Contact: Dick Tyler,
dick.tyler@csun.edu,
(818) 677-2130

UNIQUE CENTRAL AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM
DEVELOPED AT CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE

Details of the program, which will be acknowledged as a formal minor for CSUN students, will be announced at a news conference at Monday, May 8, at the university.

Offered through the university's College of Humanities, the CAS is a groundbreaking project that will develop courses, conduct research and develop pertinent conferences covering a broad range of topics.

The transnational/global approach adopted by the program will place major focus on the strong economic, cultural and political relationships between the large Central American population in the United States and Central America, as reflected, for example, in the fact that more than 5% of the gross national product (GNP) of some Central American countries comes from remittances sent by Central Americans living in Southern California.

The CAS course offerings will be available to and benefit any CSUN student, regardless of their major or primary focus of interest.

"The creation of the CAS reflects a major step in the life of the third largest Latino group in the United States," said Roberto Lovato, coordinator of the CAS and current president of the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission. "This will not be an ethnic studies program. This is a new academic discipline emerging to match the challenges of a new historical period, a new community, a new moment in time. When we consider that one of every four Americans will be Latino by 2050, such a program comes at the right historical moment."

Los Angeles is home to more than half of all Central Americans in the U.S. A significant portion of that number are in the San Fernando Valley, making the new CAS program at Cal State Northridge, especially pertinent, Lovato said.

Taking part in the announcement on May 8 will be Louanne Kennedy, interim CSUN president; Jorge Garcia, dean of the College of Humanities; Gerald Resendez, chair of the Chicano Studies Program; Siris Barrios, CSUN student and member of the Central American United Student Association (CAUSA), and Lovato.

The CAS program will place a primary emphasis on helping students build the skills they need to be successful, both in college and in their careers. It is anticipated that students becoming active in the minor will range from those seeking to understand their heritage to those who plan to work in Los Angeles or other U.S. cities where a knowledge of Central American issues would be valuable.

The program will study the continuum of experience from traditional Central American cultures to the urban experiences of Central American families today in Central America, Los Angeles and other areas of the United States.