Viraj Patel named associate director of PAACH

By Elizabeth Winston 01/26/15 11:52pm

On Jan. 6, the Pan-Asian American Community House welcomed Viraj Patel as the center's new associate director.

Patel comes to Penn from Washington, D.C., where she worked in higher education and contributed significant time to local non-profit work in the Asian American community. Patel heard about the opportunity at PAACH through friends from her volunteer work and was immediately interested in the job.

“I met a bunch of Penn alumni who were really connected to PAACH. When they talked about their experience at the center it was with so much passion and just love for the center, and I felt really inspired by that," she said.

Patel understands the challenges minority students might face, having grown up in a predominantly white suburb herself.

“I lived two very separate lives: my life at home where I was Indian American and then my life at school where I had to leave some of those pieces behind,” she said. Patel believes that these experiences will help her to better connect with the students of PAACH.

As an undergraduate at the University of Illinois, Patel was part of an Asian American organization which she credits with helping her find her place in school and in the world. There, she was able to relate with people with similar backgrounds and take a greater interest in her Asian heritage. Here at Penn, Patel hopes to help make PAACH a warm home-like environment, similar to the one she relied on in college. 

Peter Van Do, PAACH's director, has had the same vision for the center and is glad to have Patel on board.

“Our main offering is to be a home away from home for our students," he said. "Viraj, because of her experience specifically with Asian American students is going to be very helpful."

Patel's responsibilities include working with student leaders from the Asian Pacific American Leadership Initiative, Promoting Enriching Experiences and Relationships Mentoring Program, and Asian Students Promoting Identity, Reflection and Education. She works with them on an almost daily basis, and hopes to empower them as leaders of the school's Asian American community.

PAACH also has some exciting events on the horizon, which have kept Patel busy in her first few weeks.

“We are gearing up to start the launch of our 15th year this February,” Patel said. “We’re working with the Asian Arts Initiative to create a quilt project to commemorate our 15 year anniversary called Patch for PAACH.” 

Students and alumni are invited to contribute patches to the quilt, which will later be displayed in PAACH. The ongoing anniversary celebration will continue through homecoming next semester.

For now, Patel is happy to just "soak it all in."

“I really want to get to know the institution and the culture in order to figure how to best serve it,” she said. "Students are always welcome to come in and hang out, and they do that.”

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