Program Description

The Chicana and Chicano Studies (CHS) provides students an interdisciplinary understanding of the political, economic, historical and cultural realities, perspectives and experiences faced by Chicana/o and Latina/o populations. Chicanos/Latinos will comprise a majority population in California, a state characterized by diverse, multicultural and transnational audiences. A Chicana/o Studies degree provides students with the critical skills and social knowledge to work and live in a society characterized by populations with varying social needs. The degree and minor program emphasize a theoretical and empirical foundation preparing students to pursue diverse career tracks, graduate school, and post-baccalaureate studies and training in a variety of related fields.

The Chicana/o Studies Department sponsors an extensive co-curricular activities calendar throughout the academic year. The department faculty collaborate with university areas such as the Affinity Student Centers including the Latinx Cultural Resource Center, the Toro Dreamers Success Center, and the Queer Culture Resource Center to foster community awareness on anti-racism and social justice and equity. The department also co-sponsors and supports campus-wide programs and events such as the annual Dia de Los Muertos (day of the dead) celebration and the Dolores Huerta graduation celebration. In support of student organizations, Chicana and Chicano Studies faculty members serve as advisors and work closely with a number of campus Chicana/o, Latina/o student organizations.

Preparing for Chicana and Chicano Studies

Although not required, both high school and community college students wishing to major or minor in Chicana and Chicano Studies are encouraged to take Ethnic Studies courses that relate to Chicana/o and Latina/o experiences.

Program Learning Outcomes

Students will learn about race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, intersectional feminisms, and identity in order to examine how they inform both Chicana/o individual and community social, economic, political, and historical outcomes.
Students will critically assess historical and contemporary paradigms to explain how power is created, how Chicana/o communities maintain power against oppressive structures, and how Chicana/o communities operationalize power to employ anti-colonial and social justice norms and values.
Students will evaluate and produce research and scholarship to distinguish, differentiate, and analyze theories and practices of space, place, and belonging in an effort to identify diversity in Chicana/o communities.
Students will express how relationships among Chicana/o cultural practices, expressions, and epistemologies create new forms of knowledge.
Students will engage in and gain practical leadership experience in the Chicana/o community by participating in civic engagement, activism opportunities, internships, and community-based events on campus and in community