Editor-in-Chief

The CSU Bakersfield Vice President for Student Affairs, Thomas Wallace, along with the search committee that is overseeing the hiring of the new director of athletics for CSUB has narrowed its search down to the two finalists Kenneth Siegfried and China Jude.
Both Siegfried and Jude will have forums at CSUB in which students, staff and the public are welcomed to join and meet with the finalists. Siegfried’s forum will be today at 1:30 p.m. and Jude’s will be on Aug. 17 at 1:30 p.m.

Siegfried, who is the current interim director of athletics for CSUB, attended the University of Memphis where he earned a bachelor’s degree in education and sports management. He earned his master of science degree in sports administration from Middle Tennessee State University and is nearing the completion of his doctorate with an emphasis on leadership in higher education as well.

Before coming to CSUB, he worked at Memphis for eight years. During his time at Memphis, he served on the senior staff of the athletics department and was also on the university fundraising leadership team, which had a $250 million campaign. During his time on the athletics’ senior staff, Siegfried was part of the leadership team that raised $16 million to transform athletics facilities at Memphis.

As the interim director of athletics, Siegfried led the department to the best year in its Division I history through successes in the areas of academics, competition and student athlete well-being. CSUB student athletes reached their highest ever cumulative GPA of 2.97 compared to 2.87 last year. CSUB also had unprecedented successes out of the classrooms as volleyball won its first Western Athletic Conference tournament, and in spring the baseball team also won its first WAC tournament as well as won its first NCAA Division I postseason game.

Men’s soccer and softball also made WAC tournament championship games last year.

Jude, who is the assistant vice president and director of athletics at Queens College in Queens, N.Y., she earned her bachelor’s in broadcast journalism at Alabama State University. Jude earned a master’s degree in sports management from the United States Sports Academy two years later and she is currently working on her dissertation in athletic administration at Northcentral University in Prescott, Ariz.

Before going to Queens College, Jude was the athletic director for four years at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to Cheyney, she was the assistant athletic director at the University of the District of Columbia (2006-2007) and before that at Coppin State University (2001-2005). Additionally, she served as head volleyball coach at those two universities, as well as at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, University of West Florida and at Rollins College.

As director of athletics for Queens College, Jude oversees 19 sports in the fourth largest Division II school in the country. During the 2013-14 year, the men’s outdoor track & field team repeated as East Coast Conference champions. Additionally, the number three regionally women’s tennis team, number seven regionally ranked men’s tennis team and the number five regionally ranked softball team all advanced to NCAA postseason championship play.

The men’s basketball team, women’s soccer team, and the number nine ranked women’s basketball advanced to the ECC playoffs.

Since arriving at Queens, there have been six ECC Coaches of the Year, four All-Americans, five ECC Players of the Year, four ECC Rookies of the Year, 15 All-Region Players, 148 All-ECC Players, 18 All-Met Players and one NCAA individual national track participant.