For decades, the Sandoval family has supported the university community

or decades, the Sandoval family has provided scholarship opportunities and other support to benefit Cal State LA students and the university community.

Together, Charon D’Aiello (’79, ’80, ’86 M.A.) and David Sandoval (’75, ’87 M.A.) have worked for decades to bring more diversity to all aspects of Cal State LA—to the faculty and staff through D’Aiello’s work in the Office for Affirmative Action and to the student body through Sandoval’s role as director of the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). They have also been among the strongest supporters of the university’s undocumented students.

“I am so thankful that my life and career was spent at Cal State LA,” D’Aiello says. “It is unique because so many of its students are the first in their families to attend college.”

Added Sandoval: “Cal State LA truly does change lives, and the support of special programs is a critical component to success in completing a degree.”

D’Aiello, who grew up in El Sereno, worked and attended classes at Cal State LA, where she benefitted from the many speakers and forums, as well as the faculty members who mentored her.

Sandoval was raised in what is now Commerce and was admitted to the university through EOP. He became a peer counselor in the program and worked his way up to director in 1985. He held that position for 23 years.

“Without the early student movements of the 1960s and ethnic studies programs, I couldn’t have made it through to graduation,” he says.

The couple met through political activity off-campus and have been together since 1980. They have remained committed to finding new opportunities for the Cal State LA community, even years after retirement.

The couple established the Ochari D’Aiello Scholarship in honor of their son, who was tragically shot and killed at age 16 while on a summer educational trip to Morehouse College in 1992. The couple had encouraged Ochari, whose biological father was African American, to attend the session in order to experience being African American in the South.

In 2014, the Sandovals were recognized for their commitment to establishing a permanent endowment for the benefit of the university’s Division of Student Affairs with the naming of the Charon D’Aiello Sandoval and David Sandoval Student Services Center.

“The real question in all of this is ‘Why aren’t more people, particularly alumni, donating to a university that makes such a difference in people’s lives?’” D’Aiello asks.