We hope you enjoy this series where we meet and get to know employees from across campus. Would you like to be featured? Contact us at campusnews@csufresno.edu.

Name: Kathy Yarmo
Title: Coordinator, Wellness Services
Department: Student Health and Counseling Center
Academic Degree(s):

• B.S. Community Health Education, California State University, Northridge
• Master of Public Health in Community Health, California State University, Northridge

How long have you worked at Fresno State?
I’ve worked here for 16 years and always at the Student Health and Counseling Center.

Are you a Valley native? If not, what brought you to the area?
My father moved us to Fresno when I was in the fifth grade to head up the laboratory at then Valley Medical Center. He was a remarkable anatomical pathologist who spent the bulk of his career serving the underserved in the Central Valley. He was my role model. He truly was a mensch, a Yiddish word meaning a person of integrity and honor. So, I’ve been a Valley native since then. I did move away to go to college and start my career but I came back.

Are you part of a Bulldog family with generations of Bulldog graduates or current students?
No, but my husband, Dan, went to Fresno State to pursue his special education teaching credential.

Do you have a campus mentor or someone who has helped you in your career?
While not in my particular field of study, my mentors have included Dr. Paul Oliaro (former Vice President of Student Affairs) and the beloved Dr. Francine Oputa. Colleagues on this campus in public health who have been instrumental in helping to move my community health promotion programs forward include Drs. Helda Pinzon-Perez, Miguel Perez, and Kara Zografos. My first health promotion mentor was Jan Marquardt in the Health Promotion Department at California State University, Northridge's Student Health Center.

Tell us about your department and what people may not know about it.
Wellness Services is truly the best place to work on campus. We get to work with students to guide them towards wellness but also work alongside them to serve their fellow students.

What is your most notable accomplishment in your field, and why was it important?
While at the Student Health and Counseling Center, I really enjoyed bringing the Partnership for a Healthier America here to campus. As a result, one of the many things we were able to accomplish was the installation of the Fitness Court located between the North and South Gyms. It was in partnership with an interdisciplinary group of staff, faculty and students on campus. Dr. Amber Hammons, professor in Child and Family Science, and I collaborated in helping to make this happen.

What are you most passionate about in your field and why?
What fills my cup is knowing that I am helping to provide service and support to future leaders in this community. Service and support to underserved communities has always been my passion.

What is a memorable moment you had at your job?
It was a complete surprise to have received the Beacon Award from the Division of Student Affairs. It was an honor being presented with this by Dr. O.

What is your favorite quote or saying?
"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you." — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At a luncheon at Harvard University, she stated this in response to a question regarding the advice she would give to young women today.

What is the most interesting or unusual job you've ever had?
Probably the most unusual job I had was while I was an undergraduate student. I taught family life education (sex education) to minors detained in LA County Juvenile Detention Facilities. One of the most interesting jobs was when I was director of affiliate patient services at the National Headquarters of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association. I was very privileged to work with people afflicted by this disease, along with their families/caregivers.

In this position, I traveled to different states regularly to assist staff and families to set up supportive services. Families and patients dealing with this horrific illness demonstrated resilience and positivity that helped me during a very difficult time in my life when I was losing my mother to cancer.

What do you like to do for fun in your spare time?
Spending time with my husband, Dan, of over 32 years and my 17-year-old daughter, Lily, and horsing around with our 6-month-old puppy, Sunshine.

What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?
Back in January, I decided to start eating healthier and, since then, have dropped over 30 pounds. It was truly a goal of mine to get healthier but also to be a good role model for my daughter.

Is there something else you would like to share that was not asked?
I am enrolled in an eight-week program through the American College Health Association called the White Affinity Group. I am working alongside other white colleagues from campuses across the U.S. to dismantle oppression. We engage in deep, meaningful conversations and learn to start to address and dismantle racism. In this anti-racism work, we learn, reflect, grow, challenge and keep ourselves accountable to dismantling white supremacy in all areas, including ourselves. For people unaware of this work, white accountability groups are a place for white and white passing people to understand their own racism and privilege and how systems of oppression impact everyone.

Through centering Black, Brown, Indigenous and people of color in our lives and our world, we can start to understand our role in being complicit with racism and start to engage in action to work on ourselves and within all of the systems that we are in. The program uses a social-ecological lens to look at the impact of racism within ourselves, our relationships with others, within our community and within our society.

Also, I am part of the National Coalition Building Institute.