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36th Annual Women of
Distinction
Award Celebration
Seating is Limited
Pre-Registration
is required to attend
$10 per person
Thursday, March
25, 2010, 4-6 pm;
SLO Campus - Student Center - Room 5401
Deadline for reservations:
March 19, 2010 *
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Women of Distinction
2010 Award Winners
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Progress for Women
Robin Rinzler
of
Arroyo Grande owns and operates the San Luis
Obispo-based Core Mediation Services where she works
as a divorce mediator. She co-teaches an
instructional seminar on divorce and helps run the
Pro Per Clinic, helping women with legal their legal
issues. She also helped organize the BETTER
Supervised Visitation Program, which helps parents
in need hire a supervised visitation provider. In
addition, she serves on the board of directors for
the Women’s Community Center of San Luis Obispo
County and is chairman of Day with Creative Women,
the organization’s annual fundraiser. |
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Community & Public Service, Professional
Ann Robb
of
Paso Robles is the city’s director of Library and
Recreation Services. She’s been with the city since
1986 when she was hired as a library assistant. In
2009, the Paso Robles Library Foundation honored her
as a Lifetime Library Legend. She oversees the
city-owned library, senior center, youth and adult
sports, community classes, the Oak Park Recreation
Center and several special events, including Summer
Concerts in the Park, the Paso Robles Art Festival
and the Centennial Park Community Demonstration
Garden. |
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Community & Public Service, Young Professional
Lauren Cross, of Paso Robles, joined AmeriCorps
while studying at Sonoma State and was assigned to
tutor at-risk youth. It changed her life. She
organized enrichment activities, supervised other
part-time corps members and connected the community
with an after-school program that was funded through
donations. After completing her AmeriCorps service,
she was hired as a program director for the Boys &
Girls Club in Paso Robles. Within two year, she was
named the executive director and continues to write
grants, collaborate with the community, work the
board of directors, and serve the youth of Paso
Robles. |
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Community & Public Service,
Young Professional
Cecilia Davis is a native of Los Osos, a Morro
Bay High School graduate, Cal Poly graduate and
current resident of San Luis Obispo. In 2004, she
landed her first teaching job in Santa Barbara
County as a fourth grade teacher. Three years later,
she was hired by the Templeton Unified School
District and has taught math at Templeton High for
three years. During that time, Davis has remained an
active part of the school community and is heading
the math department for the high school this year. |
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Community & Public Service, Volunteer
Marilee Baldwin Hyman
of
Pismo Beach is a San Luis Obispo native with a
diverse professional background that includes
earning a master’s degree, teaching in a school for
pregnant teens, working with mentally disabled
adults, writing a book, working as a probation
officer, becoming the CEO of a charity with 200
employees and working as the chief financial officer
for a small publishing company. In addition to her
diversified career, she co-founded the Shell Beach
Improvement Group and serves as the District 3
representative on the county’s Water Resources
Advisory Committee. In 2006 she was named Pismo
Beach’s Citizen of the Year, in part for her efforts
to build and enhance the Dinosaur Caves Park. |
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Women in Education
Jeanne Dukes serves as the assistant
superintendent for student support and services for
the County Office of Education. She previously
worked as a teacher, school counselor and
administrator for three decades before she was
offered an administrative position with the County
Office of Education. She was named assistant
superintendent in 2003. Dukes is proud to have
helped create opportunities for some of the most
disenfranchised county students, including programs
like the juvenile court school, Grizzly Challenge
Charter School, foster/homeless services and
severely handicapped/special education classrooms. |
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Barbara George Women in Philanthropy
Beverly Gingg
of San Luis
Obispo, who grew up on a Paso Robles-area cattle ranch,
worked as a junior high science teacher in Idaho before
returning to the Central Coast to earn a master’s in
biological sciences at Cal Poly. In 1996, she helped
establish the Santa Margarita Community Forestry, now a
Chapter of the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County,
and continues to serve as its coordinator and board member.
She also helped launch San Luis Obispo Access for All, a
volunteer group operating through the San Luis Obispo County
Community Foundation, which advocates on behalf of people
with disabilities. |
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Susan Dressler Women in Administrative Leadership
Dr.
Susan Opava,
Ph.D.
is
the dean of Research and Graduate Programs at Cal
Poly. She earned her undergraduate degree in biology
from College of Mt. St. Vincent before obtaining her
doctorate in physiology from the University of
Michigan and postdoctoral training in renal
physiology at Dartmouth Medical School. In 1974 she
joined the physiology department at the University
of Puerto Rico Medical School where she advanced to
department chair. While there, she established and
administered the Research Centers in Minority
Institutions Program and helped garner more than $10
million in grants. In 1993, she came to Cal Poly and
directed biomedical research opportunities for
students in Peru, Mexico, Spain and Czech Republic.
She is currently the principal investigator on $5
million in grants from the Office of Naval Research
and the Economic Development Administration to
support applied research the development of a
technology park at Cal Poly. |
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Grace N. Mitchell Lifetime Achievement
Deborah Linden
has served
as the police chief of San Luis Obispo for seven years. She
earned her degree from UC Santa Barbara in 1984 and began
her law enforcement career with the Santa Barbara County
Sheriff’s Department as a deputy when she was 22. Over the
next 18 years, she worked patrol, narcotics and major crimes
as she rose through the ranks from detective to commander to
police chief. Linden also holds a master’s degree in
leadership and is a graduate of the Peace Office Standards
and Training Command College. In 2004, the governor
appointed her to the first of two terms to the state POST
Commission. She has taught criminal justice classes at Santa
Barbara City College and Allan Hancock Law Enforcement
Academy. She is also involved with several community and
nonprofit groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the
Transitions Mental Health Association and the Monday Rotary
Club. |
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Click here to view
Past Award Winners |
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Send your Women
of Distinction
questions/comments/suggestions
to:
Kirk Carmichael
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