The CSUB Alumni Hall of Fame, created in 2006, recognizes graduates whose career accomplishments, community service and/or support of the university have made their alma mater proud.
The 71 alumni inducted since 2007 include standouts in business, education, law, politics, healthcare, the arts and more.Their induction ceremony, which traditionally kicks off Homecoming Week each February, raises money for alumni mentoring and scholarships.
The 2024 Alumni Hall of Fame class will be honored Thursday, February 15th at the Bakersfield Marriott at the Convention Center.
Read the Class of 2024 Announcement
Give to the Alumni Association in tribute to an inductee
Watch a sizzle video of 2023's event:
Introducing the 2024 Class
Meet the 2024 Class
Brynn Carrigan, Kern County Public Health Director
Class of '06 - BS in Business Administration
Brynn Carrigan never could have anticipated, when she became the assistant director of Kern County Public Health in 2012, what the world would be like when she took the director’s job nine years later. The Kern County Board of Supervisors appointed her to the top spot in 2021 – in the midst of the worst global public health crisis in a century.
But Carrigan and her team of 400 tackled COVID-19, working to inform, support and provide resources to 900,000 county residents spread across 8,000 square miles — a land area larger than that of six U.S. states.
Carrigan was born into a public service family and took administrative work at the County of Kern after she received her bachelor’s in business administration from California State University, Bakersfield in 2006. She was drawn to the business aspects of governance by her love of numbers, so she started at Kern County in the Auditors office and then became a budget analyst in the County Administrative Office.
That work connected Carrigan to the Public Health department where she found another passion — making a personal connection and positive impact on the lives of the county residents she served.
“I loved the fact that our community so desperately needs the services that public health has to offer. And I wanted to be a part of that,” she said.
Carrigan said the challenges presented by Kern County’s high rates of chronic and communicable diseases like diabetes, cancer and heart disease fuel her and her team to seek solutions. And the pandemic helped them build stronger service connections with underserved communities while they worked to create a stronger culture of healthy habits, exercise and quality food inside the Public Health building.
Carrigan has also given back to her alma mater, partnering with the university to mentor students. She also serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering.
Ken Haney, California Resources Corporation Strategic Advisor on Carbon
Class of '84 - BS in Geology
Haney has over 30 years of experience in the petroleum industry and more than five years in carbon management. He is currently a strategic advisor on carbon for the energy company California Resources Corporation, where he oversees the engineering aspects of its Carbon TerraVault projects.
TerraVault involves the capture, transport and storage of carbon generated from industrial emissions. The goal of these projects is to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and allow CRC and California to reach carbon neutrality by 2045.
Originally from Surrey, British Columbia, Haney came to CSUB on an athletics scholarship and competed in both track and cross country, becoming a two-time NCAA Track and Field All-American. He earned his bachelor’s degree in geology in 1984 and went on to receive a master’s in petroleum engineering from the University of Southern California in 1993.
Haney has held engineering and leadership roles in the local oil and gas industry for companies including Texaco, Chevron and Occidental Petroleum, which spun into CRC in 2014. At CRC, he has been at the forefront of Kern County’s transition to cleaner energy through his work on carbon capture and storage.
Haney has given back to CSUB over the years as a donor and a speaker at campus events. He has also assisted geology students with their research projects and supported efforts within Oxy/CRC to recruit and hire geology and engineering graduates.
He has also been actively involved in the community by coaching several youth sports as well as volunteering and fundraising for local branches of organizations including United Way, Golden Empire Gleaners and the Boys and Girls Club.
Haney has also served on several boards, including for Elk Hills Carbon LLC, the Valley Water Management Company and the Californian Conservation Committee of Oil and Gas Producers.
Matt Harris, Producer and Screenwriter
Class of '91 - BA in English
Matt Harris wouldn’t be the Hollywood screenwriter and TV producer he is today without having taken a poetry class soon after enrolling at the university. His professor, Dr. Jeffry Spencer, expressed how impressed she was with his analysis of a poem and encouraged him to pursue a degree in English. That gave him the confidence to pursue a career path where he could express himself creatively.
Harris went on to earn his bachelor's in English at CSUB in 1991 and received his master’s in American Literature from San Diego State University in 1993. He then took that passion for filmmaking to Los Angeles, where he started in entry-level positions at PBS and CBS before working his way up to establish a career as a screenwriter and executive TV producer.
He has produced several series — including “Ridiculousness,” “Crashletes” and “truTV Top Funniest” — and has seen two of his screenplays, “Moon of Popping Trees” and “The Starling,” be turned into feature films.
In 2022, “The Starling” won the Humanitas Award for the drama feature film category, beating out Academy Award winner “CODA.” The award recognizes writers whose works meaningfully explore the human condition.
His screenplay for “Moon of Popping Trees” also earned him an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Fellowship in Screenwriting in 2002.
Inspired to encourage others like Dr. Spencer encouraged him, Harris has taken multiple opportunities to help students transition into the workforce. He has mentored CSUB students interested in entering the entertainment industry as part of the `Runner Alumni Mentor Program. He has also helped connect graduates from SDSU with jobs in the industry.
Harris has also been a longtime donor for Doctors Without Borders and is a member of National Public Radio in Los Angeles.
Hajir Nuriddin, Assistant Police Chief (retired) and law enforcement trainer
Class of '00 - BA in Public Administration
Class of '02 - Master of Public Administration
Hajir Nuriddin began her 32-year career in law enforcement in 1985 as a dispatcher for the Bakersfield Police Department. Over the next three decades, she moved into top leadership roles at BPD, eventually becoming the first woman to earn the rank of captain in the department.
It all started during a ride-along with a BPD officer when she was still a young police dispatcher. She remembers the officer yelling at her to stay in the car as he chased down a stabbing suspect through neighborhood streets.
Nuriddin was born and raised in southeast Bakersfield and had her eyes on a completely different career before she caught the thrill and put in her application for the police academy – where she graduated with top honors.
Along the way, she took on the toughest assignments – motorcycle patrol, accident reconstruction, narcotics, SWAT – all supported by her family. Nuriddin also attended the FBI Training Academy and top law enforcement leadership training programs, creating a network of mentors, mentees and friends across the country.
And, in the midst of all that, Nuriddin earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration from CSUB in 2000 and 2002. She has been a longtime supporter of the Bakersfield Jazz Festival and the Roadrunner Basketball team and worked as a faculty instructor, teaching students about careers in law enforcement.
Once she retired, following a stint as assistant chief in the Coral Gables Police Department in Florida, Nuriddin turned her years of experience and hard-won expertise into a second career as law enforcement trainer for municipal, state and national agencies – as well as international groups around the globe.
She said it’s her passion to call other officers to be the best they can be, live their values and focus on protecting and serving everyone to the highest standards of the profession she calls the greatest in the world.