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 at UCLA has flourished. The center has experienced increases in student enrollment, classes, faculty, resources and other areas.

“The growth of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UCLA is all that we had hoped for 10 years ago,� said Scott Waugh, dean of social sciences for the College of Letters and Sciences. “The field of Chicana and Chicano Studies is thriving at UCLA, and we are very proud of the center’s success.�

Since 1993, the center has appointed seven full-time professors; there were no full-time professors appointed to the Chicana/o Studies program 10 years ago. Today, UCLA offers 71 courses in Chicana/o Studies courses, compared with 28 courses in 1992–93.

This year, 133 students are majoring in Chicana/o Studies compared with 42 students in 1992–93. The center’s enrollments also surged from 798 a decade ago to 2,135 this year.

“We have worked diligently to establish a successful center, and we are now seeing the fruits of our labor,� said Reynaldo Macías, the center’s chair and professor. “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 Chávez Center serves as a unique example of an interdisciplinary unit at UCLA, Waugh said, bringing together professors from such diverse fields as art, English, urban planning, history, law, ethnomusicology and sociology.

The center’s professors are nationally renowned in their fields and conduct research and create educational projects on key social, cultural and political issues. For instance, Abel Valenzuela, associate professor, has conducted research on day laborers in Los Angeles and New York. Judith Baca, professor, is one of the leading muralists in the nation.

Other full-time professors include Alicia Gaspar de Alba, an associate professor, poet, fiction writer and cultural critic with a growing international reputation; Eric Avila, an assistant professor who teaches courses on Los Angeles history; Maria Cristina Pons, an assistant professor who teaches
courses on such topics as Chicano/Latino intellectual traditions; Otto Santa Ana, an associate professor and author who teaches courses on the language/speech of Chicanos; and Macías, the chair and a professor who teaches courses on language politics, bilingualism and biliteracy.

The center also has invited renowned leaders to teach special courses. For example, Los Angeles City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, a Distinguished Community Scholar with the center, and Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, assistant professor, co-taught a course on Latino community formation during the 2001–02 academic year. The Rev. James Lawson, renowned for his role in the civil rights movement, also has taught a course on nonviolence and social movements.

The Chávez Center has benefited the community, and the community has gained knowledge and resources from it as well, Macias said. For instance, the center requires students majoring in Chicana/o Studies to perform service-learning projects, and students have conducted their projects in such communities as East Los Angeles and South Los Angeles. Faculty research has examined such issues as policies local governments can consider to address day-labor sites and workers.

Located in a U.S. city with the second-largest population of people of Mexican ancestry, the university’s College of Letters and Science had committed itself to building a strong Chicana/o Studies center, Waugh added.

“We have a responsibility to the community in Los Angeles,� he said.

Each year, the center also awards the César E. Chávez Spirit Award to individuals that embody the work and principles of the late labor leader. Past recipients have included actor/activist Martin Sheen, labor leader Dolores Huerta, musician/philanthropist Carlos Santana and playwright/director Luis Valdez.

This spring, Macías submitted a proposal to transform the Chávez Center into an academic department. The process that reviews and recommends the formation of a department often requires more than year, but the proposal has already received support from various faculty and administrators on campus.

“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,� Waugh said. “We have given considerable support to the center and support the goals of the center.�

UCLA established an interdepartmental program in Chicana and Chicano Studies in 1973, and it was organized as a program until 1993. Interest on campus in expanding the program, along with student involvement and a hunger strike, led to the university’s decision to create a new organization — a center for interdisciplinary instruction — that could better support the growth of Chicana and Chicano Studies as an academic field. In June 1993, after an agreement was signed by hunger strikers and university officials, the center was created and named in honor of late labor leader Chávez.