CLS Newsletter-Fall 2025

Katrina Flores in front of the mural in the ARC. The mural features images of Cesar Chavez and a farmworker with a burning bush in the middle surrounded by agricultural fields

Alumni Spotlight: Katrina Brook Flores (CLS Class of 2007)

As a young person, Katrina Brook Flores didn’t think they wanted to go to college. But since they were a top student in their class, their dad wasn’t about to let them miss the opportunity, so they sought the help of a librarian friend at Carroll College in getting Katrina to fill out the application to UW-Madison. Today, Flores credits their time at UW-Madison and in the Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies Garcia, was one of the organizers of La Casa de La Casa de Esperanza in ...

Celebrating the Class of 2025

On December 4th, 2025, Chicane/Latine Studies celebrated the graduation of 6 students from our Program. During the gathering, we celebrated the accomplishments and resilience of these students, and congratulated them on reaching this incredible milestone. We wish them all the best as they enter the next chapter of their lives, and hope they carry the lessons they have learned and the friendships they have garnered from the Program as they move on. ...

CLS majors and certificate grads in the ARC

Faculty & Staff Updates

Student Spotlights

Big Changes and a Sustainability Push for the CLS Sobremesa Gatherings

If you’ve been a regular at the CLS Community Gatherings, you will have noticed some big changes in Fall 2025. This semester, Program gave these workshop luncheons the new name “Sobremesa,” moved to a biweekly schedule (every other Thursday), and introduced a new sustainability initiative that encourages students to bring their own plates, containers, and silverware to reduce ...

CLS Panels on Immigration Enforcement and Latine Resilience Draw Big Crowds

If you wanted stimulating conversations about race, immigration enforcement, and Latine community resilience this fall, The Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Program’s speaker series had you covered. It helped to arrive a little early, though, because students, faculty, staff, and community members filled Memorial Library’s first-floor seminar room for both the semester’s panels. As in previous years, the series featured brief presentations by noted experts in U.S. Latine studies,followed by extensive dialogue with audiences. The series’ theme for the 2025-2026 academic year is “Building Communities of Care and Resilience in Times of Crisis.”...

A Message from the Director

We are grateful for your ongoing support in ways big and small – by keeping in touch, attending out speaker series events, volunteering for the program, and making donations when you can. You’ll read more about all our activities in this issue of the newsletter.

Our new major in Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies continues to grow, and our outstanding faculty continue to garner important awards, grants, and accolades ...

UW-Madison Launches a New Puerto Rican Studies Hub

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has just launched a new hub for Puerto Rican Studies, thanks to the work of CLS affiliate faculty member Jorell Meléndez-Badillo and core faculty member Aurora Santiago-Ortiz (Gender & Women’s Studies). The pair secured a $3 million grant to fund three years of programming, including symposia, lecturers, and musical performances, and much more, as well as post-doctoral fellowships. The first center of its kind in the Midwest, the Hub will educate the public and enrich conversations on campus and in the community about Puerto Rico and its diaspora. Its roots go back to 1987, when a UW-Madison steering committee on minority affairs recommended ...