RELEASE– Historic first: UCLA launches Labor Studies Department

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

September 25, 2025 

Contacts:
Willa Needham, 661-916-3673, willaneedham@ucla.edu
Marcos Ruiz Rojas, 310-905-1186, marcosruiz1999@ucla.edu

Historic first: UCLA launches Labor Studies Department

UCLA Labor Studies undergraduate major and minor will expand as a new academic department

LOS ANGELES — After years of operating as a highly regarded interdepartmental program, UCLA Labor Studies has been elevated to a full academic department. As a department, UCLA Labor Studies will deepen its mission to educate the next generation of leaders on labor and social justice issues and connect them with community organizations across Los Angeles. 

Becoming a department is a significant milestone for Labor Studies, which through its major and minor program has trained hundreds of undergraduates to address urgent social problems related to labor and inequality. The program was founded as a trailblazing minor in the early 2000s under the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).

The UCLA Department of Labor Studies will broaden its course offerings, appoint faculty and eventually offer a master’s degree program, which will be the first graduate program in the field on the West Coast. 

“Establishing a Department of Labor Studies at one of the top public universities in the country is a momentous achievement not only for UCLA but for the entire interdisciplinary field of labor studies,” said Chris Zepeda-Millán, who served as Chair of the Labor Studies program from 2022 to 2025. “The new department legitimizes labor studies as a rigorous area of research and teaching and will hopefully inspire the growth of other labor studies programs in California and the nation,” he said.

UCLA IRLE Director, Tobias Higbie, said: “Becoming a department brings labor studies into the mainstream of the university community, which will uplift the innovative work of our students and researchers who work closely with community partners.”

The Department of Labor Studies will advance UCLA’s mission of engaging Los Angeles and enhancing research by facilitating collaboration between the next generation of scholars and local organizations working towards social, environmental and economic justice. 

Newly appointed interim Chair of the Department, Jennifer Chun, said: “I am especially excited about the innovative and expansive ways that students, faculty and community partners are reimagining what labor studies is and why it matters. As the Department continues to deepen our commitment to excellence in research and teaching, I look forward to nurturing connections that foster more just, equitable, sustainable and dignified worlds.”