2021 Coming Home Awards Celebration “An Evening of Hope” – Award Recipients Announced
Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association (PGIAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of this year’s Coming Home 2021 Awards who will be honored on October 20th at the “An Evening of Hope” celebration.
The Chancellor Emeritus Award for Excellence
Alisa Orduna
2021 PhD CLIE
The President’s Award
Heesun Kim
Dissertation Student, DPT Program
The Chancellor Emeritus Award for Community Service
Food Bank of Santa Barbara
The Chancellor Emeritus Service Award
Roland Palencia
2020, MA Engaged Humanities
The Wendy Davee Awards for Service
Mary Miles Carroll
2014 MA Counseling Psychology
Dissertation Student, CLIE Program
Dahkotahv Beckham
2021 MA Counseling Psychology
The Chancellor Emeritus Pathfinder Award
Howard Spector
2004 MA Counseling
Walter Odajnyk Memorial Scholarship
Marcene Gandolfo
3rd Year Mythological Studies Student
The Abakanowicz Research Fellowship
Sarah María Acosta Ahmad
3rd Year Student, CLIE
Kristina Yarbrough
3rd Year Student, CLIE
Along with the awards presentations, the two-hour celebration will feature exciting entertainment, including music by Peace Trio, a Chumash Blessing by Eleanor Fishburn, a sharing of “Moments of Hope” by Oscar Gutierrez, Santa Barbara Mayor Pro Tempore, and a poetry reading by Dr. Fanny Brewster. Special Acknowledgement for this year’s event will also go to Emeritus Faculty: Willow Young, Avrom Altman, Chris Downing, and Mary Watkins. Closing remarks entitled “Hope” will be made by Harry Grammer, PGIAA Board President.
The celebration takes place via Zoom on Wednesday, October 20th from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Please click the link below to join the live virtual event:
https://zoom.us/j/97123828586?pwd=TVlxdWpIK2UzKzFrbWRGazhSMVJIUT09
Passcode: 392241
Webinar ID: 971 2382 8586
Passcode: 392241
International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/abJ2fBAC1C
Learn more about our Awards here: https://pgiaa.org/scholarships/
For additional information, visit: https://pgiaa.org/alumni-in-action/save-the-date-the-pgiaa-2021-awards-evening-october-20-2/
ABOUT THE AWARDS
The Chancellor Emeritus Award for Excellence. In collaboration with Chancellor Emeritus Stephen Aizenstat, PGIAA created the Chancellor Emeritus Award for Excellence to recognize outstanding accomplishments. This award acknowledges exemplary work in service to the world, as well as their commitment and dedication to furthering the Institute’s mission. Pacifica Graduate Institute stands committed to sustaining intellectual vibrancy, advancing the boundaries of knowledge, providing the highest quality of instruction, and tending the soul of the world. Through this award, Pacifica Graduate Institute proclaims its pride in the achievements and personal dedication of its alumni.
The Chancellor Emeritus Community Service Award. This award recognizes individuals for exemplary work in service to the community and is proudly given in appreciation of the commitment and dedication exhibited by the honoree. In forwarding its mission of tending the soul of the world, Pacifica Graduate Institute acknowledges those who, through their service and determination, strengthened and supported their communities, empowering them to remain strong and together.
The Chancellor Emeritus Pathfinder Award. This award acknowledges deserving alumni (or students) whose community service efforts and leadership skills demonstrate vision, creativity, and innovation. Named in recognition of Pacifica’s Chancellor, whose own path led to the founding of Pacifica Graduate Institute, the recipient exhibits an extraordinary history of selfless service to their community.
The Wendy Davee Award for Service. In 2012 PGIAA established the Wendy Davee Award for Service. Each year, Alumni Relations and the Association will honor our alumna’s memory with an award to one or more alumni who have exemplified Wendy’s dedication and her spirit of community, service, and giving. Wendy Davee (MA Counseling 1987) joined the Core Faculty of Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2000. While continuing to teach at Pacifica, she also served for seven years as Chair of the Counseling Psychology Program. Wendy was a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and worked extensively in non-profit, educational, and governmental settings, providing therapeutic services to children, adolescents, and families. She supervised MFT trainees and interns and had a special interest in the healing power of symbolic play in the therapeutic relationship with children. It is impossible to calculate the measure of her gifts to us in our training as therapists […] forever impacted by the tutelage and leadership she gave to us.
The Dr. V. Walter Odajnyk Memorial Scholarship. Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association formed a scholarship fund set up by current and former students to honor the memory of Dr. V. Walter Odajnyk, a beloved faculty member from 2002 until his death in 2013. His students adored Dr. Odajnyk’s bedrock integrity, keen intelligence, and depth of feeling, as well as his passion for politics, Zen meditation, Egyptian mythology, and fairytales. His capacities as an analyst, teacher, and writer were felt in his presence and willingness to adapt his teachings to suit the needs of his students, moment by moment. Like many wise elders, Dr. Odajnyk’s genius was forged in tragedy. He experienced firsthand the horrors of war-torn Czechoslovakia as a child before emigrating to the United States. According to Thomas Elsner, one of Dr. Odajnyk’s colleagues, this early confrontation with the human shadow gifted him with “a soul presence that had to do with a profound Zen-mind relationship to emptiness and the sacred void.”
The Abakanowicz Fellowship Award. This award acknowledges individuals’ exemplary work in service to the world, as well as their commitment and dedication to furthering the Institute’s mission. Pacifica Graduate Institute stands committed to sustaining intellectual vibrancy, advancing the boundaries of knowledge, providing the highest quality of instruction, and tending the soul of the world. Through this award, Pacifica Graduate Institute proclaims its pride in the achievements and personal dedication of its alumni.
Pacifica Graduate Institute Alumni Association is a California 501(c) Nonprofit Corporation established for the purposes of developing an operational and charitable membership association that supports both the alumni of Pacifica Graduate Institute and the wider the community in the pursuit of developing their intellectual, spiritual, altruistic, and professional abilities. For more information, visit https://pgiaa.org/ or call (805) 879-7303.
