Find your path in Latina/Latino Studies
Community Resources
- LLS affiliate professor Yuridia Ramírez received a 2025 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders Award from the Institute of Citizens & Scholars. The award comes with a $20,000 stipend to support her research.The award recognizes scholars who have demonstrated impressive scholarship, service,... Read full story LLS affiliate professor Yuridia Ramírez receives 2025 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leaders Award
- In 2026, we will celebrate 30 years at the University of Illinois. We owe our history to the 1992 student movement for Latina/o rights on campus. The courageous activism and dedication of Latina/o students, faculty, and staff led to the creation of a Program in Latina/Latino Studies in 1996. In 2010, we became the first Department of Latina/Latino Studies in the country. As we near the 30 year milestone, we're looking back at our history, and... Read full story Honoring our history: Celebrating 30 years of the Department of Latina/Latino Studies at Illinois
- Second-year student Cecelia Escobar, who is double majoring in political science and Latina/Latino studies, was selected for the three-week Understanding Northern Ireland” summer program at Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland. Read full story Latina/Latino studies major Cecelia Escobar selected for Fulbright's Summer Institute
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Why Study Latina/Latino Studies?
Professor Mirelsie Velázquez shares the value of the major, favorite spots in Champaign-Urbana, and why the Latina/Latino studies department is the best kept secret on campus in an interview with the College of LAS.
Upcoming events

Alumni spotlight: Mayra Diaz, ’17 – Policy Analyst, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
Without a doubt, I credit who I am as a leader and professional in large part to my undergraduate education in Latina/Latino Studies. As a Policy Analyst at Health & Medicine Policy Research Group with master’s degrees in social work and public health, I research and advocate for policies that prevent and mitigate the systemic root causes of trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in Illinois. My LLS background has been indispensable throughout my graduate education and now in my current role. Learning about topics such as Critical Race Theory and the impact of U.S. policy on...

Faculty spotlight: José A. de la Garza Valenzuela
José A. de la Garza Valenzuela focuses on fiction by gay Chicano writers and his current research investigates the legal underpinnings of queer migrant narrative to shed light on experiences of migration and residence in the U.S. inaccessible through the state’s legal archive.