Yuma, Arizona - Arizona Western College welcomed a new Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services this summer. Shahrooz Roohparvar joined AWC following Carole Coleman’s retirement in late 2016. AWC marks Roohparvar’s entry in public education arena after 16 years in corporate work.
Roohparvar earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Management in Economics with an emphasis in Accounting from University of California Santa Cruz and a Masters of Business Management with a Dual Emphasis in Finance and Supply Chain Management from the University of La Verne.
Most recently Roohparvar worked as the Chief Financial Officer at the Milan Institute. Prior to that he was the Controller in Fremont, California at Unitek. He brings over 16 years of experience in accounting, business operations, developing contracts and implementing plans that refocus budgets, making them more efficient.
“One of my specialties, with each organization I join, is that I come in and find inefficiencies and find ways and innovations we can bring in to help eliminate redundancies and excess costs for the benefit of the school,” Roohparvar said.
“I have a plan in place right now to work on getting our students directly involved in the community on a larger scale. We can hopefully see some more campus-community involvement,” commented Roohparvar.
As for the transition from the larger city of Los Angeles to Yuma, Roohparvar commented, “The atmosphere of the community of Yuma was another thing that drove me to get more excited about the position.”
“Being first generation Middle Eastern in the US wasn’t easy for my brother and me…even though we were born here we weren’t necessarily accepted by our peers which kind of made us try harder in life. It was a motivator,” remembers Roohparvar. “So when I came to Yuma I was hesitant in the beginning because in my experience in a lot of small towns in the U.S. (people) aren’t very welcoming of Middle Easterners. I didn’t have that experience at all here. Everyone’s been so friendly. Everybody’s been so welcoming”
Roohparvar’s areas of responsibility at the college includes Facilities, Finance, Business, Auxiliary Services, Safety and Technology.