Department of History

Renee Faillace

Graduate Student

Email: bgz9bc@virginia.edu

Fields/Specialties

U.S. Foreign Relations

Cold War History

20th Century Socialist Movements

U.S.-Latin American Relations

Education

B.A., History, Virginia Polytechnic State Institute & University, cum laude (2024)

Biography

I am a first-year M.A. student in History focusing on U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War, particularly U.S. intervention in Latin America. My research centers on the way policymakers responded to socialist and nationalist movements in the region, with an emphasis on covert intervention, regime change, and the development of informal empire. My master's thesis examines U.S. intervention in Chile between 1970 and 1973 in an attempt to highlight the continuity of U.S. Cold War strategy in Latin America and emphasize the role of embedded economic and political mechanisms in the exercise of American power.

Courses Taught

HIST2214 The Cold War (Graduate Teaching Assistant under Professor William Hitchcock, Spring 2026)