Pitt Professor Awarded ILO’s Inaugural Decent Work Research Prize

Pitt’s Carmelo Mesa-Lago shares honor with Nobel Peace Laureate Nelson Mandela

University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies Carmelo Mesa-Lago is a recipient of the inaugural International Labour Organization (ILO) Decent Work Research Prize, which he shares with Nobel Peace Laureate Nelson Mandela, former president of the Republic of South Africa.

The prize for extraordinary lifetime contribution to knowledge and understanding of and advocacy for the central concerns of the ILO was awarded to Mesa-Lago in recognition of his major scholarly contributions to the analysis of socio-economic relationships and policy instruments for the advancement of decent work. Throughout the years, Mesa-Lago has had a significant impact on social security and pension reform in Latin America.

The prize, created by the ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies, will be awarded during the closing plenary of ILO’s International Labour Conference June 15 in Geneva.

Mesa-Lago, a Pitt faculty member since 1967, is a former director of the University’s Center for Latin American Studies, where he founded and edited the journal Cuban Studies. He is the author of more than 60 books and 200 articles published in eight languages in 33 countries.

The Center for Latin American Studies is part of the University Center for International Studies at Pitt.