Month: April 2026

Congratulations to the 2026 Salas and Somos Awardees!

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The CLS Program is delighted to announce that juniors Xochitl Ortega-Mendez (’27) and Prisila Balderas-Rascon (’27) have been awarded this year’s Jesús Salas Academic Activist Scholarships, and Ashley Gorostieta (’27)  and Kalani Rodríguez-Jiménez received Somos Student Professional Development Awards. A Political Science/International Relations major, Xochitl is pursuing the certificate in Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies. Originally from Milwaukee, she …

Rubén Medina Presents at Book Festival in Chicago, Curates Exhibit in Spain.

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Prof. Rubén Medina was invited to the Festival “Poesía en Abril,” sponsored by DePaul University, the Instituto Cervantes, and Casa Michoacán in Chicago, from April 23 to 26. He was also invited to the Feria del Libro de Chicago, at the University of Chicago, from May 7-9. Finally, he curated the Exhibit “Infrarealism: the Permanent …

Marla Ramírez’s “Banished Citizens” Attracts Further Acclaim, Awards

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CLS faculty member Marla Ramírez’s Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women who Endured Repatriation continues to win awards and inspire acclaim from many different corners. The book chronicles the expulsion of nearly one million people of Mexican descent between 1921 and 1944, more than 60 percent of whom were U.S. Citizens. Ramírez …

Marla Ramírez’s “Banished Citizens” Receives Award, Reaches Audiences Nationwide

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Marla A. Ramírez’s Banished Citizens: A History of the Mexican American Women who Endured Repatriation (Harvard University Press, 2025) continues to reach new audiences and win prestigious awards. Recently, the Organization of American Historians (OAH) recognized Banished Citizens with the Mary Nickliss Prize in U.S. Women’s and Gender History, which honors path-breaking books that challenge and/or change …

Micha Espinosa Hosts Actor Training Laboratorio at UW-Madison

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Suppose you’re a non-Latine actor tasked with playing a Latine character appropriately. Or suppose you’re a Latine actor asked to draw on your heritage for a role, and your training hasn’t prepared you to do that. What do you do? Micha Espinosa, a Professor in Directing with the Theater and Drama department and a CLS …

A Message from the Director on the CLS Mural Honoring Farmworkers

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Recent reporting from the New York Times and others has cast light on extremely concerning reports of sexual assault, sexual abuse and sexual harassment perpetrated by Chicano union and civil rights leader César Chávez toward his co-leader Dolores Huerta, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas in their girlhood, and other women in the farmworker movement. As …