Chicana/o Studies and Its Impact on Students in Higher Education: The Role of a Culturally Relevant Education

During the Chicana/o Movement, student and community activists sought to establish a means to address the lack of access to higher education for Chicanas and Chicanos.  In 1969, professors, students and community activists gathered in Santa Barbara, CA to draft the Plan de Santa Barbara which outlined the curriculum for Chicana/o Studies.  Since then, Chicana/o Studies has been instituted, at varying levels, as academic programs or departments in universities across the United States. Yet, little is known about how Chicana/o Studies assists students in their personal, academic, and community achievements such as attending graduate school and or serving their community via the provision of social services. The purpose of this presentation will be to examine the impact of Chicana/o Studies on Chicanas and Chicanos who majored or minored in the discipline at a four-year university located in Southern California. Through data collection that consists of thirty interviews, archived institutional records, and follow up interviews, I contend that Chicana/o Studies curriculum, when paired with a critical pedagogy, has a transformative effect on Chicana/o undergraduate students so that they are more likely to achieve their academic and career goals.  I will conclude by recommending the expansion of Chicana/o Studies in higher education as a means of increasing the number of Chicana/o students who earn a baccalaureate degree whom only graduate from universities with a B.A or B.S. at a rate of 10% (Covarrubias, 2011).