Community studies is an interdisciplinary department that integrates scholarship and community engagement in both research and teaching. Since its founding in 1969, and across radically changing political landscapes, the department has maintained a focus on identifying, analyzing, and helping to construct sites for social change and cultural transformation. To this end, we address principles of social justice and the dynamics of racial and class inequity as we explore constructions of community and their implications.

The range of the faculty’s disciplines, research interests, and arenas of civic engagement permits the department to delve into cross-cutting contemporary approaches that color every aspect of social life. The major offers Community Studies students a lively choice of concentrations in which to specialize, including public health and health politics, political economy, agriculture and food justice, race and racism, historical and contemporary social movements, globalization, politics of culture, and systems of documentary representation.

Study and Research Opportunities

• B.A. in Community Studies, M.A. in Social Documentation
• Each student in the B.A. program builds his or her curriculum around a six-month field study or internship with a community organization or agency. The core curriculum includes courses in preparation for field study as well as in theory and analysis.
  

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High School Preparation
High school students who plan to major in community studies at UC Santa Cruz need no special background other than the courses required for UC admission.

Transfer Preparation
Transfer students will find it helpful to complete courses that satisfy campus general education requirements before coming to Santa Cruz. Those who plan to major in community studies may also find it useful to obtain a general background in politics, sociology, anthropology, or community action and service. During their first quarter at UC Santa Cruz, transfer students should prepare a program of study and meet with the Commun¬ity Studies Student Advisor.

While it is not a condition of admission, students from California community colleges may complete the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) in preparation for transfer to UC Santa Cruz. However, please read the Admission to the Major section for additional course requirements.

Transfer course agreements and articulation between the University of California and California community colleges can be accessed on the ASSIST web site.

Careers

City planning
Community development
Community housing
Community organizing
Economics
Education
Government service
Journalism
Labor organizing
Law
Mental health
Public health
Social work
Sociology

These are only samples of the field’s many possibilities.

Recognition
Professor David Wellman is a leading expert on race and tenure in higher education who serves as an expert witness in tenure cases involving allegations of racism. Renée Tajima-Peña’s film, Calavera Highway, was named the best television documentary by the San Francisco International Film Festival. Dr. Tajima-Peña also won a 2008 Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity for her work with the social documentation M.A. program.

Facilities
The Community Studies Department maintains several unique resources for students. A media laboratory is available for majors (and others in the social sciences) to learn the use of video, radio, film, and graphic media as research and presentation tools. Field placement coordinators work with each student to develop their part- and full-time field study.

Admission to the Major
A general background or course work in politics, sociology, anthropology, and/or community activism is suggested for students considering the community studies major. Students are required to have enrolled in two community studies courses at the time they declare the major: one must be one of the 100 (A–Z) seminars and the other may be any of the lower- or upper-division courses except for the 42 series of student-directed seminars or independent or field studies.

The process of declaring the community studies major properly begins when a student enrolls in a section of the Community Studies 100(A–Z) Theory and Practice seminar series. Prospective majors must choose a seminar that matches their own social justice and field-study focus. Because of their small size, admission to these seminars is by “interview only.” Although they are open to all students, prospective community studies majors enjoy priority enrollment.

To fulfill the declaration of major process, prospective majors must prepare a three- to four-page essay outlining how their social justice focus matches the emphasis of their theory and practice seminar. The essay should also describe their academic study plan, including relevant upper-division electives and their tentative field-study plans. Students then meet with the professor in charge of their Community Studies 100(A-Z) seminar to review and discuss the essay and other application materials. Occasionally, a student is not accepted into the major because the student’s social justice and field-study focus are poorly matched with the department’s theory and practice areas.

Major Course Requirements  

•     Community Studies 10, Introduction to Community Activism. It is recommended students take this course before taking Community Studies 100-Z, ideally in their frosh or sophomore year.

•     Community Studies 100A–Z, Theory and Practice (one seminar). Priority is given to juniors and sophomores. Students may be admitted to a second Theory and Practice seminar on a space-available basis after all new students have been accommodated. These courses are only
offered in fall and winter quarters.

•     Community Studies 102, Preparation for Field Studies. This course must be successfully completed before beginning the full-time field study and may not be taken concurrently with a Theory and Practice course.

•     Community Studies 198, Independent Field Study,six courses taken over a two-quarter period during summer/fall. The courses must be completed before enrolling in Community Studies 194, Analysis of Field Materials.

•     Community Studies 194, Analysis of Field Materials. As students participate in Analysis of Field Materials, they are directed into one of several pathways to complete the major. Note: Students may not begin Analysis of Field Materials with any unresolved Incompletes from the independent field study.

In addition, each student in the major must take three upper-division elective courses (excluding independent or field studies). The purpose of the elective requirement is to ensure that students have the necessary substantive background for their field studies and capstone requirement. At least one of these courses must be from the Community Studies Department, but the other two may be from another campus program as long as their topics are related to the full-time field study and are approved by the student’s Community Studies 100(A–Z) instructor.

Senior Capstone Requirement
Each student must fulfill a senior capstone requirement and can do so in one of four different ways: a senior essay, a senior thesis, a senior project, or a student-directed seminar. Students choosing one of the last three options must have a faculty adviser for their project. Senior essay students work directly with their Analysis of Field Materials professor.