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Fall 2004 l Capital University Journal
CULTIVATING LEADERS
Sac State grads fill region’s leadership ranks
By Laurie Hall
Photos: Steve McKay

They’re running your schools. Protecting your safety. Enforcing your laws. Heading your local governments.

They’re graduates from California State University, Sacramento.

Over the last 50-plus years, more than 165,000 students have graduated from Sac State. So many of them have chosen to stay in the region that according to a recent economic impact study, an amazing one out of every 26 Sacramento Region residents has a Sac State diploma.

Among them you’ll find Sacramento’s top cop, sheriff, head firefighter, the Sacramento County district attorney, a fistful of superior court judges, the superintendents of two of the area’s largest school districts, mayors, city councilmembers and county supervisors.

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully.

And that’s just in the six-county Sacramento Region—El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yuba and Yolo counties. “Our goal is to make this a better region, a better state,” says Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez. “One of the ways we do this is with our graduates.

“When students leave here, we don’t just want them to be well-educated. We want them ready to lead the way. And when you look around the region, you see it’s not just a hope or a plan. It’s a reality.”

Local leaders agree, with 81 percent saying that the employment pool is better or much better because of Sac State.

Sacramento City Fire Chief Julius “Joe” Cherry, (‘82, public policy and administration) says having so many Sac State alumni available is a boost for both his battalion, which is rich in former Hornets, and the community. “The brain exchange is unbelievable right here in the center of Sacramento,” he says. “The repository of knowledge is tremendous.”

Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas (left), Sacramento City Fire Chief Julius “Joe” Cherry (center), and City of Sacramento Chief of Police Albert Najera.

The same goes for Cherry’s counterpart at the Sacramento Police Department. “(Sac State’s) criminal justice department is the lifeblood of my department,” says Police Chief Albert Najera (‘78, criminal justice.) “My entire management team is primarily a product of Sac State.”

It’s not surprising that criminal justice is stocking the law enforcement pond. Sac State’s criminal justice division is the largest such program west of the Mississippi. Students come for the expertise of the faculty, who not only have a strong grasp of academics
but can relate their experiences as former and current police, corrections and parole officers, as military police, and as an ex-ATF agent.

Criminal justice is also the first stop for many students pursuing law degrees. Several superior court judges now hearing cases in courtrooms all over the region made some of their first arguments in the confines of Alpine Hall when it was known as the Criminal Justice Building.

From left: Guy Fuson, Loomis Town Council; Ted E. Puntillo, Davis City Council; Spencer Short, mayor of Lincoln; Rick Stancil, Galt City Council; Tom Cosgrove, mayor pro tem of Lincoln; Ken Yorde, Rocklin City Council; Walt W. Scherer, Loomis Town Council; Mike McGowan, Yolo County Board of Supervisors; Artemio Pimentel, Woodland City Council; Robbie Waters, Sacramento City Council; Don Nottoli, Sacramento County Board of Supervisors; Christopher Cabaldon, mayor of West Sacramento; Lauren Hammond, Sacramento City Council; Robert J. McGarvey, Rancho Cordova City Council; James Shelby, mayor of Citrus Heights; and Stephen Souza, Davis City Council.

Others cultivated an interest in the law through a different route. Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully, (‘73, government/journalism) began her college career as a government/journalism major with an eye for investigation. “I wanted to be Nancy Drew,” she says. She credits a government professor, William Dillon, for turning her eye toward the legal sector. “In my junior year I took constitutional law. Professor Dillon taught class in a way that got me turned on to law. It ignited my interest and I decided to go to law school.”

Though she never followed through on her writing career, she says she applies much of what she learned in her classes in the courtroom. “As a trial attorney you need to be direct and to the point. You don’t want to use ‘silver-plated’ words because you’re trying to persuade them to listen to the evidence. They’re not supposed to focus on you.”

Norman Siefkin, Superintendent, Folsom Cordova Unified School District (left) and General Davie, Superintendent, San Juan School Unified District.

The foundations on which Hornet alumni build their interest in public service can be found in a number of areas at Sac State. More than 1,000 students take classes with a community service component and 36 percent of Sac State students perform volunteer work.

The University’s location in the heart of state government also provides numerous internship opportunities with unparalleled access to the State Capitol. Highly sought placements include Sacramento Semester, which places undergraduate students in legislative offices, and the Capital Fellows Program, where graduate students work as paid staff in the state Executive Branch, Senate, Assembly and Judiciary. The University’s cooperative education program, the largest in the state, also links students with on-the-job learning in a number of agencies and businesses.

Other students cut their teeth by taking on leadership positions in the University’s more than 200 student organizations. They get an introduction from the student activities office, which provides leadership workshops to help students enhance the skills they have and develop new ones. The workshops stress issues like time management, how to delegate, how to motivate, how to work with others, and—perhaps most useful for people preparing to work in public service—how to deal with bureaucracy.“

Sacramento County Superior Court Judges James P. Henke (left) and Gerald S. Bakarich.

Our job is to complement what is going on in the classroom to help students prepare for the real world,” says Lou Camera, director of student activities. “The treasurer for a fraternity, for example, is presiding over a small corporation, easily a $20- to $50-thousand operation. Not only do they have to look after the money, but they have to hold other people accountable.”

“In some ways these positions can be more beneficial than internships. In student leadership positions, there’s not necessarily someone looking over their shoulder on an everyday basis.”

For those students who participate in student government, the experience also has them work side-by-side with University and community leaders. Several campus boards and faculty committees include student representatives.

Associated Students executive director Pat Worley says the level of responsibility for students involved with student government and related entities helps prepare them for life beyond the University. “They get the opportunity to make very important decisions,” she says. “Every year they review and approve a budget. They’re put in a position to make decisions on budget, staffing and daily operations of affiliated organizations like (campus radio station) KSSU and the Student Access Center.

“When they step outside this University they have knowledge and experience beyond that of the average student,” she says, adding that their willingness to take on community service
at an early age opens the door for them to do even more when they graduate.

Three recent graduates who gained a taste of politics in ASI are already thirsting for more. Artemio Pimentel went from ASI student body president in 2001-02, to chair of the California State Student Association before landing a spot on the Woodland City Council. Gary Davis, ASI president in 1998-99, is on the Natomas Unified School District school board and legislative director for assembly member Darrell Steinberg. And Eric Guerra, ASI president in 2002-03, is one of two student trustees for the California State University system Board of Trustees.

Others took the lead from one of the University’s most visible professors, the late Joe Serna Jr., who, in addition to teaching government and ethnic studies courses, was the mayor of Sacramento from 1992 until his death in 1999.

“My best experiences at Sac State were in Joe Serna’s classes,” says Spencer Short, (’97, government) who at 29 is already a mayor himself, of the town of Lincoln. Other green-and-gold gavel-pounders in the area include Chris Cabaldon (’94, public policy and administration), mayor of West Sacramento, and James C. Shelby (’77, business administration), mayor of Citrus Heights.

While training outside the classroom is a valuable bonus for countless Sac State grads, it doesn’t substitute for what they learn inside. Especially when it comes to applying it in a classroom of their own.

The College of Education turns out more than 700 new teachers each year and recently added a master’s degree in educational leadership. One of its graduates, who now runs the region’s largest school district, says that his Sac State master’s program “was the foundation
for my entire career.” San Juan Unified School District Superintendent General Davie (’67, social work, ’75 education) says preparing for the master’s program taught him tenacity, “stick-to-itiveness” and completion.

“The foundation courses I took in education were my foundation in education.”

Davie shares a school district boundary with Folsom-Cordova Unified School District superintendent, and former classmate, Norman Seifkin (’68, English, ’74, education) who both say their familiarity with the local culture gave them a jump start. “We already had a relationship which helped us in a lot of what we’ve been able to do,” Siefkin says. “We share a similar background with a similar focus and understanding.”

They say that the connection they have with their alma mater also pays off when it comes to hiring new graduates. “We get to see the best and brightest. It’s a tremendous benefit,” Seifkin says.

And if the leadership legacy of previous Sac State graduates holds true, one of those students will turn out to be the region’s next superintendent. Or mayor. Or judge. Or police chief. Or …

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