About Us
Together, the Instituate of American Cultures (IAC) and the four centers work to increase understanding of the emerging social and cultural realities in America through:
- Innovative research
- Events that promote awareness, diversity, advocacy and discussion of issues related to race and ethnicity
- Fellowships and research grant programs
- Scholarship and academic excellence
- Civic engagement
IAC was established in 1969 through a Ford Foundation grant to foster ethnic studies at UCLA through the American Indian Studies Center, Asian American Studies Center, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, and Chicano Studies Research Center.
The formation of these ethnic studies programs occurred during the tumultuous and highly charged socio-political dynamics of the 1960s that saw a demand for colleges and universities to confront bias. These four centers were revolutionary in that they brought the diverse voices and concerns of underrepresented communities to UCLA, part of a grassroots movement taking place on college campuses nationwide at the time.
Today, the centers continue to advance research, scholarship, art and activism that push our communities forward and promote equal opportunity, greater equity and a more just society.
In 2019, IAC and the centers marked our historic 50th anniversary during UCLA’s centennial.
Institute of American Cultures
Our Team
David K. Yoo, Ph.D
Vice Provost of the Institute of American Cultures and Professor of Asian American Studies and History
Mariana E. Rammirez, M.Ed., Ph.D. Candidate
Mariana Ramírez was a teacher for over a decade in immigrant communities, including middle schools and high schools, throughout Southern California. She taught Social Studies for 13 years and spent the majority of her career at Roosevelt High school in Boyle Heights, a historic center of Chicano youth activism and struggle.
IAC Team Alumni (2019-2021)
Linh Chuong, MPH, Ph.D. Candidate
Health Policy and Management, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
Through my and my family’s struggles with health and social service benefits, as well as volunteering in my local communities, I realized how disconnected health policy was from the people and places they served. My current goal is to connect the dots: ensuring that people are centered in thoughtful evidence-driven policy solutions.
Vivien Leung, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Political Science
Vivien Leung is a PhD candidate in Political Science at UCLA. Her research areas are in race and ethnic politics, political psychology, immigration, and American politics. More specifically, she is interested in the racialization of Asian Americans and how context shapes identity formation and influences behavior.
Teacher Collaborators
In 2016, California passed AB 2016, mandating ethnic studies in high schools. While we are thrilled that California’s students will have the opportunity to learn about diverse and rich his- and her-stories, we also recognize that teachers must be supported, especially those thrust into teaching this for the first time.
Our commitment to teachers: To creatively mobilize UCLA IAC’s resources and networks, on- and off-campus, to support you. This website is one part of our commitment, aiming to be a living repository of resources. It is a work in progress and we want it to work for you, so please tell us how to improve it here.
Our Collaborators:
The most useful solutions come from the people who use them: teachers. We are proud to co-produce this website with the direct leadership and vision of recognized Ethnic Studies teacher leaders from across Los Angeles. Together they have decades of experience developing curriculum, publishing books and scholarly articles, and promoting ethnic studies across the nation.
Connie Lau
Connie teaches Ethnic Studies at Environmental Charter High School. As a graduate of UCLA Teacher Education Program, she has been teaching since 2015. She has taught in the Boyle Heights, El Sereno and Lawndale communities. This year she led a mutual aid effort at her school to provide monetary relief to her students and families as response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, she co-authored the article, Transforming Green and Sustainable Schools Curriculum Using Ethnic Studies Pedagogy. Her essential question for her course is: How does identity, power, and history impact our lives?
Jorge Lopez, PhD
Jorge is a teacher of Social Studies and Ethnic Studies at Roosevelt High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District since 2002. He is also a National Board certified teacher, member of LAUSD’s Ethnic Studies Leadership Team, and an Instructional Leader for the California Teachers Association, working towards the implementation of Ethnic Studies across the state. Dr. López recently received his Ph.D. in Education from Claremont Graduate University. His research focuses on the impact of Ethnic Studies on high school Latinx youth, and examines Ethnic Studies curriculum and pedagogy that centers youth narratives and testimonios. His published work is on Ethnic Studies and critical pedagogies.
Nivia Alvarado, M.Ed.
Nivia was born and raised in the Pico neighborhood of Santa Monica, California. Nivia currently works in East Los Angeles, a community that has a long history of youth activism. As an Ethnic Studies educator, Nivia hopes that when her students leave the classroom they are able to develop a critical consciousness that allows them to read the world, feel humanized and become agents of social change. She enjoys collaborating with other educators who are interested in creating curriculum through an Ethnic Studies framework and believes that these are often the best lessons because they are cultivated in community and with confianza.
Ron Espiritu, M.A.
Ron (B.A Amherst College, M.A.. Loyola Marymount University) has been teaching Ethnic Studies to high school students in Los Angeles for the past fifteen years. He currently leads the Camino Nuevo Charter Academy’s K-12 Interdisciplinary Ethnic Studies for All Program across 7 schools in the Macarthur Park Neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. Ron is a founding member of The People’s Education Movement, a grassroots community organization focused on social justice in and out of the classroom. Espiritu is also a National Board Member for the Education for Liberation Network and engaged in local and national campaigns that defend and promote Ethnic Studies.
Roxana Duenas, M.Ed.
Roxana is an Ethnic Studies and History teacher at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights. In 2009, Roxana received a Masters in Education and a teaching credential from UCLA’s Teacher Education Program. Roxana helped co-create the curriculum for an Ethnic Studies course titled Boyle Heights and Me, focusing on developing a critical analysis of systems of oppression, methods of empowering transformative resistance and resilience. As part of the course and curriculum, students publish books with their testimonies and reflections on resistance, resilience and reimagination. Student authored books include: “This Is My Revolution,” “You Are My Roots,” and “We Are What They Envisioned.”
Project Partners
Project Faculty Leads
Lorrie Frasure, Ph.D.
Gaye Theresa Johnson, Ph.D.
UCLA Asian American Studies Center
- Karen Umemoto, Ph.D., Director, UCLA Asian American Studies Center
- Melany De La Cruz-Viesca, Associate Director, UCLA Asian American Studies Center
- Tom Nguyen, EdIT Coordinator, UCLA Asian American Studies Center
- Irene Park, Web Graphic Designer, UCLA Asian American Studies Center
- Daniel H. Kim, Programmer, UCLA Asian American Studies Center
UCLA Center X
- Emma Hipolito, Director, Teacher Education Program
- Darlene Lee, TEP Faculty Advisor