El Centro provides culturally-informed academic seminars to support our scholar's varying interests and enrich their academic experience at UC Davis. These seminars are open to all students.
- Redefining Success: Your Academic Journey (2 units- Letter Graded)
- The purpose of this course is to create a space for students to engage in a learning environment where they can discuss the issues and challenges faced as they navigate Higher Education. In particular, the course will focus on addressing the challenges faced by Latinx students who are facing academic difficulty. Students will develop an understanding of institutional structures and policies that impact their experience and will be introduced to academic skills, tools and resources to support their academic success. We will discuss the importance of developing and engaging in community, mentorships, and other career development opportunities as a strategy to improve academic outcomes. Students will work together to develop an autonomous academic success plan based on tools, skills, and resources introduced in the course.
- Latine and the Environment (2 Units- Letter Graded)
- What does it mean when the places that feed and build this country are the same places that carry the heaviest environmental costs? When the communities doing that work are the ones breathing the hardest air? For many of us, environmental (in)justice isn't a topic, it's the neighborhoods we come from and the work our families do.
- This seminar explores how issues like food insecurity, pesticide exposure, air and water quality, and climate change shape Latine communities, and how Latine scholars and professionals are working to change them. In this weekly discussion-based course, you'll learn through readings, conversation, and reflection, connect with Latine environmental professionals, graduate students, and meet faculty working in this academic field. You'll leave with a network of mentors and peers, real exposure to research, and a clearer sense of your own path including graduate school. No environmental background needed. If you're curious about the intersection of environment, identity, and justice this seminar is for you irrespective of your major!
- De Noche, De Día… ¡Arriba La Jotería! Identity, Culture, and Queer Latinx Futures (2 Units- Letter Graded)
- De Noche, De Día… ¡Arriba La Jotería! celebrates the resilience, creativity, and pride of queer and trans Latinx communities. In this seminar, we explore identity, culture, and activism “day and night,” examining histories of resistance, current issues, and popular culture representations. Together, we’ll analyze films, music, art, and digital media while reflecting on personal and collective experiences. This seminar will combine discussions, short lectures, interactive activities, and weekly journals intended to engage students in a multimodal learning environment. Students will develop communication and critical thinking skills, engage in respectful dialogue, and learn strategies to navigate higher education as queer and trans Latinx individuals. We will connect identity development to leadership, ethics, and global perspectives that ground students in a critical approach to enact change. By the end, students will have a deeper understanding of queer and trans Latinx history and culture, practical tools for success at UC Davis, and a stronger sense of how to lead and thrive in diverse communities. This course is for anyone interested in identity, justice, and building a more inclusive future.
- Latinx Male Leadership Seminar (2 units - Letter Graded) (Spring 2027)
This course provides a space to discuss the cultivation, development, and manifestation of Latinx male identity
Part A of this course will focus on the social and cultural contexts in which Latinx masculinities become legible. In the United States, Latinx men are often depicted as machistas, patriarchs, emotionless, fuckboys, dropouts, criminals, narcos, and more. However, our lived realities tell a far more complex story. This course will introduce students to critical theories of gender, race, and sexuality. We will see masculinity as something fluid and performed rather than innate and fixed. With this lens, we will reflect on how Latinx masculinities are imagined and lived in our own lives. Students will reflect on the pressures and narratives about masculinity that they navigate when constructing their own sense of manhood. In particular, we will focus on the complicated messaging about masculinity on social media, on podcasts, in college, and in Latinx families.
Part B will focus on connecting students to resources and leadership opportunities at UC Davis. This course will help students build connections with other Latinx male students as well as role models on campus. Through this network, they will be introduced to a variety of tools and resources at UC Davis and challenged to seek out internships, scholarships, and research opportunities.
- Casa Cuauhtémoc Living Learning Community First-Year Seminar (2 units-P/NP) (Winter 2027)