City of Goleta congratulates Viviana Marsano on her Association for Women in Communications (AW-CSB) award for her work and leadership strengthening and uplifting Santa Barbara’s immigrant community. She, along with three other honorees (Teresa Alvarez, Primitiva Hernandez and Julissa Peña) received the Women of Achievement Award with this year’s theme “Powerful Voices, Purposeful Change — Women Leading Through Civic Engagement.”
Viviana was born and raised in Argentina. She moved to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB and completed a PhD in British history. Before coming to the US, she received a graduate degree in English Language and Literature. At UCSB, she worked at the UCSB Multi-Cultural Center for 15 years, where she started her long journey and found her passion for equity and inclusion.
She is currently Assistant Dean for Civic and Community Engagement in the Division of Student Affairs at UCSB. Viviana co-designed and co-teaches the Civic Engagement Scholars Program (CESP).
She has also been a translator and interpreter for over 25 years. In her quest to give a voice to the marginalized, she co-founded Voices Translation and Interpreting Services. She works in education, government agencies, and the non-profit sector. Viviana provides interpretation at City of Goleta Council meetings and City events.
Viviana was one of the founding members of the Language Justice Network in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Santa Maria, an initiative of Just Communities Central Coast to bring language justice to non-speakers of English in the school system and the community.
Thank you to the AWC-SB for honoring these four remarkable woman! Learn more about each of them at https://awcsb.org/women-of-achievement-awards-2026.
Group photo of honorees left-to-right: Katya Armistead (AWC-SB Director, Women of Achievement), Tracy Lehr (KEYT reporter and event emcee), Teresa Alvarez (Executive Director of the Carpinteria Children’s Project), Primitiva Hernandez (Executive Director of 805Undocufund), Ana Papakhian (President of AWC-SB), Viviana Marsano, and Julissa Peña (Director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Center)