Donned in festive holiday attire, alumni of the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies (CLLAS) came together in a historic multi-generational celebration on Thursday, December 12 at a packed La Noria Restaurant in Southwest Detroit.
For the first time ever, alumni spanning the Center’s 53-year history came together to share experiences and express their support for the Center and its decades of service to the community. During the gathering, alumni heard from Center faculty and staff on current initiatives and ways to get involved.
Among the alumni attendees were members of the founding generation in 1971 that united with professors and community activists to establish Latino En Marcha (LEM), a one-year leadership training program for Detroit youth. LEM was so successful that the following year, 1972, the Wayne State University Board of Governors approved its establishment as a full university program under the name Chicano-Boricua Studies (CBS). It was one of the first programs in the U.S. dedicated to the study of Latino/as with origins from Mexico and Puerto Rico.
CBS became CLLAS in 2011, reflecting the continuous growth in the diversity among Latino/as within the community and the breadth of the program’s curriculum. Despite the name changes, the Center has remained faithful to its original goals, which include helping to recruit, retain and graduate students at Wayne State, developing leaders for service to their community and educating on the U.S. Latino/a experience.
Many of the LEM/CBS/CLLAS alumni since the 1970s have become agents of change in their communities. The first generation of alumni established most of the social service agencies that continue to serve the diverse population of Southwest Detroit and its surrounding communities today.
Now numbering more than 2,500, the Center’s alumni have gone on to serve locally and nationally in the areas of education, social services, government, the arts, science and business, including entrepreneurship.
Plans are underway to form an alumni association in 2025 that will support CLLAS and other organizations that serve the community. The next alumni gathering will take place on Wayne State’s campus at the Center’s annual Academia del Pueblo research conference, which is free and open to the public, on April 11, 2025. For more information, visit www.las.wayne.edu.
The celebration was sponsored by LA SED, Inc. and Dr. José Cuello. It was hosted by Friends of CBS, with the planning committee consisting of Belda Garza, Elena Herrada, Alicia Diaz, Mary Carmen Muñoz, Dr. José Cuello, Rocio Oxholm, Pamela Esparza, Andrew Taszreak and Melissa Miranda-Morse.
Calling all 2,500+ alumni:
If you participated in Latino en Marcha, Chicano-Boricua Studies, or Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, we want to hear from you! Email Pamela at gh1513@wayne.edu with your name, contact information and years that you participated, or you can call the Center’s main office at 313-577-4378. We will add you to our list to get important updates from the program and opportunities to get involved to support current students.
