University of Wyoming Chicano Studies Program

College of Arts & Sciences Annual Report 2004 - 2005

Chicano Studies Program

Introduction: Chicano Studies is an interdisciplinary field of instruction and inquiry that primarily examines the social, economic, and political experience of U.S. Latinos/as of Mexican ancestry. The Wyoming Mexican American experience dates back to the 16^th century through Spanish colonialism, and today Mexican Americans are the dominant non-white racial/ethnic group in the state and on campus. With guidance from its 2004 – 2009 academic plan, the Chicano Studies Program is well on its way to local, regional, and national notoriety.

Teaching Activities: During the last academic year, one formal joint faculty positions was created with the Department of Theatre and Dance. Dr. Cecilia Aragon joins Drs. Muñoz (Criminal Justice) and Zamudio (Sociology) to provide the majority of programmatic teaching and service support for the upcoming academic year. In the past year, Drs. Muñoz and Zamudio teamed with one adjunct faculty (History, Bantjes); two temporary instructors (Social Work, Coca; English, Mullins); and two non-affiliated faculty (Agriculture, Wangberg; History, Bauer) to provide instructional resources for the program. This instructional faculty was responsible for teaching one core course (19 students) and one special topics seminar (6 students) in the summer session of 2004; two independent study projects, two core courses (48 students), one non-core course (21 students), and one special topics course (18 students) in the fall semester of 2004; and three independent study projects, one core course (18 students), one non-core course (32 students), and three special topics courses (45 students) in the spring semester of 2005.

Student teaching evaluations show considerable praise for Chicano Studies faculty and course curricula. Nevertheless, an additional faculty line is necessary to offer History core curriculum courses on a regular rotation and to provide more service related resources. This becomes even more urgent considering the loss of resources for temporary teaching, and the continued development of University Studies Program (USP) courses and the ongoing realignment of Chicano Studies Minor course requirements that will be submitted for college and university approval in the next academic year. An innovative shared resources agreement between the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences will help provide additional personnel to develop and implement proposed curricular changes, which in turn is producing the desired effect of attracting more Chicano Studies minors.

Particular highlights include the successful debut of AAST / AIST / AMST / CHST / INST / WMST 1030: Social Justice in the 21^st Century. This course was accepted as both an intellectual community (I) and diversity (D) University Studies Program course. It also served as the anchor course for the “We the People” Freshman Interest Group (FIG) that is also a collaborative effort with African American Studies, American Indian Studies, American Studies, International Studies, and Women’s Studies. The Office of Academic Affairs has decided to offer “We the People” once again as part of its menu of Fall 2005 UW Freshman Interest Groups. A similar measure of success for “Diaspora Study in the Yúcatan” was its requested repeat this summer by the Office of Academic Affairs. This summer innovative course combined a one-week experiential component in Mérida, Yúcatan, México with a three-week classroom component on the historical development and contemporary maintenance of the multicultural Latino Diaspora. Once again, this course was submitted in collaboration with the aforementioned interdisciplinary programs.



Research and/or Creative Activities: This will be the final year that it will be appropriate to defer comments on research and creative activities as a programmatic whole due to the program’s current teaching and service related nature. A centralized departmental infrastructure is being approved at the college and university levels to evaluate research and creative activities that are highly variable and interdisciplinary. Annual reports submitted by the Criminal Justice, Sociology, and History departments should be consulted for an indication of affiliated tenure-track faculty’s scholarly contributions for the past academic year.

Service Activities: The program plays a critical role in advancing the University’s commitment to diversity with numerous students, staff, and faculty providing their expertise and effort for various committees and projects at the programmatic, departmental, college, university, state, regional, and national levels. The Chicano Studies Program works collaboratively with Movimiento Estudiantíl Chicano/a de Aztlán (MEChA) and the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) to develop and implement programming for campus and non-campus communities that highlight Latino history and culture (i.e., Hispanic Heritage Month, Cesar Chavez Day, Cinco de Mayo). In addition, the faculty is often called upon to provide workshops and seminars for ethnic/minority recruitment programs offered by the Office of Admissions (i.e., Minority Higher Education Day). This marked academic/student affairs collaboration allows for enhanced services, recognition, and honors for Latino/a students.

The program’s representation was highly evident at this year’s Shepard Symposium on Social Justice here at UW, as well other local and regional academic seminars/meetings (i.e., “Rooted in Diversity,” College of Agriculture). Highlighting the year was the Fall hosting of the Rocky Mountain FOCO meeting of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) entitled “Implementation and Assessment of Chicano/a Studies Curricula.” Momentum from the conference carried over to a Chicano Studies retreat that focused on more in-depth assessment activities. The overall assessment goal is for the publication of national standardized assessment guidelines for Latino/Chicana Studies Programs/Departments.

Enrollment Trends: Although student credit hours (81-559) and average class size (12-29.4) increased significantly from the 1999-2000 to the 2002-2003 AYs, only four minors have been awarded since the 2000-2001 academic year. Data for the 2003 – 2004 AY is currently unavailable. Nevertheless, anecdotal evidence suggests that applications for Chicano Studies Minors are on the rise.   This rise is attributed to the recruitment of students through courses enrolled for USP requirements. Added exposure of the program through numerous academic and non-academic events has also helped increase the number of persons inquiring and applying for minors.

Student Recruitment Activities: As mentioned earlier, the bulk of the program’s recruitment efforts are coordinated with better equipped student affairs units such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Admissions. Additional efforts will be/are being cultivated through regular participation at Resource Fairs, Discovery Days, and the Summer Session Fair. Other recruitment efforts are haphazard and primarily informal efforts by affiliated faculty in the completion of their teaching, research, and service related responsibilities. Faculty often divulge the merits of a Chicano Studies degree in their courses, through collaborative independent research projects, at academic conferences and invited speaking engagements, and through non-academic organizational participation (i.e., Wyoming Latino/a Coalition).

Student Retention: Recruitment and retention are distinct, yet reciprocal efforts. Because of this, programmatic retention efforts are inextricably tied with recruitment efforts that are outlined above. A more efficient cross/divisional mode of communication was developed (integrated listserv; wide distribution of weekly MEChA meeting minutes), which helped students with awareness of the many curricular and extra-curricular opportunities that are available to them as they progress towards matriculation.

The Chicano Studies Program formally administered the Hispanic Heritage Scholarship competition that produced three deserving applicants. In addition, the program sponsored the second annual Chicano Studies graduation reception and recognized graduates for their scholarly and extra-curricular accomplishments. The program provided substantial funding for six students participation in “Diaspora Study in the Yucatan” and for two students who presented research at the annual meeting of the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies in Miami, FL.

Development: Carbon County public officials continue to be critical in providing cultural outreach and research monies. A formal solicitation letter is being developed in addition to an alumni data base. Hispanic Heritage Scholarship award recipients have agreed to write letters to the scholarship fund’s anonymous donor thanking him/her for their generosity, which has helped achieve their educational goals. In addition, the director is working with campus and non-campus organizations such as MEChA, OMA, and the Wyoming Latino/a Coalition to develop scholarship fundraising events.



Public Relations: The program does use a variety of outlets to inform constituents about the program’s endeavors and successes. Regular and special advertisements of the program’s events and programs are published in the campus newspaper. Periodic updates about the program’s scholarly contributions are announced through the College of Arts and Science newsletter. Faculty are been called upon to facilitate workshops, deliver keynote remarks and public seminars. The Chicano Studies Program was featured twice in the Laramie Boomerang—NACCS FOCO Conference and service learning at the Lincoln Community Center.

Classified and Professional Staffing: With now over a year of service, the CHST office assistant plays a critical role in providing efficient administrative service. In addition to providing general receptionist support, he quickly and competently performs the various administrative duties associated with an academic program (i.e., budgetary items, course loading, event programming, etc.). Most pleasing was the update of the the program’s website, and the supervision of a student work-study that allowed for added participation in university wide extra-curricular activities (i.e., Discovery Days).

Web Pages: As mentioned in the preceding section, the office assistant senior is responsible for updating and maintaining the relevancy of the information on the department website. Our solicitation letter will be added to the website when completed, as well as links to other relevant Chicano/Latino websites such as the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Assessment of Student Learning: The program was successful in achieving a vital part of the academic plan’s assessment of student learning. The Director, in his capacity as the Rocky Mountain FOCO representative of the Coordinating Committee for NACCS, co-chaired the organization of the Rocky Mountain FOCO conference, “Implementation and Assessment of Chicana/o Studies Curricula.” The conference was held in the fall at the University of Wyoming with major funding from the President’s Advisory Council for Minority and Women’s Affairs, various college and university academic and student affairs units, and student and community organizations.

Various local, regional, and nationally recognized scholars and teachers participated in the two-day event. In particular, a nationally recognized Chicana/o Studies scholar/administrator was invited to provide a preliminary assessment of UW’s program. His report is included in the appendix. In addition, an assessment grant from the Office of Academic Affairs was secured and provided funding for further program assessment at a day-long faculty/staff/student retreat held at Windy Hills Bed and Breakfast. The retreat proved successful as participants revised and revamped the program’s mission, goals, and minor curriculum.

Student learning will be the focus of next year’s assessment activities and should be easily accomplished as objectives are well underway. More specifically, student-based outcomes and assessment techniques for Chicano Studies curricula are currently being evaluated and revised (i.e., course evaluation questions; assessment rubrics; capstone courses; exit surveys) that will allow for data collection to begin in the 2005 – 2006 AY.

Planning Implementation: Significant progress was made in the past year towards major goals/action items stated in the Chicano Studies Program Academic Plan II. Assessment activities are on track, course offerings have strengthened internationalization, interdisciplinarity, and diversity, as well as recruitment and retention. The planned centralization of interdisciplinary programs should provide more opportunity to dialogue about the future organization of the varied programs. Certainly contentious, but worth visiting is the viability of Cross-Disciplinary Chicano Studies and/or Ethnic Studies undergraduate major/graduate degrees.

Diversity: Considering its limited resources, the program has done much to increase diversity in the college and the university primarily through curricular and extracurricular programming. Innovative strategies have allowed for the recruitment and retention of student/staff/faculty. Varied budget sources have allowed for the students to study abroad, both Latina and non-Latina. Collaboration with other academic units and across colleges have increased instructional resources, both Chicano and non-Chicana. On the other hand, the lack of dedicated FTE lines prevents the serious recruitment of well qualified Chicano Studies scholars. A historian is of the utmost import for the future growth of the program. Finally, efforts to increase diversity in the Chicano Studies program must take into consideration the implications of renaming the program to Chicana/Latino Studies. This is an issue contained in the program’s academic plan and one that will continue to produce healthy and reflective debate.

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College of Arts & Sciences Annual Report 2004 - 2005

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