KIE Announces 2019 Wendy Wayne Ethics Award Recipients
California State University, Bakersfield’s Kegley Institute of Ethics (KIE) has announced Judy Snyder, Daryl Thiesen, and Yvette Flores as recipients of the 2019 Wendy Wayne Ethics Awards. The recipients will be honored at a dinner ceremony on Wednesday, March 27, 2019.
“This year’s nomination pool was the largest in the awards’ history,” said Dr. Michael Burroughs, Director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics. “Our community clearly has many ethical leaders who serve as important role models for all of us.”
Judy Snyder
Judy Snyder has served the Kern County community quietly and consistently, without seeking the limelight, for nearly five decades. Mrs. Snyder has lived most of her life in Bakersfield, graduating from Bakersfield High School, Bakersfield College, and California State University, Bakersfield. She was a charter member of Kern County’s first chapter of National Organization for Women (NOW) and co-founded Kern County’s original Rape Hotline. This hotline evolved into the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault, which works to end domestic violence and sexual assault in our community through crisis intervention, emergency services, and supportive programs to help those who have been victimized.
Daryl Thiesen
Daryl Thiesen has served students, teachers and families in Kern County for over 20 years. As the Prevention Programs Coordinator in the School-Community Partnerships Department at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office, Mr. Thiesen coordinates programs focused on social-emotional learning, restorative practices, substance use prevention, and truancy reduction. Mr. Thiesen works to ensure positive outcomes for students and families, especially those who are disadvantaged and at-risk. He also serves on the California School Resource Officers Association (CSROA) State Board.
Yvette Flores
Ms. Yvette Flores is a student at California State University, Bakersfield, who is known by her peers and teachers for her civic commitment and altruism. She demonstrates these traits in her daily life through her outreach to other CSUB students, high school students, adult volunteers, and the voting population in general. Flores believes that facilitating voting is an ethical responsibility in order to promote a representative government that is responsive and represents the needs of the community. Prior to her first year at CSUB, she demonstrated this commitment in working as an intern for the Kern County Voter Engagement Project. Between August 2017 and January 2018, she assisted in registering over 1400 new voters, the majority of them high school seniors.
The selection committee decided to also give special recognition to other nominees: Mr. Louis Gill, Executive Director of the Bakersfield Homeless Center and the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault; Ms. Maria Teresa Herrera, a long standing parent-volunteer for Bakersfield City School District’s Migrant Education Program and Kern High School District’s English Learner Advisory Committee; Ms. Ryan Starr, a former student and ethical leader at Bakersfield High School and current Nursing student at Belmont College; and Ms. Abigail Rodela, one who, at a young age, exemplifies the traits of altruism and care through providing music lessons to low-income families and organizing health services for the homeless.
The annual awards recognize ethical leaders in our community, both youth and adult, whose character and community service have had a profound impact on the lives of individuals from Bakersfield and Kern County. Wendy Wayne, a CSUB Alumna, was a key member of the organizing group that founded the awards in 2011. The awards were renamed in her honor upon her death in 2012.
The event is co-sponsored by Kaiser Permanente and Adventist Health Bakersfield.
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lourdes Nilon, Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations at lnilon@csub.eduor (661) 654-6098.
For information about the awards, contact KIE Director, Dr. Michael Burroughs at mburroughs1@csub.eduor call (661) 654-6263.
