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Director: Donna C. Martinez
Program Assistant: Jennifer L. Williams
Office: Lawrence Street Center, 480
Telephone: 303-315-3616
Fax: 303-315-3610
Website: clas.ucdenver.edu/ethnic/

The ethnic studies minor is designed to help students majoring in the liberal arts and sciences develop a sophisticated and broad understanding of ethnicity and its role in contemporary American society. It provides students with the theories and concepts needed to comprehend and interpret relations between and among ethnic groups in the United States. Students are better prepared to live and work in a pluralistic society when educational institutions foster a positive learning environment in which differences contained within various U.S. communities can be studied not as a social problem, as is often the case, but for their history of struggles and contributions.

The interdisciplinary nature of the ethnic studies program curriculum provides students the opportunity, through academic investigation, to develop a greater understanding of the cultural pluralism of the present day United States and to acquire skills needed in professional and social service fields. This multidisciplinary, comparative approach to contemporary and historical research methodologies provides the basis for students to analyze the diverse social, economic, political and cultural facets of ethnic groups in the United States. Special emphasis is given to new perspectives that recover the history, creative expression and voices previously excluded by the traditional approaches to higher education.

Courses offered under the minor reflect prevailing thought in ethnic studies, draw parallels between various groups in the United States and link the studies of their country of origin with current and historical research on race and ethnic relations in the United States. These courses reflect critical analyses of the dominant perspectives through which ethnic groups have been described and perceived. Also investigated are the intersections of ethnicity with structures of political, educational, gender, business and economic, social and cultural power, all of which are emphasized through the study of materials and works by and about previously excluded groups. The cultural processes through which ethnic groups have sustained or altered their cultural identities are emphasized, as well as the pressures faced by members of various ethnic groups to maintain traditional values and conform to mainstream U.S. society.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINOR 

UNDERGRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN CULTURAL DIVERSITY STUDIES 

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