Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE)

Established in November 1996, the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University provides many opportunities for teaching and research on topics of race and ethnicity from both domestic and international comparative perspectives. Drawing on the intellectual interests of over one hundred Affiliated Faculty representing fifteen departments and programs and five different schools at the University, CCSRE has infused ethnic studies with a new vitality through its research and teaching divisions.

The research division (Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity) sponsors a variety of research projects, conferences, faculty and graduate student seminar series, fellowship programs and many other activities. The Research Institute is helping to expand the boundaries of knowledge and understanding about important dynamics in human relations.

Informed by the research and the intellectual agenda of the Research Institute, the teaching division (Interdepartmental Program in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity) has attracted significant numbers of undergraduates who have declared a major or minor in one of six areas: African and African American Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicana/o Studies, Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Jewish Studies, and Native American Studies.

Both the teaching and research carried out at CCSRE are based on interdisciplinary and comparative approaches for understanding the complex factors of race and ethnicity and how they have deeply shaped the course of history and the social fabric of the contemporary world.