Chicano Studies Degree Approved by University of New Mexico Regents

By Astrid Galvan, Albuquerque Journal
 
The approval of a new bachelor’s degree in Chicana and Chicano studies by University of New Mexico regents Monday won widespread applause, and even some jumping up and down afterward. 
 
The degree will be the first offered since UNM established the program in 1970. After months of organizing a curriculum and getting approval from several university groups, members of the Chicana and Chicano studies program got their degree approved.
 
Regents unanimously approved it at a meeting Monday.
 
Student Olivia Romo told regents the program helped her adjust to college life after moving from Taos.
 
She said it helped her use the skills she already had, such as bilingualism, to get involved in volunteer work. For example, Romo has worked with PB&J Family Services, a local nonprofit group that works to prevent child abuse through parenting programs. An information video she helped make netted the organization a $100,000 grant, she said.
 
“I got to use my cultural experience and empowerment to help the community,” Romo said. “This has been an amazing program.”
 
Until now, students could obtain only a minor in Chicana and Chicano studies. That 24 hours of curriculum for a minor, which includes courses on gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, arts and culture and political mobilization, among others, can now be expanded to the 36 hours required for the degree.
 
After the regents’ approval, Romo and others left the meeting but could be seen – and definitely heard – jumping up and down and cheering outside.
 
The degree program has wide support. Regents president Jack Fortner on Monday called it a “great thing,” and the provost’s office wrote a letter, calling it “well thought out and timely.”
 
Although it has offered only a minor, the program has grown in the past few years and now has about 500 students.
 
Regents also approved two new 15-hour certificates through the program: transnational Latino studies focusing on the U.S.-Mexico border, which is offered online, and another in New Mexican Cultural Landscapes, which examines the state’s culture.
 
Also Monday, regents unanimously approved a new associate of applied science in robotics degree at its Los Alamos campus; certificates in automotive technology and game design and simulation at its Valencia County campus; a certificate in information technology support and an associate of applied science in digital media arts in Taos; and an associate of applied science in information technology with cyber-security in the Los Alamos branch.

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