Professor Saul Sandoval Perea, visiting instructor to the Government Department, taught his first class this week, after experiencing delays in changing his student visa to a work-eligible visa. The change has now been approved.

Perea, who is teaching two courses this semester, had to enlist the help of his colleagues in the department to substitute-instruct classes during these first few weeks. He is unsure of the logistics with his visa delays, but maintained a positive attitude when it came to the situation. “I would say that the workload the U.S. immigration offices handle is very high and sometimes it may take more time than anticipated to get cases adjudicated,” he said. “I found that I needed to be patient with regard to my case when the beginning of the semester was approaching and my case was still pending.” Perea added, “My colleagues and the administration have been very supportive and helpful.”

In an effort to keep up with the syllabi, Harriet S. Wiswell and George C. Wiswell Jr. Associate Professor of American Constitutional Law Joseph Reisert, Associate Professor of Government Walter Hatch, and Associate Professor of History and Latin American Studies Ben Fallaw have rotated teaching Perea’s courses. Perea said they have “set the bar very high in terms of teaching quality.”

Students are looking forward to finally meeting their professor, who has in fact been on campus since August. Sarah Trankle ’12 is enrolled in Perea’s Latin American Politics course. She said, “I’m really happy to hear that he will [teaching now] because the other professors on campus aren’t as knowledgeable about Latin American politics…we can finally get specific details regarding assignments…plus, I’m excited to settled in and move past the merry-go-round of professors.”

Perea began teaching this week. “I do not anticipate a big or adverse impact on the normal course of the classes,” Perea said. “We need to keep moving forward and always try our best.”

Perea is still a student at the Claremont Graduate University in California, where he is finishing up his Ph.D dissertation.