Meet the PUENTE Faculty

English

Prof. Roberto Mancia. The proud son of Salvadoran parents, Roberto and his family immigrated to the United States in the 1980s due to the civil unrest in the country. Like many other newly arrived immigrants, he struggled to adapt to the American way of life, but while learning English as a second language, he realized the endless educational opportunities available to him. In 1991, Roberto graduated from Granada Hills High and then decided to attend Los Angeles Trade-Tech College. Despite grappling with many academic barriers, Roberto transferred to California State University, Long Beach where he received a double bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish literature in 1997. Determined to continue demystifying stereotypes of inner-city students, two years later he completed a master’s degree in English literature.

Like many of his students, Roberto was determined yet unprepared for the world of academia. He immediately felt inadequate, voiceless, and even invisible at times. Fortunately, in the works of Maya Angelou, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, Pablo Neruda, Ralph Ellison, and many other authors, he found the courage to exist; he found his voice; he found his calling. In 2000, Roberto was hired as an adjunct instructor at Los Angeles Trade-Tech, and two years later, he was privileged to join the English faculty as a full-time instructor and Puente coordinator. For the past 23 years, he has been blessed and honored to rub shoulders with greatness both in and out of the classroom. Each semester, Roberto looks forward to every class session guided and inspired by the words of the renowned Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire who believed, as he does, that “whoever teaches learns in the act of teaching, and whoever learns teaches in the act of learning.”