“An education is a pathway towards self-discovery, towards the shaping of a vision, towards the discovery of who you are as a person in relation to yourself and, before all, in relation to your family and the society,” said the Dr. Saul Jiménez-Sandoval, dean of the Fresno State College of Arts and Humanities.

Jiménez-Sandoval talked about his life and how he came to be a UC Irvine graduate, Spanish professor and now a dean. At the age of 10, he had to learn English and a new culture different from the one he has known before leaving his native country of Mexico at the age of 9.

“This transition was difficult because, at the beginning, I knew a small amount of English but not enough,” he said.

However, that was not enough to discourage him. In particular he remembers the fourth grade.

“I remember being one of three Mexicans who were in the class. We spoke Spanish among each other,” he said.

The Spanish language became a stigma that classified him as a foreigner, he remembered.

“A system does exist here, an infrastructure that provides the opportunity to study; however, a lack of social support which helps you grow into a person whose context is truly and entirely you,” said the dean, referring to the U.S. educational.

At UC Irvine, Jiménez-Sandoval majored in biology but soon realized that his true passions were Spanish and history. Consequently, in his fourth year at the university, he decided that he needed to keep going and entered the master’s program to learn more. One course that is offered at Fresno State which express his life’s philosophy is Spanish 145 Mexican Literature.

In the Hispanic culture, if a person excels in life that person is a risk taker. As a result, those individuals are the ones who begin shaping pathways for the rest, for those who will come after, said Jiménez-Sandoval.