Forever Students

President Katia Passerini is standing on stage in the McCarthey Athletic Center delivering her first “Welcome Address” to the incoming class of 2029. It’s a packed house – parents and students filling every seat on the floor and spilling into the surrounding bleachers.

But smiling from the front row is her husband, Arturo Pagán.

In the days before, during Move-in Weekend, Passerini walked around campus, shaking hands with families and carrying boxes into dorms, with Pagán frequently at her side.

Aside from an unflinching support for his wife, Pagán has built an impressive career over the past 24 years, serving as the deputy director for human resources at the United Nations Population Fund. UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. It works to prevent gender-based violence and maternal deaths, and uphold the rights and choices of women, girls and young people around the world. Within the agency, Pagán oversees a team of HR business partners located across seven regional offices and headquarters. In total, he supports around 5,000 staff across 150 countries.

“If I can say that because of my intervention, a life was saved, that for me makes all of the difference in the world.”

As two such driven people, it’s no surprise Pagán and Passerini spent decades supporting one another as careers took them up and down the East Coast, across oceans and now to a sometimes unheard of (Gonzaga does exist!) corner of the Pacific Northwest.

“I think we’ve mastered it over many years together,” Pagán says. “But it’s not easy, as you can imagine.”

They catch up in quiet moments, watching movies on the rare occasion they’re home at the same time. And a personal favorite of Pagán, who particularly enjoys being in the academic sphere, is taking time off to accompany Passerini to conferences, wherever they may be.

A Brooklyn native and the son of Puerto Rican migrants who came to New York in the 60s, Pagán grew up inspired by the deep Catholic roots of his family, particularly by his father, grandmother and great aunts. He went on to get degrees in education and political science, initially teaching high school social studies before pivoting to the international field.

It was while earning his master’s in international affairs at George Washington University that he and Passerini first met.

“There is one additional student in this class. Her name is Katia Passerini. She had to go back to Rome to do her exams, but you’ll be meeting her the day before we depart,” he recalls his professor saying as their environmental policy studies class prepared to leave for the Caribbean – one week in Mexico, one week in Costa Rica and one week in the Virgin Islands. Just from that, Pagán couldn’t wait to meet this incredible woman. But when it came time to leave, he overslept, missing the class flight to Mexico City. Fortunately, he made it on a later flight and the two finally met that night on the dance floor.

“She was brilliant, smart, engaging and a great dancer," he adds with a laugh. “That was it, I was in love.”

But education is where their interests really merged. Pagán says he and Passerini are “forever students.” He’s currently working on his Ph.D. proposal defense in Multi-sector Communication at St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y. and hoping to finalize it soon.

“Really, I just love the challenge of being surrounded by academics and having stimulating conversations,” he says.

Moving to Spokane from Brooklyn as Passerini takes on her historic role as Gonzaga’s next president is just the latest in a life full of adventures and academic challenges. It helps to, once again, be doing it side by side.

Another thing that helps – the ever-present sense of community at Gonzaga.

“We loved how welcoming everyone was,” he says, thinking back to the first of many trips to campus together. “We could feel it. So many people have a history at this university – they met here, they married here, they’ve grown up here, they have parents who’ve gone here. You just immediately feel this beautiful sense of community.”

On that same visit, Pagán attended a Story Slam. He found it wonderful to hear first-hand from students about their experience at the University, and what makes them so attached to it. He hopes to attend more student-led events and performances in the future.

Pagán also wants to get involved with local non-profit Latinos en Spokane and explore the local food scene. “I’m starting to get an affinity for Washington state wines,” he laughs.

It’s certainly a change of pace from New York and New Jersey. But it’s a welcome one, he says.

“One of the beauties of living in a smaller place is you feel like everyone knows each other, and it just makes this place really special.”