Walter Daniel Hebern passed away peacefully after a brave battle with cancer and was surrounded by his loving family. Our campus community fondly remembers Walt for his unwavering commitment to our students and the Center for Faculty Excellence team.

"Walt brought unwavering optimism, humor and calm to Fresno State. He was an integral part of the team in the transition to virtual instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Dr. Rudy Sanchez. "His spirit will live on in all of those he touched directly and indirectly in his work as an instructional designer at Fresno State."

Additional contributions to our campus community and system were numerous including our campus migration to Canvas, adoption of the accessibility tool Ally, as well as co-leading a CSU special interest group on Universal Design for Learning leveraging Ally.

Walt was dedicated to the success of others over his three decades in education and is remembered by many for his love of woodworking and science fiction. He was exceptionally creative and leveraged multimedia tools for instructional videos and also just for fun. Walt spoke frequently and lovingly about his wife, Marlena, as well as their daughters, Julie and Sarah.

"We have been, and always shall be, your friend," Carmen Chapman shared in his memory.

A gathering of family and friends will be held at the Mariposa Fairgrounds Amigo Picnic area at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16 to celebrate Walter’s life and honor his memory.