Vanguard University

This is Sylvia Kane. She is the Director of Graduate Programs in Education at Vanguard. Her colleagues may know her as one of the leading members who helped write the 2015 and 2017 Title V grants, which eventually helped start the Institute of Faculty Development as well as prepared STEM post-doctoral professors through iPREP and future STEM K-12 teachers through the VISTA program. The latter is an integrated education program that develops pathways for Hispanic and underrepresented students to enter the teaching profession and also increases the diversity of science teachers in STEM. 

Sylvia was born and raised as a second generation Latina in east Los Angeles in which she describes her childhood home as being located somewhere between the big city of LA and the city outskirts. She is a first-generation college graduate and has had a passion for teaching since she was young. When she was not in school, she enjoyed dancing in different high school musicals. She would eventually marry her high school sweetheart, and they had four children: three boys and one girl. 

"After finishing high school, I remember telling my dad that I wanted to go to college and I had received a full-ride scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles. My dad told me, 'no daughter of mine is leaving this house until she is married.' I ended up not accepting the scholarship and attended Cal State Los Angeles (CSLA) which was only a few miles from where I lived." 

Sylvia graduated with a degree in Child Development and would also complete a master's degree from CSLA. Some years later, she would go back to school and receive an education doctorate from Azusa Pacific University. Until this day, Syliva continues to reside in Azusa in the San Gabriel Valley near LA. 

" I remember when I taught in El Monte, there were many students who had very poor immigrant parents. I remember thinking these are beautiful families that I have come to know. I needed to do a home visit one day because one of my students had a tonsillectomy and I wanted to drop off some work. The address I had was down this dirt road near some run down factories. When I arrived it looked like a junk yard for trailers. I turned around thinking I was in the wrong place until I saw my student yelling, 'Mrs.Kane! Mrs.Kane' It was a very eye-opening experience for me. These parents were sacrificing so much so that their children could just get an education and hopefully a better life."

Before becoming a full-time professor, Sylvia worked as a teacher at different elementary and secondary schools throughout the San Gabriel Valley. There, she was able to fulfill her passion in education and also help in working to provide for her family alongside her late husband. Through her current husband's involvement with an Assemblies of God church, Sylvia was able to get connected with Vanguard and applied for a position.

Vanguard is so thankful for Sylvia's leadership, heart and kindness in serving our students.

 

#WeAreVU