Mission and History

Mission: The Trans-Border Institute (TBI) promotes understanding, dialogue, and cooperation between the United States and Mexico, addresses challenges and opportunities that spring from the bi-national relationship, and advances common interests along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Program Description: Based at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, the Trans-Border Institute administers a broad range of programs, research, events, and other activities. Through these efforts, TBI helps to inform and shape public debate, and promotes international cooperation, mutual appreciation, and fairness in the face of enormous, complex, and often controversial challenges.

History: The University of San Diego has long had a strong connection to Mexico and the border, reflected in the scholarship and cross-border activities of its faculty and students. Located adjacent to the Mexican border city of Tijuana and perched on the Pacific Rim, the University resides at the nexus of a global crossroads between north-south-east-and-west, and accordingly has strong international ties.

The Trans-Border Institute was founded in 1994 to sustain those ties, and to help develop the University’s national and international reputation as an institution of higher learning committed to internationalism and multicultural diversity. In 2007, TBI joined the newly created Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies (KSPS). This development brought new opportunities for TBI to engage students and benefit from the growing prestige and broader mission of the new school.

In recent years, TBI has benefited from important new opportunities, including a growing list of outside sponsors and partners. Since 2005, TBI has attracted over $1 million in outside funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Tinker Foundation, the Open Society Institute, the Bank of America Foundation, USAID/Higher Education for Development, and the MacArthur Foundation.  As a result, today the Institute serves as a leading source of information and analysis, a forum for engaging controversial issues, and a supporter of the University’s other Mexico and border focused programs.