Faces of Our Mission – December: Celebrating ACC’s International & Immigrant Students
December 5, 2025
The Teaching & Learning Excellence Division’s (TLED’s) Faces of Our Mission series highlights Austin Community College (ACC) students and the resources that strengthen their academic success. For the month of December, the series honors international and immigrant students whose resilience, cultural insight, and global perspectives enrich our classrooms and college community. Explore their stories and discover the support systems that help them navigate new environments, build belonging, and achieve their goals.
View the full Faces of Our Mission blog post series here, and return each month to learn about the next featured student group.
December 2025 – International & Immigrant Students
From navigating visa processes to bridging cultures, international and immigrant students show incredible adaptability and determination. This month, we uplift their voices and recognize the unique global perspectives they bring to our learning community.
International and immigrant students thrive when they are supported by inclusive campus cultures, clear institutional guidance, academic and language support, leadership opportunities, basic needs resources, and empathetic navigation of immigration policies. Hear directly from ACC international and immigrant students as they share their journeys of resilience, transition, and hope. In this short video, Nestor Cruz (El Salvador), Jin Xuen Lau (Malaysia), and Vianca Pinto (Mexico) reflect on moving to the United States for educational opportunity, pursuing fields that inspire them, and building new futures with the support of ACC’s learning community.
Spotlight on ESOL
We also want to highlight that ACC’s ESOL program providing academic college credit is an essential part of our support for international and immigrant students. This fall, 91 ESOL classes are running across the district, many of them full with active waitlists. The program is powered by eight full-time faculty, two TEH, and nearly 27 adjunct instructors, all deeply committed to helping students build the language skills needed to thrive at ACC. We’re grateful for their work and proud to recognize ESOL as a vital part of our global learning community. [Please read the note from the AVC of TLED below.]
By fostering inclusive learning environments and connecting students to essential guidance and resources, ACC ensures that international and immigrant students can navigate their educational pathways with confidence, build community, and succeed.
Spotlight on Student Resources
International Student Office: The International Student Office (ISO) provides dedicated guidance for F-1 international students as they navigate admissions, enrollment, and federal immigration requirements. ISO assists with I-20 issuance, visa processes, orientation, travel authorizations, and maintaining full-time academic status, ensuring students receive clear and personalized support throughout their time at ACC. Students can also explore additional information, such as admissions steps, academic expectations, and cultural adjustment resources, through ACC’s International Students web page, which complements ISO’s services and helps learners feel confident and connected as they pursue their academic goals.
Celebrating Every Story
Through initiatives like the Faces of Our Mission calendar, TLED highlights the importance of understanding student experiences—backed by research and data—for everyone who shapes learning at ACC. By celebrating cultural heritage, supporting diverse identities, and sharing practical resources, we create an inclusive educational landscape where every student can achieve their goals.
Supporting all students, all year long.
A Note From Our Associate Vice Chancellor
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns about this month’s calendar feature. I want you to know that I understand why the omission of ESOL data felt disappointing, especially given the importance of your work and the students you serve.
The intention of the calendar is to highlight student populations, not to list or compare programs. For this month, we featured international and immigrant students and used two illustrative data points—one reflecting international student enrollment and one representing ESL participation in Adult Education. These were meant to spotlight student experiences rather than provide a comprehensive overview of all related instructional areas.
That said, I completely recognize that ESOL plays a critical role in serving multilingual learners and supporting student success at ACC. Your work is an essential part of our mission, and the students you teach are absolutely part of the broader story of immigrant and international experiences at the College.
I appreciate you bringing this to my attention with candor. Your feedback helps us be more thoughtful in how we represent our diverse students and the faculty who support them. We will take this into account as we plan future calendar features and communications.
Please feel free to reach out if you’d like to talk more—I value the work you do and the perspectives you bring.
Best, S.
Dr. Susan Warner-Sanchez.
[email protected]
Responses to "Faces of Our Mission – December: Celebrating ACC’s International & Immigrant Students"
Kim Oliver - December 8, 2025
I am very excited that you are highlighting international, immigrant and refugee students, but you have completely ignored a very significant part of the the community college: ESOL (English for Speakers of other Languages), a developmental credit department which teaches English, prepares students for academic success in their majors, and has a fantastic success track record for students moving into degree courses.
We currently have 57 classes running this fall, many of them full with a waiting list. We have 10 FT faculty and almost 30 adjuncts. I’m not sure what the current student enrollment count is, but if you do the math, we are a significant presence at the college for these students. I don’t know if you ignored us or were ignorant of us, but this is gross oversight.
I would appreciate a separate blog highlighting the hard work that our large department accomplishes every semester.
Sarah Jesser - December 8, 2025
I am an instructor in the English for Speakers of Other Languages Department at ACC. I am surprised that there was no coverage of OUR amazing students in this blog post. We are a thriving department that serves both credit/traditional English as a Second Language students as well as continuing education ESL students. We are an academically focused program that prepares ESL students for the rigors of college-level work in English. We have hundreds of students and serve the community across many of the ACC campuses, from South Austin Campus, to Round Rock, and from Eastview to Cypress Creek. We have an incredible diversity of students who represent Latin American, Africa, Asia, and Europe. We would love some coverage of our amazing students!
Maren Mitchell - December 8, 2025
There is an entire population and set of classes missing from this post: ESOL. These are the classes I teach which are co-listed credit bearing and CE Academic English courses for immigrants and refugees. Our students can be new immigrants, long-term residents and citizens, and even post-doc students from UT who come to ACC for English support. ACC should be proud of this program that provides high level English support to prepare students for their studies or careers, yet you have entirely left us out. ESOL matters. This article needs to be corrected. I await your altered post or even a separate post highlighting our program.
Camille Lenox - December 8, 2025
The ESOL programs (English for Speakers of Other Languages) at ACC are crucial for helping non-native speakers gain English proficiency. Improving English skills enables academic success and affords students better career opportunities. The program also fosters social integration, which is so important to immigrants since they are able to better understand the culture they are living in. With improved communication skills, their confidence improves, and they become increasingly adapted to their new communities. Many students look for this program to have opportunities to grow professionally, which in turn helps our economy.
Farrah Keeler - December 8, 2025
It says a lot about ACC’s approach to ESOL when an entire department, full of hard-working full-time and adjunct faculty and over 1000 students are completely overlooked in a blog post. Our department serves as an important part of the diversity of the college, and unlike the ESL courses, we are focused on preparing our students for the classroom at ACC and beyond. Our mission is not only academic in focus, but also to encourage our students to contribute to the greater Austin community and beyond. It would be worth your while to look at our department closer. You might find that we have students doing amazing things, like a student of mine who is sending his karate students to the Pan American games and is leading the USA in karate. We have gems in our program that ACC consistently overlooks and devalues. Please take the time to look at our program and what we do.
Julia Maffei - December 8, 2025
I was shocked to see that your initial post did not include a mention of the ESOL program. I am glad that you did go back and correct your error, but on the other hand, why was the program overlooked in the first place? As a professor of ESOL at ACC for the last 18 years and an active participant in many TLED activities including the Teaching and Learning Academy and the Celebration of Great Teaching, it is upsetting that my efforts and the efforts of my many colleagues over the last decades was “overlooked.” Our program serves as a vital bridge from beginning English language speakers in ESL to begin academic courses and a strong foundation for other higher level students who do not need ESL, but do need ESOL, which is a higher level program, before beginning academic courses.
Julia Maffei - December 8, 2025
I was shocked to see that your initial post did not include a mention of the ESOL program. I am glad that you did go back and correct your error, but on the other hand, why was the program overlooked in the first place? As a professor of ESOL at ACC for the last 18 years and an active participant in many TLED activities including the Teaching and Learning Academy and the Celebration of Great Teaching, it is upsetting that my efforts and the efforts of my many colleagues over the last decades was “overlooked.” Our program serves as a vital bridge from beginning English language speakers in ESL to begin academic courses and a strong foundation for other higher level students who do not need ESL, but do need ESOL to develop their reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar skills before beginning academic courses.
Candan Serbest - December 8, 2025
ESOL is not just a language-learning program. It is a vital pathway that builds the foundation for success in higher education, the workforce, and life, and this vital role deserves a full recognition, which was unfortunately missing in the original post.
Candan Serbest - December 8, 2025
ESOL is not just a language-learning program. It is a vital pathway that builds the foundation for success in higher education, the workforce, and life — and this essential role deserves full recognition, which was unfortunately missing in the original post.
Mary Corredor - December 9, 2025
As a former chair of ESOL, I was one of the first 2 FT faculty hired to build the program because ACC recognized a growing need to serve an important and expanding population. Since 1998, ESOL has grown from 2 FT faculty to the 10 FT faculty and numerous adjuncts we have today. Most importantly, we have succeeded in the original mission to serve the expanding ESOL population, which continues to grow. As others have pointed out, we serve as a bridge between AE ESL and college credit-bearing programs. In fact, we have often collaborated with AE ESL to provide a seamless transition from AE to our ESOL program for those students who have completed the AE program but still need help to improve their language skills before entering credit-bearing courses. We equip students with the tools they need to succeed in college and be productive members of a community.
As someone who has been a part of this department since 1998 and have watched its growth with pride , I am profoundly disappointed with this oversight.