Sara Sanchez

BA in Communication Studies and Spanish – California State University Long Beach
MA in Educational Administration – Student Affairs  -University of Nebraska – Lincoln

How did your experience in the Spanish program at CSULB prepare you for your current career?

I credit my experience as a student in the Spanish program at CSULB with providing me with a “sense of belonging” during my college experience. This sense of belonging meant feeling part of a community among my classmates and my professors. My Spanish professors (Drs. Claire Martin, Lisa Vollendorf, and Leslie Nord, to name a few) are those that I considered mentors then and now. I have turned to them for everything from letters of recommendations to advice on job interviews. The experiences of camaraderie and support as a student in the Spanish program are part of what give me a point of reference for the “sense of belonging work” that I have been a part of with the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Initiatives at UC Santa Cruz and now most recently as the Director of the GANAS Graduate Pathways grant.