ACC’s new Chancellor, Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, is all about love — loving our students and our colleagues to success. Love is, in fact, already all around ACC.
In the spirit of love and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, we asked several ACC faculty and staff members to share their stories about finding love at ACC.
The Vances
ACC Math professor Tony Vance first started working at ACC in 1984 as a math tutor. From there he became adjunct faculty, and by 1988 Tony was one of our full-time faculty members. Fast forward to 2002 »»» that’s when Anne started working at the college. She began as an adjunct math faculty member and became full time in 2007.
Somewhere along the way — in 2005 — the two met at Rio Grande Campus when they got together with fellow Math Department colleagues to discuss attending the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) Conference in San Diego. First, a friendship was born. Later that friendship developed into a lifelong romance. They have been married for just over 10 years now.
Tony and Anne loved the Rio Grande Campus so much that they took all of their engagement photos there. Now, they both still teach Math at the Highland Campus and their offices are just two doors apart.
“It’s always great to see each other in the halls, steal a wink, and appreciate how great our spouse is at their job,” says Anne.
They each have two adult children from prior marriages. Anne’s kids live in the Austin area; Tony’s live farther away and have given them four grandchildren.
“Some people ask us if it’s hard to work so close to your spouse, but for us, it’s delightful! We understand the stresses and rewards of the job. We can commiserate when the grading load seems unbearable, and share the inspiration of how amazing our students are,” says Anne. “We are both proud to teach at ACC and happy that this college has brought us together.”
The Terrys
Edward and Linda Terry met through mutual friends at ACC. They were, respectively, the college’s web administrator and director of admissions and enrollment at the time. The friends thought they would hit it off and nudged them to get together. Their first outing was a group date with their ACC friends.
“We went on one date in early 2006, decided we were really having a good time, and agreed to keep the fun going unless it stopped being fun together,” says Linda. “We’ve never stopped having fun together and have been happily together now for 18 years. We were married six years ago on February 13. He’s my daughter’s cherished ‘bonus dad.’”
When they both worked at Highland Business Center, they didn’t see each other much workwise but ate lunch together almost every day and took short walks around the parking lot.
Linda is now the executive dean of admissions, enrollment, and completion and Edward is the college’s web director. These days their roles find them working together occasionally, and they say it’s fulfilling to have the joy of their shared work at ACC.
“Now that we’re in two different locations, we sometimes take walks outside between Highland Campus and Highland Business Center. We love the swings on the HLC campus, where we meet, swing, and catch up when we can.”
The Sandovals
ACC is all in the family for Ray and Angelica Cancino de Sandoval. The two met at Riverside Campus in 2009.
Ray started at ACC in fall 2001 as an hourly student employee in the Financial Aid Department. Angelica started at ACC as a special populations specialist in May 2009.
The couple met on Angelica’s first day. She was at Riverside taking a tour of the Student Affairs suite. Ray was one of the academic advisors who helped train her.
They both have different memories about the moment: “I remember the details of meeting on that tour, and Ray thinks we met many weeks later. We won’t argue who is right, but we met and it was perfect,” says Angelica.
They got married and are now raising five children, with at least one child at every level of education right now.
“Our kids have truly been raised at and by ACC. They were regulars at Riverside and Eastview campuses, and many staff at those campuses can remember watching them grow up. The two oldest attended the summer camps that were once offered at Eastivew and Riverside, the three youngest attended the ACC Children’s Lab School for their preschool years, and our only girl actually started crawling for the first time on a Saturday at Riverside Campus when we both had to work. The kids have all even ‘volunteered’ at various Foster Care Teen Conferences and gatherings or food distributions over the years that ACC has hosted,” says Angelica.
In the beginning, when they were both at Riverside, they would walk or run down to Roy G. Guerrero Park during lunch to get some daily exercise in, but now they are rarely at the same campus. Ray, now a full-time professor in the Student Development Department, spends his days at the Hays Campus, and Angelica spends her days at practically every campus in any given week as the director over the Student Advocacy Center, Student Care Center, Student Emergency Fund, Talk About It ACC, and the Foster Care Alumni programs.
“We take any opportunity to work together, and so when Student Advocacy hosts events like Teen Conferences or summits, Ray is always the go-to Master of Ceremonies, not only because he is the best but because he always does it for free,” says Angelica.
ACC is indeed all in the family for Ray and Angelica — they even adopted their cat, Aubree, from ACC’s Veterinary Technology program in 2022.
Check back for more love stories soon. Meanwhile, share your ACC love story or photos on our Padlet wall.