2021 KLA Class Schedule
PAS Associates Classroom
1401 19th Street, Suite 110
Bakersfield, CA 93301
September 2, 2021 – Thursday LIVE
Class 1 – Orientation, Leadership
Faculty in Charge: Michael Turnipseed, Executive Director, Kern County Taxpayers Association
Objectives: Orientation: Opening Remarks; Self-Introductions; Introduction to the Academy; What is effective leadership? Class bonding.
September 9, 2021 – Thursday LIVE
Class 2 – Ethics, Leadership, Critical Thinking
Faculty in Charge: Steven Gamboa, Associate Professor and Chair of Philosophy, CSUB; Michael Burroughs, Director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics and Associate Professor of Philosophy, CSUB
Objective: Relating Leadership with Ethics; Learning to Think Critically and with an Open Mind; Developing Moral Imagination
Topics: What is leadership? What is ethics, and how does it differ from other decision-making? What’s different about critical thinking (and reading and listening)? What are the processes to define good ethical choices? What role does character play in ethical leadership? Combining ethics fundamentals with critical thinking to develop moral imagination.
September 13, 2021 – Monday LIVE
Class 3 – Social Capital
Faculty in Charge: Rich Ryan, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Economics, California State University, Bakersfield
Objectives: TBD
September 16, 2021 – Thursday LIVE
Class 4– Community Leadership: The View from the Dias
Faculty in Charge: Keith Wolaridge, Trustee, Panama-Buena Vista School District.
Objectives: How does one’s view of the world change when elected to public office.
Panel: Leticia Perez, Kern County Board of Supervisors; Jeff Flores, Kern High School District;
September 20, 2021 – Monday
Class 5 – Homelessness
Location: Field Trip TBD
Faculty in Charge: Amanda Ruiz, Kern County CAO’s Office, Fiscal, and Policy Analyst.; Anna Laven, Ph D, Executive Director, Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative
Objectives: Who are the homeless? Why are they homeless? What is being done to address homelessness? Are there any genuinely effective solutions?
September 23, 2021 – Thursday
Class 6 (1)– B3K Prosperity
Faculty in Charge: Kristen Beall Watson, CEO, Kern Community Foundation.
Objectives: TBD
(2) Changing Demographics
Faculty in Charge: Dr. Richard Gearhart, Assistant Professor of Economics, CSUB;
Objectives: To provide an objective overview of Kern County, Status, Challenges, a look at the future.
September 27, 2021 – Monday
Class 7– Kern County Energy Production
Faculty in Charge: Robin Fleming
Objectives: Introduction to California’s Energy Capital
September 30, 2021 – Thursday
Class 8 – Public EducationLocation: Off Site KHSD Career Training Education Center (CTEC), 7301 Old River Road, Bakersfield, CA 93311
Faculty in Charge: Dr.Bryon Schaefer, Superintendent, Kern High School District
Objectives: To provide an objective overview of issues that affect our local education system, from K-12 to life-long learning.
October 4, 2021 – Monday
Class 9 (1)– Equality is not Equity.
Faculty in Charge: Dr. Lisa Gilbert, Kern County Superintendent of Schools
Objectives: Equality is treating everyone the same and giving everyone access to the same opportunities. Equity refers to proportional representation (by race, class, gender, etc.). Equality is the “quality or state of being equal,” where equal is defined as having the same measurement in quality, nature, or status. Equitable is “dealing fairly and equally with all concerned.”
(2) – Civic Leadership: Addressing Societal Needs
Faculty in Charge: Karen Goh, Garden Pathways
Location: Field Trip 34th Street (Memorial Hospital Parking Lot)/1401 19th Street
Objectives: An examination of real-world issues not discussed during political campaigns and public meetings.
October 7, 2021 – Thursday
Class 10 (2)– Being an Effective Community Advocate
Faculty in Charge: Romeo Agbalog, Kern County Farm Bureau
Objectives: TBD
Kern County 2030
Faculty in Charge: Dr. Nyakundi Michieka, Assistant Professor of Economics, CSUB; Dr. Mark Evans, Professor Emeritus, School of Business and Public Administration (BPA), CSUB.
Objectives: Some of the many ways people give back to their communities through philanthropy or being a community advocate.Presentation on what Kern County could look like in 2030
October 11, 2021 – Monday
Class 11 –Financing Local Government
Faculty in Charge: Jim Zervis, Chief Operating Officer, County of Kern, and E Martinez, Deputy County Administrative Officer at Kern County
Objectives: To provide an overview of the fundamentals of financing local government.
October 14, 2021 – Thursday
Class 12 – The San Joaquin Valley
Faculty in Charge: Barry Hibbard, ASU Associates
Objectives: To provide an objective overview of our valley’s economy, issues, and opportunities; and the effects on Kern County.
October 18, 2021 – Monday
Class 13– “Poverty, Policy, & Educational Justice in Kern County: Examining the Past and Future Possibilities.”
Faculty in Charge: Dr. Oliver Rosales, Professor of History and Faculty Coordinator of the Social Justice Institute at Bakersfield College.
Objectives: This collaborative seminar will feature Professors Brittney Beck (CSUB), Adam Sawyer (CSUB), and Oliver Rosales (Bakersfield College) in an overview of a collaborative project examining the intersections of poverty, policy, and educational justice in Kern County.
October 21, 2021 – Thursday
Class 14 (1)– Introduction to State Issues
Faculty in Charge: Assemblyman Vince Fong
Objectives:
(2) Ag and Water Issues
Faculty in Charge: Melissa Frank, Wonderful Orchards ZOOM
Objectives: To provide an objective overview of our state government, economy, issues and opportunities, and the effects on Kern County. The core issues that affect Kern County agriculture.
October 25, 2021 -Monday
Class 15 – Healthcare:
Faculty in Charge: Stacy Kuwahara, Kern County Director, Behavioral Health Services.
Objectives: Understand the Kern Mental Health plan’s scope of services provided, how it reaches both Medi-cal Beneficiaries, Indigent (non-insurance) and privately insured.
Increase awareness of the large scale, often unseen influence and costs of mental health and substance use across personal, family/caregiver and community impacts.
Have a brief overview of the significant changes in behavioral health through the year and the impacts this has had on service delivery for mental health. Understand the current focus of initiatives for mental health, locally and across the state and what is anticipated for mental health services in the future.
October 28, 2021 Thursday
Class 16 – Local Government
Faculty in Charge: TBD
Objectives: TBA
November 1, 2021 – Monday
Class 17 – Kegley Institute, CSUB, Fall Lecture Series
Faculty in Charge: Michael Burroughs, Kegley, Institute, CSUB
Objectives: TBA
November 4, 2021 – Thursday LIVE
Class 18 – Final Thoughts
Faculty in Charge: Steven Gamboa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, CSUB; CSUB; Michael Burroughs, Director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics and Assistant Professor of Philosophy, CSUB; Michael Turnipseed, Kern County Taxpayers Association
Objectives: Bringing it all together; seeing how ethics and character underlie the entire process; reviewing the Academy, and making suggestions for 2021.
November 8, 2021 – Monday MAKEUP NIGHT
November 10, 2021 – Wednesday Commencement