.
He is currently working on a book based on his doctoral thesis on the economics and politics of trade relations between Uruguay and the United States (2000–2010), to be published by Random House Mondadori in April 2010.
He is also preparing, in collaboration with his advisor Kevin Gallagher (Boston University), a book on China’s rise and the industrialization of Latin America, to be published in 2010 by Stanford University Press.
“My studies at ORT, particularly the interdisciplinary training I received during my degree program, were very useful for my work as a journalist and also provided a solid foundation for my doctoral studies,” concluded the graduate.
The book "No voy en tren. Uruguay y las perspectivas de un TLC con Estados Unidos (2000-2010)" by Roberto Porzecanski, a graduate of the Bachelor’s program in International Studies, was presented on June 8, 2010, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by historian Gerardo Caetano and political scientist Adolfo Garcé. The study, published by Debate, "is a political-economic analysis of why two presidents from two different parties (Dr. Jorge Batlle and Dr. Tabaré Vázquez) attempted—unsuccessfully—to sign a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the United States," stated the author.