Chicano Studies Research Center Annual Report 2018-2019
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Chicano Studies Research Center Annual Report 2018-2019 Submitted by Director Chon A. Noriega In memory of Leobardo F. Estrada (1945-2018) 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE 3 HIGHLIGHTS 5 II. DEVELOPMENT REPORT 8 III. ADMINISTRATION, STAFF, FACULTY, AND ASSOCIATES 1 1 IV. ACADEMIC AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS 1 3 V. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE 2 5 VI. PRESS 4 2 VII. RESEARCH 5 7 VIII. FACILITIES 7 4 APPENDICES 7 6 2 I. DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) was founded in 1969 with a commitment to foster multi-disciplinary research as part of the overall mission of the university. It is one of four ethnic studies centers within the Institute of American Cultures (IAC), which reports to the UCLA Office of the Chancellor. The CSRC is also a co-founder and serves as the official archive of the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR, est. 1983), a consortium of Latino research centers that now includes twenty-five institutions dedicated to increasing the number of scholars and intellectual leaders conducting Latino-focused research. The CSRC houses a library and special collections archive, an academic press, externally-funded research projects, community-based partnerships, competitive grant and fellowship programs, and several gift funds. It maintains a public programs calendar on campus and at local, national, and international venues. The CSRC also maintains strategic research partnerships with UCLA schools, departments, and research centers, as well as with major museums across the U.S. The CSRC holds six (6) positions for faculty that are appointed in academic departments. These appointments expand the CSRC’s research capacity as well as the curriculum in Chicana/o and Latina/o studies across UCLA. In the 2018-19 academic year, the CSRC accomplished significant outcomes in all five areas: research, press, library/archive, grants and fellowships, public programs. Achievements include the receipt of a $1.03 million grant from the University of California Multicampus Research Program Initiative, a groundbreaking report on the lack of Latino representation at the Smithsonian Institution that garnered national media attention, and CSRC involvement in public programs and exhibitions that were seen by over 425,000 people in the US, Mexico, and Europe. In addition, the CSRC received the 2019 Excellence in Diversity Award from the College Art Association, while the CSRC Director and CSRC Librarian were recognized for their work by the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Los Angeles City Historical Society, respectively. And, as if that were not enough, the CSRC successfully underwent a six-year external review conducted by the Office of Interdisciplinary and Cross Campus Affairs. Special recognition is in order for the dedicated staff who made it all happen despite having one less staff member for most of the year due to the retirement of the MSO at the end of September 2018. The CSRC staff have always risen to the challenges we face year-to-year, so that CSRC can continue to foster research that makes a difference. We are grateful for the support we have from our volunteers, donors, community partners, faculty, and students. Finally, I wish to acknowledge the passing this year of two individuals whose contributions have meant a lot to the CSRC: our longtime UCLA colleague Leobardo Estrada and our community partner Raúl Ruíz. In 1977 Estrada was one of the first faculty members appointed at UCLA through a new chancellorial initiative that allocated Institutional FTE to the CSRC and other ethnic studies research centers. Leo excelled at research, teaching, mentoring, and service, and he will be deeply missed. Raúl Ruíz, professor emeritus at Cal State Northridge, was a lifelong Chicano activist, educator, and writer, and he was an editor and one of the photographers of the 3 community-based La Raza newspaper and later magazine (1967-77). Over 25,000 images from La Raza have now been digitized by the CSRC thanks to Raúl and the other photographers who worked for the publication. Their images became the basis of the CSRC-initiated exhibition LA RAZA at the Autry Museum. Raúl and Leo’s generation dedicated their lives to challenging the inequities and discrimination facing the Mexican-descent population. CSRC would not be here today without their efforts. 4 HIGHLIGHTS External Affairs ● The CSRC received $1,375,406 in new grants and gifts for various projects and initiatives. This includes a $1.03 million UC Multicampus Research Program Initiative grant for the 2.5 year project “Critical Mission Studies at California’s Crossroads,” an estate gift valued at over $211,000, and a gift of $20,000 to go toward endowing the Tamar Diana Wilson Fund for the Study of Urban Poverty. Included in the 138 individual gifts were matching gifts the CSRC received from Google and Microsoft Corporation. ● The CSRC was mentioned in eighty-six (86) broadcast and editorial features, blogs, and news articles from media outlets including NBC News, American Public Radio, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Magazine , and Artforum. Research ● The CSRC launched the research project “Critical Mission Studies at California’s Crossroads” with Charlene Villaseñor Black, CSRC associate director and professor of art history and Chicana/o studies, as lead principal investigator on the project, which reconsiders California’s twenty-one Spanish-Indian missions. Research labs will be established at CSRC, UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz, and UC San Diego, where faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, national and international experts, and community partners will draw on the academic disciplines of Native American, Chicana/o, California, and Mexican studies to create an inclusive narrative of California history. ● The CSRC continued research-based collaborations with research centers at twenty-five (25) other universities through the Inter-University Program for Latino Research (IUPLR) and with such community partners as the Autry Museum, which through February 2019 displayed the La Raza exhibition that had been developed in collaboration with the CSRC for the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time Initiative. Finally, CSRC partnered with the Luskin School of Public Affairs on its new Latino Politics and Policy Initiative on a research report assessing Latino representation at the Smithsonian Institution, and partnered with the Music School on a symposium and yearlong exhibition based on the Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican American Music. 5 ● The CSRC continued to fund faculty and student research projects, including through special funds supporting research on Spanish-language music, Latinos and urban poverty, and Latinos and education. For 2019-20, the CSRC awarded ten (10) research grants to scholars and students in the following UCLA departments: anthropology; Chicana/o studies; film, television, and digital media; sociology; Spanish and Portuguese, and urban planning. ● The CSRC welcomed six (6) visiting scholars in residence. These postdoctoral scholars represented the following institutions and areas of study: University of California, Santa Cruz (Education), Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla (Communications); University of Denver (sociology); Willamette University (English and ethnic studies); and University of Pennsylvania (English and Latina/o studies). Library ● Nearly 5,000 people visited the CSRC Library, our highest number ever, including classes that received library instruction and school groups that received library tours. There were 81 formal requests by students, scholars, and community members for archival materials. ● After a concerted effort to eliminate duplicate objects in order to conserve space, CSRC holdings now consist of over 560,000 items. These items include 434,067 digital objects, 625 archival and special collections, over 13,000 books and monographs, 5,010 journals, 1,047 publications, 1,068 theses and dissertations, approximately 100 oral history interviews, and roughly 4,600 Chicano/Latino distinct newspapers, some from the nineteenth century. The Library acquired eleven (11) new special collections and additions to four (4) existing collections. Fifteen (15) finding aids were completed and placed on the Online Archive of California (OAC) ● Six (6) exhibition catalogs and two (2) documentary projects were published utilizing images from CSRC archival collections. As in past years, images were regularly lent to museums and gallery exhibitions, filmmakers, scholars, and the news media. ● CSRC Librarian Xaviera Flores received a 2019 Archives Education and Advocacy Award from the Los Angeles City Historical Society (LACHS). Press ● The CSRC Press published two (2) books, ten (10) issues of the CSRC electronic newsletter, and two (2) issues of Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies , a highly 6 competitive peer-reviewed journal that publishes only 25 percent of submissions. The year was also spent in development on seven (7) book projects. ● The CSRC Press won thirteen (13) international book awards and was nominated for four (4) additional awards (winners will be announced Fall 2019). Community Relations ● CSRC organized and co-sponsored forty-seven (47) public programs and lent materials to seventeen (17) exhibitions, which combined, were seen by over 426,000 people in the US, Mexico, and Europe. ● CSRC received a grant from the UCLA Office of Interdisciplinary and Cross Campus Affairs to present a symposium on the Frontera Collection in collaboration with the Music