Welcome to the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies!
The Department of Chicana/o Studies is an international, cross-disciplinary program of research, teaching, and public service intending to provide U.C. Davis students an opportunity to understand and work with the experiences, values, cultural representations, and socio-economic issues of the Chicano/Latino community. Knowledge of its theoretical and methodological framework also serves students seeking comparative analysis with other populations and global communities.
The department includes a dedicated faculty of accomplished research scholars, inspiring avant-garde professionals, excellent support staff, a curriculum strong in the use of cultural expression, theory and analysis of the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality, a dedication to fostering excellent student research, and support for community service activities.
The Chicana/o Studies faculty is internationally recognized for its contributions to Latin American and Chicana/o Studies scholarship, public policy, and community relations. The department's Center for Transnational Health is acclaimed for its pioneering research and service initiatives in community and public health. And, the department's Taller for artistic expression is advancing unprecedented "college-going" awareness among low-income students of Yolo County.
Our faculty is interdisciplinary, representing a variety of professional fields and perspectives. Our department supports students to ensure academic success and to build an enriched environment for learning. As a reflection of the faculty, the department offers an interdisciplinary curriculum to address the Chicana/o Experience through analysis of class, race-ethnicity, and gender.
Mission
The mission of the Chicana/o Studies Department is to strengthen the next generation by building knowledge about local and global Chicana/o communities and by disseminating that information across social, intellectual, and geographic boundaries.
We achieve our mission by employing curriculum and conducting research in interdisciplinary fields of Social Policy (History, Health, Education, and Law), Cultural Studies (Language, Media, and Literature), and Fine Arts (Studio Arts and Chicana/o Art History).
Principles and Values
The Chicana/o Studies Department’s guiding principles and values include:
- Promoting social justice, democracy, and democratic principles
- Producing high quality, interdisciplinary, transformative curriculum and scholarship
- Preparing well-informed, culturally competent students for success in the 21st century
- Developing a retention model focused on student development and community building
- Supporting applied work and community-based participatory research
- Partnering with like-minded individuals and institutions across local and global spaces
Student Learning Outcomes
The Chicana/o Studies Department’s Student Learning Outcomes are:
- Demonstrate content mastery of Chicana/o Studies history, culture, arts, health, and mental health.
- Demonstrate specialized knowledge and theories in areas related to social policy, cultural studies, and fine arts as they apply to Chicana/o Studies.
- Demonstrate competency in research and analytical writing skills.
- Demonstrate the Chicana/o experience in a local and global context.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the Chicana/o peoples’ diversity as it pertains to race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, immigrant status, age, region, and educational background.
You can find more about how our major curriculum satisfies the student learning outcomes in the document below.