This year, we celebrate Nuestra Gente, Raíces y Cultura during Latinx/a/o/e Heritage Month to honor and recognize the contributions of our diverse Latinx students, faculty, staff and alumni at CSUN.
As a Hispanic Serving Institution, CSUN is home to over 20,000 Latinx students- 56% of the student body. A Fulbright HSI Leader, CSUN was named a 2021 Equity Champion for Higher Education for enrolling Latinx associate degree Transfer earners on a guaranteed pathway to a bachelor's degree by the Campaign for College Opportunity. CSUN ranks third in the nation for awarding the largest number of bachelor’s degrees to Latinx students, according to the Hispanic Outlook on Education, and 24th in the country for the number of master’s degrees granted to Latinx students.
Join us at one of the many programs and events offered this year.
Events
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Zoom Backgrounds
We invite you to use one of the Zoom Screens as we continue Celebrating Nuestra Gente, Raices y Cultura.
Academic Programs
Chicana & Chicano Studies
Chicana/o Studies at CSUN was established in 1969 in response to the educational needs of Chicana/o students. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Rodolfo Acuña was recruited by students, faculty, and community and became the Department's founding faculty member. Courses were designed to provide students with an awareness of the social, political, economic, historical and cultural realities in our society. It was structured as an inter-disciplinary, area studies department in order to offer a Chicana/o critique and perspective within the traditional disciplines.
Currently the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at CSUN is the largest of its kind in the country housing 25 full-time and 35 part-time professors and offers over 160 sections a semester.
Central American & Transborder Studies
The Department of Central American and Transborder Studies has a tri-fold mission,
- to empower the large and growing Central American community in the United States by promoting academic excellence, community involvement, and cultural diversity;
- to open spaces of global citizenship and dialogue between academia and society that contribute to the construction of a Central American transnational identity;
- and to promote an understanding and appreciation of the diverse Central American cultures, ethnicities, experiences, and worldviews from an interdisciplinary global perspective.
A bachelor’s degree in Central American Studies presents an opportunity to explore, critically examine and understand the diversity of human interests, and it develops a network of Central American specialists.
Visit the Central American & Transborder Studies program
Student Organizations Involvement
At CSUN, we value the cultural diversity of our student organizations and this month, we highlight our Latinx/a/o organizations. Whether you're looking to be involved with an academic focused organization like the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers or the Latino Business Student Assocation, a Fraternity/Sorority like Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity, Incorporated or Lambda Theta Nu Sorority, Inc., or another cultural organization like Hermanas Unidas, there is an organization that is right for you. To find out more about Latinx/a/o/e organizations, please visit the Matador Involvement Center Matasync Platform.
“At CSUN, the Latino community was so strong. It made me realize how important [it] is to support one another when we are facing challenges and adversity.”
Heritage Month News
CSUN Earns Prestigious Seal of Excelencia
CSUN has earned the Seal of Excelencia, a national certification awarded by Excelencia in Education that recognizes colleges and universities that serve Latinx students with intentionality, while serving all students by utilizing the framework of data, practice and leadership.
Hispanic Heritage Month: Meet Alumnus Giovanni Batz
As part of a series of profiles, CSUN Newsroom spoke with Giovanni Batz ’08 (Political Science), an assistant professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara. The alumnus reflected on his time at CSUN and how it set him on his career path.