1969
Across the country, student protests are fundamental to the creation of Ethnic Studies programs. These protests at UC Davis would be the beginning of what would become African American and African, Asian American, Chicana and Chicano, and Native American studies programs.
This year, the newly formed Black Student Union submits a proposal for a Black Studies Program. As a result of the relentless pressure placed on the administration, the Black Studies Program began as an interdepartmental program. The Afro American (Black) Studies Program would appear in the UC Davis Course Catalog for the first time for the 1970-1971 academic year.
The American Studies program is created.
1971
The Chicano/a Studies program is first founded, and the Chicano/a Studies major would be established in 1974. In 1989, Yvette Flores-Ortiz and Malaquías Montoya will be the first faculty to be hired exclusively in the Department of Chicana/o Studies.*
1979
The Department of Statistics is formed as separate from the Department of Mathematics.
1981
The Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies Program is founded.
1987
Japanese classes are first offered.
1989
The Native American Studies program, created in 1969 as a program housed within the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, becomes part of Letters and Science as an interdepartmental program.
1990
Four students begin a hunger strike to make demands of the UC Davis administration that include a multicultural center and regular FTE (full-time equivalent) faculty in the Ethnic Studies departments. This protest led to full-time faculty in the Department of African American and African Studies rather than faculty pulled from other departments for part-time appointments.
1992
The Department of History creates Cross-Cultural Women's History as a minor field for the Ph.D. In 2004, the minor would be renamed Cross-Cultural Women's and gender History (CCWgH) to acknowledge the increasing importance of gender studies in understanding women's history.
1993
Native American Studies receives departmental status. The Designated Emphasis (DE) in Native American Studies is also established, and is affiliated with the graduate programs in Anthropology, Comparative Literature, History, Performance Studies, Psychology, Sociology and Spanish.
1994
Construction is completed on the Social Sciences and Humanities Building that would be the home of the Letters and Science dean’s offices. Known popularly as the “Death Star,” the building was designed by architect Antoine Predock to suggest the geological forces that created the California Central Valley. Construction began in 1992 at a cost of $25.8 million, which was the lowest cost per square foot of the five social science buildings at that time being planned in the UC system.
1995
Inaugural deans are selected to lead the three newly formed divisions within Letters and Science. Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef recommends the appointment of D. Kern Holoman to head the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies; Barbara D. Metcalf to direct the Division of Social Sciences; and Peter A. Rock to lead the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
1996
With the addition of dance program, department changes name to Department of Dramatic Art and Dance, and in 1998 would change its name again to the Department of Theater and Dance.
The Native American Language Center is established by Professor Martha Macri, and serves as a research site and information network for the study of indigenous languages.
1997
Mathematician William P. Thurston — winner of the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in mathematics — is was recruited to Letters and Science, and would become key to attracting many other top-notch faculty and promising graduate students.
1998
Steven M. Sheffrin is named dean of the Division of Social Sciences.
The Graduate Program in Native American Studies is approved, making UC Davis only the second university in the nation to offer a Ph.D. in Native American Studies.
1999
Elizabeth Langland is named dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies.
*Lorena V. Márquez, “Fundadoras Chicanas de Chicana/o Studies at UC Davis,” Paper Presented at Mujeres Activas y Cambio Social (MALCS) National Conference, Oaxaca, Mexico, June 26, 2024.