The Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas (Huerta Center) at UC Santa Cruz is a scholarly unit that supports bold and visionary research exploring the incredible diversity of the Americas region and organizes public events for the community. With faculty and graduate student affiliates from across the UC Santa Cruz campus in the Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts, Engineering, and Physical and Biological Sciences, the Huerta Center is a vibrant forum for investigation and exchange. We also host public events, such as conferences, seminars, lectures, and film screenings to promote dialogues without borders.
Support our endowment fund
The Dolores Huerta Research Center for the Americas Fund is our primary endowment in which every single dollar of your donation is spent over time! This fund supports the Huerta Center in perpetuity and benefits every aspect of our work from research to student scholarships.
“Naming a research center after a Latina leader like Dolores Huerta speaks volumes when trying to make a college campus more inclusive because students are able to feel a sense of belonging.”
“This naming not only honors a Latina leader but encourages students to find a place of community within UC Santa Cruz.”
— From UC Santa Cruz students supporting campus efforts to name the research center in honor of Dolores Huerta.
Support our undergraduate students
The Huerta Center teaches UC Santa Cruz undergraduates how to think critically and helps prepare them for graduate and professional school by providing them with mentorship and hands-on research experience via our Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program and our Professional Development Fund. These future leaders are often the first in their families to go to college and have immigrant backgrounds. The Huerta Center seeks to provide the essential mentoring and support to ensure their future success. Support and invest in the leaders of now and tomorrow so that they may enhance their educational experience to the benefit of their future careers.
Please write “undergrads” in the box called “notes or special instructions for your gift.”
I grew personally and professionally as a URAP researcher for the ÉXODOCS project.
When I interviewed for a highly competitive Washington, DC internship opportunity with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the interviewer said that my involvement with URAP would be of great interest to the CEO.
I truly believe my involvement in URAP made the difference in my application and now I’m a Policy and Legislation intern with LULAC, conducting research and writing fact sheets for the organization.
— Tatiana Ruiz, Feminist Studies major, UC Santa Cruz (Class of 2019)
Support research by our faculty and graduate students
The Huerta Center brings together over 90 faculty at UC Santa Cruz and we offer research support to faculty and graduate students. Huerta Center researchers bring new and unexpected approaches that promote inquiry, exploration, and creativity in an effort to propose new solutions to wide-ranging problems. The Huerta Center also sponsors academic research groups of faculty and graduate students to encourage intellectual engagement about pressing issues facing our region. Be a supporter of critical thinking and scholarship that benefits our society at large.
Please write “research” in the box called “notes or special instructions for your gift.”
The [Huerta Center] gave me an opportunity to grow as a researcher, instructor, and administrator.
The experience that I gained at the RCA proved invaluable as I was offered, and accepted, a position to direct Latinx and Latin American Studies at Chapman University.
— Ruben Espinoza, Huerta Center Graduate Student Researcher
(2013 – 2014)
Support our public events and world-class scholars
Since 1992, the Huerta Center has an established record of bringing world-class scholars to Santa Cruz and regularly hosting public events both on and off campus, such as conferences, symposia, seminars, workshops, lectures, and film screenings. Since 2014, we have sponsored or cosponsored an average of 18 public events per academic year, approximating nearly 100 public events in the past five years alone. Support us in expanding our efforts to sponsor public events and bring top scholars to Santa Cruz.
Please write “public events” in the box called “notes or special instructions for your gift.”
The [Huerta Center] brought in scholars from around the world to discuss topics on migration in and beyond the Americas, which helped the development of key concepts and ideas explored in my dissertation research.
— Claudia Maria Lopez, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellow (2016—2017)