BY LETISIA MÁRQUEZ
UCLA Today
In the 10 years since UCLA converted its undergraduate
program in Chicano studies into the César E. Chávez
Center for Interdisciplinary Instruction in Chicana and Chicano
Studies, this field of study has flourished so remarkably at
UCLA that a proposal has been submitted to give the center departmental
status.
The proposal, submitted this spring by Reynaldo
Macias, the center’s chair and professor, is being reviewed
and evaluated before final recommendations are made, a process
that often requires more than year. It has received support
from various faculty and administrators.
“Although we have a long way to go before
the center becomes a department, we are supportive of the establishment
of the César E. Chávez Department for Chicana/o
Studies,” said Scott Waugh, dean of social sciences for
the College of Letters and Science.
UCLA set up an interdepartmental program in
Chicana/o studies in 1973. In 1993, following mass protests
and a hunger strike, university leaders decided to create a
center for interdisciplinary instruction that could better support
the growth of Chicana/o studies as an academic field. Hunger
strikers and UCLA officials signed an agreement to that effect
in June, 1993.
Since its creation, the center has grown in
many ways. This year, 133 students are majoring in Chicana/o
studies compared with 42 students in 1992-93. The center’s
enrollment has surged from 798 students a decade ago to 2,135
this year. While 28 courses were taught in 1992-93, there are
71 offered today. And while there were no full-time professors
appointed to the program 10 years ago, seven full-time professors
have been appointed since then.
“The growth of Chicana and Chicano studies
at UCLA is all that we had hoped for 10 years ago,” Waugh
said. “The field is thriving, and we are very proud of
the center’s success.”
Said Macias: “Our faculty’s contributions
to the university, scholarship and the community continue to
blossom each academic year. Our graduates have gone on to become
leaders in many different occupations, and those that have continued
in higher education have been accepted at other prestigious
universities throughout the nation.”
The center will celebrate its 10-year anniversary
with speakers and entertainment and commemorate the 1993 events
on May 31 from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Dickson Plaza.
