The Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this Spring 2020!

We are happy to share with you some snapshots of the past 50 years.

The California State College, Fullerton President approved the creation of the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies in late 1970. The Department had already started offering courses in the 1970 Fall academic calendar, however, under the Mexican-American Studies Option through the Program in Ethnic Studies. The Board of Trustees approved the Program in Ethnic Studies in 1969.

The Mexican American Option offered 17 courses in 1970-1971. The Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies now provides over 30 courses! The Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies now offers a B.A. in Ethnic Studies with an Option in Chicana and Chicano Studies. We also offer a Minor.

The number and profile of faculty have changed quite a bit. The Program in Ethnic Studies started with the Mexican American Studies Option. It consisted of two tenure-track Associate Professors--Dagoberto Fuentes and Robert Serros (Chair) and one lecturer, Anthony Vega. The inaugural tenured faculty at that time held M.A. degrees. We now have two Full Professors, Patricia Pérez, Ph.D. and Erualdo R. González, Ph.D., and three Associate Professors, Alexandro Gradilla, Ph.D., Monica Hanna, Ph.D., and Gabriela Nuñez, Ph.D. Dr. Pérez is the Department’s first tenured woman. We have two new tenure-track faculty at the Assistant level joining us this Fall, Eddy Alvarez, Ph.D. and Mario Obando, Ph.D. Lecturers go above and beyond each semester. About five lectures teach in the Department each semester.

Our student population has grown tremendously over the decades. By 1975, 20 students earned a B.A. in Ethnic Studies with an Option in Chicano Studies. In Spring 2020, we expect to graduate eleven students with a B.A. in Ethnic Studies with an Option in Chicana and Chicana Studies and twenty-two Minors! We hope these graduation trends to continue. We have a combined 94 students who are majors and minors as of Spring 2020!

The Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies builds on generations of activism that helped make it. We are looking forward to the next chapter of our development!

Sincerely,

Erualdo R. González, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies