Critical Race and Ethnic Studies

Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) is an interdisciplinary field of study that seeks to understand the ways society is culturally and institutionally constituted by ideas of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and nation. The program provides an innovative, multidisciplinary paradigm that employs global (Western and non-Western), relational, and intersectional methods for producing knowledge about power and inequality, including systems of knowledge that have emerged from racialized and indigenous communities. In using race, ethnicity, and indigeneity as ideological frameworks, CRES aims to scrutinize cultures of power and domination as well as highlight and imagine struggles for liberation and self-determination.

UC Merced Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Program

With outstanding faculty who already teach in programs across campus, undergraduates in the CRES program have a valuable opportunity to create a course of study that gives them strong theoretical grounding and a wide range of topics to explore. Students will engage in a multidisciplinary and supportive academic environment. Critical Race and Ethnic Studies is an exciting and valuable degree that prepares students to enter the workforce as informed citizens in a diverse and challenging society. The major offers a strong liberal arts education for students considering admission to graduate or professional schools and careers in education, law, medicine, public health, social work, counseling, journalism, business, city planning, politics, psychology, international relations, creative writing, and the arts.

When filling out your coursework and marks/grades, refer to the Intermediate School Certificate (Shahadat Al Kafa’at Al Mutawassita) and the General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC) (Shahadat Al-Marhalat Al-Thanawiyyat) for accuracy.

Submitting official documents (after you are admitted to UC)

After you are accepted to UC, you must submit both of the following documents by July 1 to the UC campus where you plan to enroll:

• An official Intermediate School Certificate (Shahadat Al Kafa’at Al Mutawassita) with courses listed and grades received for each course; and
• An official General Secondary Education Certificate (GSEC) (Shahadat Al-Marhalat Al-Thanawiyyat) with courses listed and grades received for each course, indicating completion of required high school courses with above average grades.

Both certificates must:

• Indicate completion of the following subjects in an academic, non-vocational secondary program: history/economics, Arabic, foreign language (English), laboratory science, mathematics (including geometry and second year algebra at a minimum);
• Include course title and grades received; a minimum average of 75 percent is needed for consideration with no grade lower than 60 percent.

• City and urban planner
• Community and housing developer
• Education policymaker
• Environmental activist
• Family and school social worker
• Immigrant rights advocate
• Journalist
• Legislator
• Nonprofit organization manager
• Policy analyst
• Professor
• Public interest or legal advocate
• Union organizer
• Youth minister