Political Science/Economics/Criminal Justice and Chicano Studies
Discipline to be filled
Chicano Studies
Submitter’s Name / Dean / Date
Kathy Oborn - Dept Chair/ Dean – Susan Rhi-Kleinert/ Date - 10/6/2015
How does this position align with the Strategic Master Plan/Educational Master Plan? How does the position serve the program, the college and the community?
Chicano Studies is an academic discipline that originated in the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s. Chicano Studies concerns itself with the study of Chicana/os, Latina/os, and Mexican Americans, drawing upon a variety of fields, such as history, sociology, the arts and critical theory. The Chicano Studies major serves both scholarly and community needs. Pierce College started their Chicano Studies offerings in 2005.
This position satisfies the following SMP goal:
SMP A.1 – INCREASE STUDENT COMPLETION OF DEGREES
The Chicano population at Pierce has now surpassed any other group of students, as it has also in the state. At Pierce, Chicano Studies courses have increased in popularity and demand. This semester we are teaching 5 sections.
It is time to support this population and to demonstrate to our students and the community that the success of Latina/os is valued at Pierce College as well as the support of a diverse campus. Studies show that offering ethnic studies courses, such as Chicana/o Studies can help the learning environment for students of color through limiting feelings of prejudice and experiences of discrimination. Researchers believe such programs have a significant impact on students of color and they respond positively to the curriculum, thereby increasing student completion of degrees.
Describe any program viability studies, state laws, accreditation or advisement body recommendations that provide support for the position.
The only applicable state law (Education Code) would be the CSU requirement that each student receiving a baccalaureate degree be knowledgeable about the Constitution of the United States, American Historyand State and Local Government. Chicano Studies 7 & 8 are part of the American Institutions requirement.
List any personnel changes in full-time faculty in the discipline (hires, transfers, retirements, etc.) within the last five (5) years.
Explain how this position is essential to the discipline.
The only way a discipline can be supported is by hiring a full time faculty member to nurture and support it.
If there is a notion that there needs to be a viability study regarding Chicano Studies, may I remind the committee that I have submitted an FPPC request in the past for Chicano Studies and a viability study was never suggested before. In addition, Chicano Studies is not a new program, as mentioned before. We wrote the first few courses in 2005 and have slowly increased the courses and offerings throughout the years. Obviously the discipline has played 3rd and 4thfiddle to Poli Sci, Econ and CJ, so it would be necessary to provide adequate sections for the hire, similar to the situation when we hired a F/T faculty member in the Education discipline 2 years ago. With that situation, there was never an FPPC request made for a F/T faculty member in Education prior to 2 years ago and no viability study was required as they had been offering a few Education courses on and off for several years. Over 15 years ago, there was a grant to promote teacher training with CSUN and a F/T faculty member was assigned to the Education discipline, but he was not hired through the FPPC process.
If the discipline is requesting more than one position, how would you rank this position? Why?
The discipline of Chicano Studies is only requesting one position.
If there is any other information that you would like the committee to consider please include it below and/or attach it to your application.
There has been talk that an Ethnic Studies discipline would be nice to have at Pierce. Living within the discipline of Ethnic Studies is Chicano Studies, Black Studies, Asian Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, etc. Even if our dept created an Ethnic Studies component, that does not mean we could not hire a full time faculty member in Chicano Studies. It would be nice to one day not only have a F/T Chicano Studies faculty member, but also a F/T Middle Eastern Studies professor, or perhaps even a F/T Black Studies professor. We have to start somewhere with increasing our ethnic offerings and Chicano Studies is already an established discipline at Pierce for nearly 10 years and a great place to start since our population supports the discipline.
I also think it is important to add that Chicano Studies courses are not only for Chicano students. I had the occasion to take Chicano Studies courses at CSUN mostly because as a Sociology major I had an interest in the curriculum. So supporting this discipline is two fold – it serves Latina/os as well as non-Latina/os who are exposed to a multicultural education. What’s wrong with that????????????
