丹尼尔·威尔逊

2022年10月11日

If you live in the 萨克拉门托 area, chances are you are familiar with Francesca Halbakken’s work and not even aware of it.

Though she has spent much of her career out of the public eye, the work of Halbakken, who graduated from 萨克拉门托 State with a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 1979, will be a part of the city of 萨克拉门托 for years to come.

Halbakken在她35年的公共服务中担任主要开发和建设的项目管理职务，项目包括萨克拉门托铁路场和SAFE信用合作社会议和表演艺术中心等。

The 萨克拉门托 State 校友会 将在庆祝和晚宴上表彰将获得杰出服务奖的哈尔巴肯和其他著名校友 Thursday, Oct. 13.

“I am a behind-the-scenes person and do not like a lot of attention paid to me,” Halbakken said. “When I was told that I had been selected, I was surprised, because I think of so many people that I know who have done so many things and I think, ‘Why would you choose me? 我看起来很平凡。’ So, I still am surprised that I would have been selected for an honor.”

作为萨克拉门托本地人，哈尔巴肯最初计划进入加州大学伯克利分校，从事医疗事业，但当她19岁时，这些计划改变了，从萨克拉门托城市学院转到了萨克州立大学。

“From the time I was probably like in kindergarten, up through my senior year of high school, I fully intended that I was going to become a surgeon,” she said. “There are some similarities (to civil service) in that it’s all about serving people, and they’re both math and science backgrounds.”

哈尔巴肯曾在加利福尼亚州工作，后来在美国陆军工程兵团担任联邦政府的民用项目经理。 After deciding the federal or state levels weren’t the right fit, she landed a job with the city of 萨克拉门托 in 1986, advancing and ultimately retiring as assistant city manager in 2018. She continued working part time for another 3½ years, extending her efforts on the downtown convention center and theater projects until fully retiring recently.

“We broke ground right at the time of my retirement, so it was a great transition to be able to work on those projects,” she said.

Halbakken’s advice for anyone who wants to work in civil service is to get into their desired agency and then focus on finding the job they want.

“The important thing if you want to be a civil servant is to get in somewhere, and once you’re (in), it’s easier to find jobs within the organization,” Halbakken said. “I highly recommend public service. You might be paid an increment more (working elsewhere), but for the satisfaction you get from being able to help people, in addition to the public benefits, it’s way worth it.”

哈尔巴肯说，退休使她有更多的时间与孙女、家人和朋友在一起。 她积极阅读，烹饪和烘焙，遛狗。 她最近甚至开始打匹克球。

她最近还开始在加州中部女童子军中心董事会任职，并表示她喜欢参与该组织，因为她热衷于帮助年轻女孩参与STEM和户外活动。

“I feel like this is a way for me to continue my public service in retirement,” Halbakken said.

For Halbakken, it’s an honor to be recognized with an award from the University that has given her so much.

“I feel really fortunate that 囊状态’s here in the town I grew up in and that you can get such a great education right here at home,” she said. “Not every town has a great university like this one does.”