Imperial Valley College virtually celebrated three newly tenured faculty members, Aruna Patel, Angel Sandoval and Setarah Madani, on March 17. This virtual celebration was to officially recognize the board approval of the three faculty members at the recommendation of Superintendent and President Dr. Martha Garcia during the Imperial Valley College Board of Trustees meeting.

Angel Sandoval
Assistant Professor, English

A member of the TLC's Equity Book Club, Angel Sandoval is a founding member of the Faculty Teaching and Learning Committee, serving as an Academic Senate senator. He has been and looks forward to again being an advisor for IVC's Poetry Club and instructor for the Upward Bound Program.

"I would like to thank and recognize Rosalie O. Lopez; Dr. Martha Garcia; Xochitl Tirado; the teaching/mentoring triad: Prof. Leilani Grajeda-Higley, Prof. Elva Salinas and Prof. Virginia Escalante; the San Diego City College colegas?; IVC's English department staff and colleagues; and my wife, Michelle Montijo, for the help and support they have graciously given me throughout the years.Becoming an IVC professor is an important goal I first vocalized to Prof. Leilani at SDSU during my undergrad years. Now I am one step closer to achieving this goal. It may seem like one small step for a middle-aged man, but it feels like one giant leap to a barrio boy from Brawley."

Aruna Patel
Assistant Professor/
Coordinator
Alcohol and Drug Studies
B.A. San Diego State
University
A.A. Imperial ValleyCollege
A.S.

Aruna Patel's passion for helping people stemmed from living in a developing nation and having witnessed poverty. From a young age, she has wanted to help those less fortunate  better themselves and their quality of life. She firmly believes that through education, anyone can turn their life around.

Prior to coming to the United States, Patel spent most of her college days in London and later moved to California, where she married. She said her late husband was the driving force behind her success. She attributes her and her late husband's dedication to serving the community for giving her the strength to continue working on creating a better world for generations to come.

Setarah Madani
Assistant
Professor,
Biological Sciences
B.S. Shahid Behesh
University
M.S., Alzahara
University
A.S.

"I want to thank everyone for coming today and for making time. Since I was 9, my dream job was to teach and I'm so happy to be given the chance to work as a teacher here at IVC. I'm extremely thankful to all of you and my IVC family for giving me this opportunity."

Dean of Math and Sciences David Drury expressed appreciation for Madani's passion for teaching and highlighted Madani's ability to connect with her students.