About the Department
The Department of Latin American and Latino Studies (LALS) at UC Santa Cruz centers the interconnected experiences and perspectives of Latin American and Latinx communities as a foundation for intellectual analysis and engaged research.
Our impact
Our department was first founded as a program of study in 1994. In 2011, we launched our doctoral program, the first in the world to link Latin American and Latino studies. Our curriculum and research initiatives have grown to include a wide array of perspectives and disciplines, mirroring the dynamic evolution of the communities we study.
We are committed to transformative research, teaching, advising, and mentoring that advance our understanding of how these communities’ dreams and realities are shaped by migration and mobilities; inequalities, identities, and intersectionality; race and ethnicity; social and political transitions; and culture, power, and knowledge. LALS is a space for dialogues that link the histories, societies, cultures, ideas, and experiences of Latinxs and Latin American peoples in California, the United States, hemispherically, and globally.
Commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion
As an interdisciplinary department within a Hispanic-Serving Institution, our mission and vision emerge from the diverse communities that the university serves. We aim to cultivate an academic and supportive environment that fosters innovative research, critical thinking, and active community engagement. That includes programs to diversify academia by supporting graduate students who aim to become professors. You can learn more about our community on the People page.
Alumni success stories
Alina Ivette Fernandez: Embedding equity in the financial sector
Fernandez graduated in 2020 with a Ph.D. in Latin American and Latino Studies and has built a career helping America’s largest banks operationalize their values and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. Her work helps C-suite leaders understand the implications of their decisions for both employees and the communities they serve.
Ismael Illescas: Exploring the cultural value of graffiti and street art
Illescas’s dissertation research for his Ph.D. in Latin American and Latino Studies illuminated how Black and Latinx communities make themselves visible through illicit artistic expression and how race impacts whether grafiti is criminalized or celebrated as “street art.” He is now a permanent faculty member of the Ethnic Studies Department at Chabot College.
Nik Altenberg: Applying investigative skills to a career in journalism
While pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in Latin American and Latino Studies, Nik Altenberg served as an undergraduate student researcher for the department’s affiliated Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas in the Human Rights Investigations lab. She has since applied open source investigation skills from that experience to build a career in journalism.
More alumni stories
More student stories
Are you one of our alumni? If so, we’d love to stay in touch. Be sure to update your contact and employment information with the campus, so that we can celebrate your successes and keep you in the loop on opportunities. You can also follow the Latin American and Latino Studies Department on social media at the links on the bottom of this page.
Support Latin American and Latino Studies
Make a difference by providing pathways for students to find their purpose, pushing forward boundary-breaking research, and creating lasting change in communities.
We want to continue a tradition of producing critical thinkers and influential leaders poised to make a difference in communities across the Americas. From expanding undergraduate field study and community-partnered research in the U.S. and Latin America to recruiting and retaining interdisciplinary graduate scholars, we depend on private donations to support our work. Our donors help fund the vital research happening in the department and ensure a legacy of politically and publicly engaged scholarship.
Latin American and Latino Studies Department by the numbers
95%
underrepresented students among our degree-holders
50%
of undergraduates take at least one small research-oriented seminar with faculty
80%
of undergraduates report being fully satisfied with their academic experience
88%
first-generation students in the LALS undergraduate major
38%
of undergraduates participate in a credit-bearing internship, practicum, or field experience
100%
job-placement rate for our Ph.D. program from 2014-2024