2020 KLA Class Schedule
The venue for all classes, except #7 and #16
PAS Associates Classroom
1401 19th Street, Suite 110
Bakersfield, CA 93301
September 2, 2020 – Wednesday
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?
September 9, 2020 – Wednesday
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 14, 2020 – Monday
Class 3 – Community Leadership: The View from the Dias
Faculty in Charge: Keith Wolaridge, Trustee, Panama-Buena Vista Union 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; Willie Rivera, Bakersfield City Council.
September 16, 2020 – Wednesday
Class 4 – Homelessness
Faculty in Charge: Amanda Ruiz, Kern County CAO’s Office, Fiscal and Policy Analyst; Dr. Anna Laven, Executive Director of Bakersfield Kern Region Homeless Collaborative
Objectives: Who are the homeless? Why are they homeless? What is being done to address the homelessness? Are there any truly effective solutions?
September 21, 2020 – Monday
Class 5 – Kern County’s Economic Outlook/Changing Demographics
Faculty in Charge: Richard Chapman, Kern Economic Development Corporation; Dr. Richard Gearhart, Assistant Professor of Economics, CSUB; Dr. Nyakundi Michieka, Assistant Professor of Economics, CSUB.
Objectives: To provide an objective overview of Kern County; Status, Challenges, a look at the future.
September 23, 2020 – Wednesday
Class 6 – Kern County Energy Production
Faculty in Charge: Robin Fleming
Objectives: Introduction to California’s Energy Capital
September 28, 2020 –Monday
Class 7 – Public Education
Location: Kern High School District Office, 5801 Sundale Ave., Bakersfield, Ca 93309
Faculty in Charge: 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.
September 30, 2020 – Wednesday
Class 8 – Civic Leadership: Addressing Societal Needs
Faculty in Charge: Karen Goh, Garden Pathways
Objectives: An examination of real-world issues not discussed during political campaigns and public meetings.
October 5, 2020 – Monday
Class 9 – 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.”
October 7, 2020 – Wednesday
Class 10 – Community Leadership: The View from the Streets, Being an Effective Community Advocate; Kern County 2030
Faculty in Charge: Romeo Agbalog, Kern Citizens for Sustainable Government. 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 12, 2020 – Monday
Class 11 – Local Government Finance: The fundamentals of financing local government
Faculty in Charge: Elsa Martinez, Deputy County Administrative Officer at Kern County; James L. Zervis, Chief Operations Officer for the County of Kern
Objectives: To provide an overview of the fundamentals of financing local government
October 14, 2020 – Wednesday
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 19, 2020 – Monday
Class 13– Poverty: “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, 2020 – Wednesday
Class 14 – Introduction to State Issues / Ag and Water Issues
Faculty in Charge: Assemblyman Vince Fong
Faculty in Charge: Melissa Frank, Wonderful Orchards
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 26, 2020 -Monday
Class 15 – Healthcare: The National Issue with Massive Local Implications
Faculty in Charge: Russell Judd
Objectives: To provide an overview of government healthcare policy decisions that affect people’s lives.
October 29, 2020 – THURSDAY
Class 16 – Kegley Institute, CSUB, Fall Lecture Series
Location: Online Zoom
Faculty in Charge: Michael Burroughs, Kegley, Institute, CSUB
Objectives: The Speaker is Christian Marco Picciolini (born November 3, 1973) is an American author, public speaker, former neo-Nazi punk rock musician, and founder of the Free Radicals Project, a global network of people who are working to prevent extremism and helping people disengage from hate movements and other violent ideologies. He is the author of a memoir, Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead, which details his time as a leader of the white power movement in the U.S. An updated version of the story was published in 2017, titled White American Youth: My Descent into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement–and How I Got Out. His next book, Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism, was released on February 25, 2020, and provides an inside look at how extremists recruit the vulnerable to their causes, details Picciolini’s disengagement process, and serves as a guide for how anyone can help intervene.
November 2, 2020– Monday
Class 17 – Introduction to Local Government
Faculty in Charge: Scott Hurlbert, Retired City Manager, City of Shafter.
Objectives: To provide an objective overview of governance at the local level (City/County): State impacts, budget challenges; public safety, and job creation.
November 4, 2020 – Wednesday
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 9, 2020 – Monday MAKEUP NIGHT
November 11, 2020 – Wednesday
Graduation at Bakersfield Country Club