Ethnic Studies at Stanislaus State is a program that engages critical, intersectional, decolonial, and community-responsive approaches to racism, racialization, and sovereignty. The program centers on histories, contemporary experiences, and cultural expressions of Native American/Indigenous people, Black/African Americans, Chicano/a/xs-Latino/a/xs, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders within a regional, national, and/or global context. The Ethnic Studies curriculum, which incorporates scholarship, art, and community engagement, provides students with a critical inquiry that advances their analysis of racial privilege and oppression in relation to other axes of power, such as class, gender, sexuality, and legal status. In particular, the major provides students with a critical understanding of structural inequities and social movements in the United States and beyond in order to actively engage in personal and collective transformation. A degree in Ethnic Studies is relevant to a variety of fields, including: education, business, law, health, social services, community organizations, and/or the arts. Ethnic Studies faculty are dedicated to teaching and mentoring diverse students, producing critical/creative scholarship, and working toward social change. 

Program Learning Outcomes

• Students will examine the field of Ethnic Studies, including awareness of principles, concepts, theories, pedagogies, and/or methods.
• Students will describe the histories and experiences of marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the United States from a regional, national, and/or global perspective.
• Students will demonstrate community engagement by participating in activities that center on knowledge, culture, and/or contributions of marginalized populations.
• Students will develop original projects that promote awareness of equity through intellectual, creative, and/or collective ways.

Ethnic Studies is offered as a major, minor, and concentration. [4]