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By
CHRISTINE BEDELL For The Californian
Nov 21, 2021
The CSUB Alumni Association will honor graduates who have
expanded local access to health care, closed achievement gaps among Black
college students, thrilled us on the football field, and led the nation's
largest farmworker union by inducting them into its Hall of Fame.
The 2022 CSUB Alumni Hall of Fame class includes nursing administrator
Terri Church, educator Paula Parks, retired NFL star Stephen Neal and farmworker union leader Connie
Perez-Andreesen. They will be honored during an event in February that kicks
off Homecoming Week and raises money for alumni programs.
A campus committee of CSUB alumni,
faculty and staff selected the four inductees during an incredibly competitive
process that involved a record-number of nominations. The inductees will bring
to 68 the number of Alumni Hall of Fame members out of nearly 60,000 people who
have graduated from the university.
"This is an outstanding group
of alumni," said CSUB Director of Alumni Engagement Sarah Hendrick.
"They represent diversity among CSUB graduates, advocate for
underrepresented communities, empower through education, have reached the
greatest heights in professional sports and led our community through the worst
health crisis of our lifetime. We are honored to welcome them into the CSUB
Alumni Hall of Fame."
Here's more on the 2022 class:
Terri Church
CSUB
degrees: Bachelor of Science in nursing, 1990; Master of Science in
nursing, 1999
Terri Church has helped oversee an
extraordinary expansion of local health care options as chief nursing officer
at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital including for children and those battling
cancer, strokes and catastrophic burns.
She’s also been a passionate
advocate for nursing education, and thoughtfully balanced the care of patients
with the emotional toll it took on nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Church earned her bachelor’s and
master’s degrees in nursing from CSUB in 1990 and 1999. Her career includes 26
years at San Joaquin Community Hospital, where she rose to vice president of
patient care, and two years as director of nursing at Comprehensive Blood &
Cancer Center before moving to Bakersfield Memorial in 2008.
During her time there, the hospital
has opened a 100-plus-bed patient tower, an outpatient infusion center for
cancer treatment, and Kern County’s first comprehensive pediatric program. It
has expanded its heart care, become a certified primary stroke center and
partnered with the Grossman Burn Center to open a burn-service line.
Church encourages nurses to pursue
advanced degrees, mentors young nurse leaders and collaborates with the CSUB
and Bakersfield College RN programs. She oversaw implementation of the Versant
RN New Graduate Nurse Residency Program in 2009, which has produced 676
clinically competent nurses, improving patient care and growing the nursing
leadership ranks.
Her leadership has been recognized
by Kern County’s chapter of the Association of Nurse Leaders, the Bakersfield
College Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee and the Sigma Theta
Tau International Nursing Honor Society. She’s also received the CSUB
Nightingale Award for excellence in nursing.
Stephen Neal
CSUB
degree: Bachelor of Science in physical education, 1999
Stephen Neal is the most accomplished and decorated athlete to ever
graduate from CSUB, a two-time NCAA wrestling champion during his college years
who went on to win three Super Bowl rings as an offensive lineman with the New
England Patriots.
Neal’s commitment to CSUB wrestling
since graduating with a physical education degree in 1999 has never wavered.
He’s not only supported the program financially but trained student-athletes,
coached camps and started an endowment.
At CSUB, Neal was one of the nation’s top wrestlers with a 156-10
record in four All-American seasons; he was undefeated his final two seasons.
In 1999 he won his second NCAA title in a row as a heavyweight, the Dan
Hodge Trophy (the Heisman of wrestling), and the World Wrestling Championship.
He holds CSUB career records for most wins and most pins (71) and was a
four-time Pac 10 Academic All-Conference selection.
Non-college football
players rarely make it into the National Football League, but Neal did. The
Patriots signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2001, kicking off a 10-year
career there that included seven years as a starting offensive guard.
Neal, 45, played for and protected two of the greatest of all times in
their field, Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. With them
Neal won his three Super Bowl rings, in wins over the St. Louis Rams in 2002,
Carolina Panthers in 2004 and Philadelphia Eagles in 2005.
He has never forgotten where he
came from, once telling a reporter he continues to support CSUB wrestling
because it gave him his original “platform to compete.”
Paula Parks
CSUB
degree: Master of Arts in education, 2001
Paula Parks is a
journalist-turned-Bakersfield College English professor who founded and
coordinates a campus program that closes academic success gaps among Black
students, uplifting individuals, families and communities.
Parks has also been facilitating
local conversations on race, in part sparked by the killing of George Floyd in
Minneapolis, and the importance of diversity and inclusion in higher education.
Parks educated newspaper readers
before students. With a bachelor’s degree in English literature from UC Irvine
and master’s in journalism from Columbia University, she secured an internship
with the Los Angeles Times that led to general assignment reporting and editing
jobs at small newspapers. Then she launched a freelance career, selling stories
to The Times and national magazines including Ebony, Black Enterprise and Heart
and Soul.
When her family moved to
Bakersfield, Parks began teaching at BC and fell in love with academia. She
earned a master’s in education from CSUB in 2001 and doctorate in higher
education from Capella University in 2014. While teaching she has participated
in a variety of committee work to improve student success at BC and in 2015
founded the Umoja African-American Success Through Excellence and Persistence
program, which has expanded in size and success each year.
In 2016, Parks was a finalist for
BC’s Samuel McCall Teaching Award and named educator of the year by
Bakersfield’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People. She’s a founding member of UC Irvine’s Black Alumni Chapter,
former board member of the Kern County Black Chamber of Commerce, and has
mentored students in the CSUB 'Runner Alumni Mentor Program.
Connie Perez-Andreesen
CSUB
degree: Bachelor of Science in business administration, 2000
Connie Perez-Andreesen is the
daughter of Mexican immigrant farmworkers who rose in the field of accountancy
before taking on day-to-day management of the nation’s largest farmworker
union.
With both time and treasure,
Perez-Andreesen has generously supported CSUB. She serves as vice chair of the
CSUB Foundation Board and on the President’s Latino Advisory Council. She and
her husband, Joel, recently committed $150,000 to the campus’ Center for Social
Justice and Roadrunner Scholarship Fund.
Perez Andreesen, 45, earned her
bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on accounting from
CSUB in 2000. At a Kern County-based regional accounting firm, she worked her
way up from staff accountant to one of only two Latinas to make partner.
In 2012, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed
Perez-Andreesen to the State Lottery Commission, where she served as vice chair
and chair of the audit committee. Her community service also includes
volunteering on the Bakersfield City Council’s Public Safety/Vital City
Services Oversight Committee, Latina Leaders of Kern County board, the
Bakersfield College Foundation board and as co-chair of B3K Prosperity.
Perez-Andreesen recently served in
a partnership between Kern Medical, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, the UFW and
the Latino COVID Taskforce to take vaccine clinics to underserved communities.
She joined the UFW as controller in 2017 and was appointed chief administrative
officer and national vice president in November 2020.
She’s been recognized as a
businesswoman of the year by the Kern County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,
Latina of Influence by Hispanic Lifestyle, Woman of Excellence by the National
Latina Business Women Association Los Angeles, and as an experienced leader by
the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California
Society of Certified Public Accountants.
Christine
Bedell is the senior alumni engagement specialist at Cal State Bakersfield.
