COUN 123: Latina/o Empowerment and Success in Higher Education

Citrus College Course Outline of Record

Citrus College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Fall 2025
Credits: 3
Total Contact Hours: 54
Lecture Hours : 54
Lab Hours: 0
Hours Arranged: 0
Outside of Class Hours: 108
Total Student Learning Hours: 162
District General Education: C2. Humanities, D1. History and Political Science
Transferable to CSU: Yes
Transferable to UC: Yes - Approved
Grading Method: Standard Letter, Pass/No Pass

Catalog Course Description

This course examines the experiences of Latina/o students in higher education, focusing on empowerment, overcoming barriers, and achieving success. Counseling theories such as Sociocultural Theory, will be used to develop approaches for navigating challenges, building leadership skills, and fostering a strong sense of community and advocacy within the context of higher education. This course will encourage meaningful dialogue, inspire change, and explore methods to close the achievement gap for Latina/o students. Other topics include an examination of the educational experience of the Latina/o community in the United States. The course will assess how the Latina/o cultural experiences can affect collegiate success. Emphasis on understanding the background of Latina/o students in relation to current educational conditions and trends will be examined. 54 lecture hours.

Course Objectives

  • Demonstrate how one's own Latina/o cultural and family experiences have influenced one's attitudes, beliefs, values, and biases.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship of Latina/o cultural experiences to education.
  • Identify the importance of both peer group relationships and the campus community for achieving academic success.
  • Analyze how socio-political and economic influences the impact on self-esteem and self-concept for Latina/o students.
  • Define a statement of personal and career goals.
  • Examine and analyze the effects of the Latina/o movement within higher education.
  • Demonstrate a cohesiveness and a sense of relationship with groups and individuals inside/outside their culture.
  • Compare and contrast how individual styles of communication may clash with others, different from oneself.
  • Examine the educational experiences of Latina/o students in the United States, with a focus on empowerment, overcoming barriers, and achieving success in higher education.

Major Course Content

  1. What is Counseling
    1. Definition, American Counseling Association 20/20
      1. Professional Relationship that Empowers
        1. Individuals
        2. Groups
        3. Families
        4. Communities
      2. Areas of Empowerment
        1. Personal
        2. Educational
        3. Career
  2. Addressing a Framework of Multicultural Counseling for Evaluation
    1. Applied Examples of Diversity
      1. Vignette of Counseling for Race 
      2. Vignette of Counseling for Ethnicity
      3. Vignette of Counseling for Gender
      4. Vignette of Counseling for Culture
        1. Geographical Origins
        2. Historical Origins
        3. Language
        4. Religion
      5. Vignette of Multicultural Counseling for Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Culture
    2. Assessing Perspectives on Diversity
      1. Assimilation
      2. Pluralism
      3. Myths
    3. Assessing Personal and Social Barriers that inhibit Success
      1. Prejudice
      2. Discrimination
      3. Stereotypes
      4. Ethnocentrism
      5. Limited Perceptions
      6. Prejudice Plus Power
      7. Segregation
    4. Facilitating the Stages of Ethnic and Cultural Classifications
      1. Counseling practices that engage Cultural Captivity
      2. Counseling practices that engage Cultural Encapsulation
        1. Cultural Ethnocentrism
        2. New Discovery of Cultural Identity
        3. Counseling practices that encourage Cultural Identity Clarification
        4. Counseling practices that encourage Biculturalism
        5. Counseling practices that encourage Multiculturalism
        6. Counseling practices that encourage Applied Ethics
  3. Multicultural Counseling Competency
    1. Multicultural Perspective
      1. Fourth Force in Counseling Practices
    2. Formation of the Latina/o background
      1. A Hybrid Background
        1. Amerind
        2. Iberian
        3. Mestizaje
      2. Counseling the Hispanic
        1. Identifying and Validating
      3. Counseling the Latina/o
        1. Identifying and Validating
      4. Counseling the Mexican-American
        1. Identifying and Validating
    3. Counseling the Chicana/o
      1. Identifying and Validating
    4. Intraplurality of Group Identity Perspectives
      1. Jose Vasconcelos
        1. La Raza Cosmica
      2. Rodolfo Gonzalez
        1. I am Joaquin
      3. Gloria Anzaldua
        1. Mestiza/Hybrid Identity
      4. Guillermo Gomez Pena
        1. Collective Identities
  4. Practices of Multicultural Counseling
    1. Latina/o Critical Theory and Practice
      1. Actively Listening and Analyzing Master Narratives
      2. Actively Listening and Analyzing Meta-Narratives
    2. Latina/o Storytelling and Active Listening
      1. Oral tradition of storytelling
      2. Identity Validation
    3. Addressing Latina/o Barriers to Well Being
      1. Derald Wing Sue
        1. Microaggressions
          1. Microassaults
          2. Microinsults
          3. Microinvalidations
        2. Overcoming Educational Experiences of Segregation
          1. The Lemon Grove Incident
          2. The East L.A. Blowouts
          3. Jaime Escalante and Garfield High School
          4. Méndez v. Westminster and the desegregation of
            California schools
    4. Addressing Latina/o and Chicana/o practices for Well Being
      1. Applying Cultural Capital
        1. Community Cultural Wealth
          1. Practicing Aspirational Capital
          2. Practicing Familial Capital
          3. Practicing Linguistic Capital
          4. Practicing Social Capital
          5. Practicing Resistant Capital
          6. Practicing Navigational Capital
    5. The Practice of Cultural Democracy in Education
      1. Biculturalism
      2. Bilingualism
    6. Explore the Impact of Sociocultural Theory on Empowerment/Success
      1. Promotes collaborative learning
      2. Emphasizes the importance of social interactions
      3. Encourages educators and institutions to view students' cultural and linguistic assets as strengths, fostering an inclusive environment that validates and builds upon Latina/o students' unique identities and experiences
  5. Latina/o College Success Experience
    1. Planning for College Success
      1. Getting Ready for College
      2. Financial Literacy in Higher Education
      3. Earning your Degree and Life Long Learning
      4. Undocumented Status/DREAMERS and DACA
        Uncertainty
    2. Productivity Management in College Life
      1. Applying Resources and Services for Success on Campus
      2. Using Technology to Learn and Succeed
      3. Transition from Community College to the University or World of Work
      4. Preparing for a Graduate and/or Professional Degree
    3. College and University Directories
    4. Develop a Student Educational Plan
  6. Barrios to Suburbs
    1. Divergent Backgrounds and Pathways into the Suburbs
    2. Family Obligations and the Narrative of Individualism
    3. The Educated Minority and American Identities
    4. Latina/o and Chicana/o Professional Associations
    5. The Minority Culture of Mobility and the New American Identity of Success

Suggested Reading Other Than Required Textbook

Blueprint for Success in College-Career Decision Making (OER book) Beyond Race-Cultural Influences on Human Social Life (OER book)

Examples of Required Writing Assignments

Research Paper-Students will write a three-four page paper identifying specific barriers that are impacting the achievement gap for Latina/o students. Students will additionally be required to explore and write about strategies that have been effective for promoting Latina/o student success within higher educational settings.

Examples of Outside Assignments

Individual Projects-Students in this course will interview someone who has been a successful Latina/o role model to them. Individual Projects-Students will complete reflection journal assignments on how the Latina/o college experiences is currently impacting the completion of their academic and career goals.

Instruction Type(s)

Lecture, Online Education Lecture