When Dionicio Valdés was at the University of Minnesota in 1984, he dreamed about the day universities in the United States would have a Chicano and Latino doctoral program.
Valdés tried to create a program at Minnesota for more than 20 years while he worked as an assistant professor in Chicano studies. When he couldn't make it happen there, he moved to MSU to try again.
"I was finally convinced to come to Michigan State University for this program," Valdés said. "Our immediate inspiration for this program came from the African American studies program."
MSU was the second university in the nation that introduced a doctoral program in Chicano and Latino studies. The University of California at Santa Barbara was the first to offer the doctoral program.
"We're very excited," Valdés said. "We know there's a tremendous amount of work to do, but we also see there is a ton of support at this university."
The Chicano/Latino Studies program is important to MSU because it's so original, Valdés said.
"It brings together knowledge in ways that haven't been done before," he said "That interaction will ultimately result in more creative knowledge and understanding."
Program coordinator of the Chicano/Latino Fellows Program, Ernesto Mireles was at MSU in 1993 as an undergraduate student.
"I was with one of the first groups of students that went and talked to administration seriously about a Chicano studies program," Mireles said. "(This program) says a lot about the students and the faculty and says a lot about Lou Anna K. Simon."
The program added two new graduate courses this fall. Valdés teaches one of the courses that introduces intellectual, academic and social values of the field.
He believes that it is important to the program because it looks at so many different aspects of the field.
"Broadly speaking, it examines anthropology, geography, politics, economics, history and ethnography over the last 100 years," Valdés said.
Another course is a seminar that focuses on globalization and Mexican immigration to the U.S.
"We're looking at essentially over 150 years of Mexican immigration," said Professor Jerry Garcia, who will be teaching the immigration course. "The globalization aspect of the class is that globalization has been the catalyst for Mexicans to come to the U.S. Over 6 percent of immigrant workers coming to the United States are from Mexico."
The class is graduate-level and is included in the doctoral program because someone going into Chicano/Latino studies needs to know the information taught, Garcia said.
The class has three students this semester.
"Considering it's the first time that it's being offered, we're not disappointed (in enrollment)," Garcia said. "The timing couldn't be better for a course like this, considering the topic of immigration in the United States, and we're pretty confident that next year we will have a higher enrollment."
The program recently moved into new offices at South Kedzie Hall because of its growth and the need for more space.
"Students met with (Provost Kim) Wilcox, and he saw the need and the necessity after that meeting," Mireles said.
Nora Salas, a first-year doctoral student in history, said the program well represents the Chicano and Latino communities.
"We have a vibrant and growing community that will only continue to grow," she said. "The offices and the (doctoral) program show this."
