New Doctorate in Chicano Studies Offered in California

By Jerilyn Watson
Broadcast: August 14, 2003
This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Education Report.
The University of California will offer the nation's first doctoral program in 1)Chicano studies. Chicanos are people of Mexican 2)ancestry¹ who live in the United States. Females are often called Chicanas.
The program will begin in two-thousand-four at the campus in Santa Barbara, north of Los Angeles. Santa Barbara is one of ten campuses in the University of California system.
Chicanos and other Hispanics have recently become the largest minority group in the United States. The Census² Bureau estimates the numbers at just under thirty-nine-million as of July of last year. That was more than thirteen percent of the population. Hispanics live all over the country, but half live in California and Texas. Most Hispanics have family roots in Mexico.
Chicano studies is not a new area in education. But the doctoral program at Santa Barbara will greatly expand the possibilities for the most intensive level of study.
Ten years ago, the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at Santa Barbara had three teachers. Today it has twelve. They work with one-hundred-fifty students who have chosen Chicano studies as their major area of study. Many other students from outside the department also take courses there.
A committee led by a former department head, Maria Herrera-Sobek, proposed that the university let students earn a 3)doctorate³, or P-h-D, in Chicano studies. The University of California also approved a master's degree program.
Other colleges in the United States also offer courses about the experience of Americans of Spanish-speaking 4)heritage. But most of the students are undergraduates; they do not yet have a college degree.
The University of Texas in Austin, for example, created a Center for Mexican-American Studies in nineteen-seventy. Students can earn an undergraduate degree that centers on public policy and cultural studies. The courses include Mexican American legal history and politics.
The University of Notre Dame⁴, in South Bend, Indiana, has a new set of courses in its Institute of Latino Studies. These will begin in September. The material in the new courses at Notre Dame will center on Mexican-Americans but also people of other Latin heritage.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Jerilyn Watson. This is Bill White.

注释：
1) Chicano [tFi:5kB:nEu] n. <美>奇卡诺人（指墨西哥裔美国人或在美国的讲西班牙语的拉丁美洲人后裔）
2) ancestry [5Ansistri] n.祖先（集合称），家系，血统
3) doctorate [5dCktErit] n.博士头衔
4) heritage [5heritidV] n.遗产，继承权，传统

1 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

2 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

4 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。