At Janice Herring’s first Commencement as a Stanislaus State faculty member, 14 graduates stood in the University Amphitheatre and called out her name.
She was new to the faculty at the time and only a few years older than some of the students. But the moment stayed with her, a reminder of the connection she had made with students and the reason she would keep returning to Commencement year after year.
Now retiring after 33 years at the University, Herring leaves a legacy shaped by hands-on teaching, student mentorship and community wellness — work that helped generations of kinesiology students build confidence, serve others and see more clearly the professionals they could become.
“When students know you care, they can trust that you have their best interests at heart,” Herring said.
A longtime lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology and Public Health Promotion, Herring began teaching at Stan State in 1993. In many ways, the campus already felt like home. She had been an undergraduate student in the early 1980s before returning in 1985 to complete prerequisites for graduate school at UC Davis.
Coming back as a faculty member felt comfortable, she said, because she knew her way around campus. She also remembers the meaningful shift of becoming a colleague to professors who once taught her, including Pamela Roe, James Almy, Alexander Pandell and Richard Conant. Soon after, Susan Eastham joined the faculty, and the two became close colleagues known as “the short and tall of it” and “two peas in a pod.”
“We have taught and conferenced together, talked sports endlessly and been in the same phases of life throughout our careers,” Herring said. “I have been blessed to have her and many other wonderful colleagues to teach with.”
From Classroom to Community
Across her career, Herring taught 19 different courses, including swimming, aquatic sports, physical education curriculum capstone, measurement and
evaluation, exercise testing and prescription, and fieldwork in kinesiology. She created the wellness management concentration, served as the original director of the Warrior Fitness Center and built learning opportunities that connected students with campus and community health needs.
At the center of that work was a belief that students preparing for health, wellness, education and movement-related professions need to practice the work they hope to do.
“In the professions that my students are entering, they need to be able to move their bodies and to assess and evaluate the fitness, health, and performance status of their clientele,” Herring said. “That doesn’t come from sitting still to absorb information.”
That belief shaped many of the experiences Herring helped create or sustain, including the Kinesiology Olympics, which grew from an earlier student-led triathlon event. First known as the Physical Education Olympics, the event paired students randomly for faculty-led stations featuring games, challenges and activities that required teamwork.
It gave students a way to meet one another, connect with faculty and find belonging early in the semester. It also gave them permission to learn with joy.
That same commitment extended beyond the classroom. For 20 years, Herring helped connect Stan State students with the Stanislaus County Healthy Aging Association, providing opportunities for them to administer senior fitness test assessments and counsel older adults about exercise and healthy lifestyles through the Healthy Aging and Fall Prevention Summit.
A newer spring event, the Age With Movement Celebration, created another opportunity for students to serve the community. During the past academic year, 160 Warriors participated across the two events.
Herring said that kind of experiential learning strengthened students’ skills and gave them firsthand experience with the trust, care and presence required to serve people well.
She also mentored dozens of students by coordinating their attendance at the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance conferences, where they served as co-presenters and workshop assistants. Herring also served as faculty advisor to the Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC), guiding students as they shared concerns and ideas about health services.
Her commitment to student success also has been visible in her long involvement with Phi Kappa Phi, an all-discipline honor society that recognizes academic excellence. Herring helped form the University’s chapter when it was chartered in 1999, and she has attended all but one of its spring initiation ceremonies. She has served in chapter leadership since 2007, except for two years as regional vice president.
Again, the reason was students.
“It’s that strong desire to uplift and celebrate students’ accomplishments that has kept me so involved,” Herring said.
at a 2021 Commencement ceremony.
That same connection has brought Herring back to commencement every year since 1994. She attended one ceremony when she was nine months pregnant in 1995, returned for the socially distanced ceremony in 2021 and was there again in 2026, seeing the same joy she had witnessed for decades.
“The same excitement was on their faces,” she said.
Herring’s influence also can be seen in the students she mentored, nominated for awards and encouraged to stretch beyond the classroom. She nominated three students for the J. Burton Vasché Award, two of whom received the honor: Josue Montoya in 2021 and Gianna Nunes in 2023.
“It’s really important to honor the excellence and hard work that students do, both in their degree programs and in their campus and community leadership endeavors,” Herring said.
Her own honors include the 2015 California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Health Educator Award and the 2014-15 Stanislaus State Outstanding Community Service Professor Award.
But some of the clearest measures of Herring’s impact have come in moments no award can fully capture: an older adult served by a student gaining confidence and former students reaching out years later to say her high standards and care mattered.
“I often hear from students, sometimes years later, thanking me for having had such high standards and for caring that they are happy and doing well,” Herring said. “I have shared with my students about my life and my interests to demonstrate to them how to balance the rigors of academic life with doing and being a part of things that matter.”
