Center for Caribbean Studies
The Center for Caribbean Studies opened in 2016 to showcase Caribbean culture both abroad and in local communities. The Center provides grants in order to develop undergraduate and faculty research of the Caribbean region, promotes classes that focus on Caribbean studies, and holds events that allow people to learn more about the broader Caribbean. This includes involvement in International Week and the International Show, holding film festivals, and hosting lecture series. Until 2020, the Center also built upon one of Trinity's established study-away programs, “Trinity in Trinidad,” where students studied at the University of the West Indies in St. Augustine, Trinidad.
The Center for Caribbean Studies is influenced by local Caribbean culture. Hartford has significant Caribbean influence, with large communities of people from Jamaica and Puerto Rico that settled in the mid-20th century seeking employment on Connecticut tobacco farms. Today, Hartford is home to people from many nations of the greater Caribbean including Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago; these cultures influence many aspects of Hartford life.