• Work/Life Survey Solicits Opinions
  • Oregon Educator New VC Admin
  • Institute Adds Luster & a Name
  • UCSB Rites Recognize Individuals
  • Art Museum's New Director a Veteran Manager, Educator
  • Scholar Examines College Testing
  • Protozoan Sequencing Added to U.S. Genome Project
  • Religious Diversity Draws International Scholars
  • On-line Parking Permits Planned
  • It Was an Award-Winning Year for Many Staff, Students
  • Faculty Sought for Fall Convocation
  • UCSB Officers Receive Valor, Leadership Awards
  • 15 Women Authors Recognized
  • Campus Notes
  • Credits
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    UCSB Officers Receive Valor, Leadership Awards


    Patrol officers Zak Ayala, left, and Mark Signa were recognized for high valor and superior leadership, respectively.
    Two UCSB police officers were recognized for leadership and valor last month at the annual Guerry Awards for Excellence in Law Enforcement in Santa Barbara County.
    Officer Zak Ayala, who joined UCSB in 1999, received a citation for valor because of his evacuation of residents from a burning 18-unit apartment house in Isla Vista. A former paramedic with six years experience, Ayala performed CPR on some of the 60 residents after the Fire Department took charge.
    His efforts were credited directly with saving one of the children overcome by smoke. Out of a family of four people, only the boy and his mother survived the fire.
    Officer Mark Signa was cited for superior performance after 12 years with UCSB Police Department. He was a unit supervisor and interagency liaison during investigation of the I.V. pedestrian deaths in February, 2001, and was a lead investigator in an I.V. shooting incident later that year.
    Signa, whose approach to teamwork was also praised, is currently serving as a field training officer and defensive tactics and baton instructor as well as a patrol officer.
    The Santa Barbara Citizens Council on Crime administers the Guerry Awards.