By Danny Oh
Staff Writer
Victor Vega is the current interim Vice President of Instruction at Washtenaw Community College. Dean of Math, Science, and Engineering at WCC since 2019, he previously served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Glenville State College, Dean of Arts and Sciences at College of Coastal Georgia, and Professor of Mathematics at St. Ambrose University. We asked him questions about his life and his future plans for WCC. You can read more about him here.
Disclaimer: this interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What originally brought you to move from Puerto Rico to the Midwest?
A: I moved to Puerto Rico to the Midwest to pursue my doctorate in mathematics, because we didn’t have a doctorate program in the University of Puerto Rico. I moved to Iowa as it had a particularly strong program in the field of mathematics that I was interested in called “operator algebras.”
Q: How did your interests evolve? Were you always interested in math?
A: Not at all! Before college, I wouldn’t say that I hated math, but I didn’t care for it. When I was in high school, I entered the business program with the goal of taking as little math as possible, and in college, I intended to study medicine. It was actually in the middle of college that I decided that math was what I wanted to do.
Calculus III was what made the difference for me. I saw it, I understood it—it all just clicked. I came out of that class determined to switch my major to mathematics.
Q: How long have you been teaching?
A: Around 30 years now.
Q: Do you have educators who inspired you?
A: I do. Everybody was scared of my Abstract Algebra professor because he was such a hard teacher. But, it was an amazing class. It was tough love. He explained everything well, but he didn’t give you everything for free—you had to work for it. That class was my primer for graduate school.
Q: Speaking of your teaching experience, during your time at Glenville State you taught a class for inmates at a federal prison. What was that experience like?
It was rewarding working in the prisons; it was interesting. I never felt afraid, or threatened. Of course, the first time there was an experience like in the movies, when they slammed that metal door and you hear it closing behind you–boom–and you think, “Oh God.” But other than that, it was just like a regular classroom, where they come and they sit down and they take the class and ask questions. And some of them were very smart, and after working hard, successfully graduated and reintegrated into the workforce.
Q: Do you feel like it’s easier to be a student nowadays, or harder?
In ways, I think it’s harder. You’ve got these different pressures society is pulling people in, all kinds of directions. The media, technology, TikTok. In the old days it was simpler, we didn’t have much of that. It was less complicated. You go to college–you study. If not, they’re going to kick you out.
Q: How would you describe your roles and responsibilities as interim VP?
A: For the most part it’s all just part of the academic enterprise: courses, scheduling, hiring faculty and staff, supervising faculty and staff, accreditation, advising, budget management. And really, my role is more so a kind of facilitator, I’m trying to facilitate for the faculty and the staff so that they have what they need to do their job.
Q: What are your goals as VP?
My main goal is to continue opening the channels of communication between the faculty, the staff, and the students so that they understand that this office is here for them, to support them in anything that they need. I want to emphasize that this is not administration versus the students–none of that. We are all on the same team. We work together, and the closer we are together, the better we work.
Q: Any advice for the students here?
Work hard. Keep at it. Take your time, and don’t lose hope. It might seem difficult at times, you’ll fail, but get up and keep going.
Interim VP Victor Vega maintains an open door policy for all students
Also, I’ve always had an open door policy. Don’t be afraid of coming to the dean’s office or the vice president’s office. They’re there to serve you. You can come and talk about whatever you want to talk about, whether it’s about the transferring process, how your day is going, whatever. There may also be donuts.
