Meet Past District Governor Phyllis J. Nusz, a Rotarian for 30 years. She served as the first woman elected officer and Club President of the North Stockton Rotary Club in 1997-1998 and as one of the first 50 women District Governors in Rotary International when she served as District Governor for Rotary International District 5220 in 2001-2002. Phyllis joined our Club on May 28, 2007 and served as The Rotary Foundation Chair.
A native Californian, Phyllis received both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Speech Communication with a minor in Choral Music from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. She also earned an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL with a specialty in the field of Leadership Management Training and is known as a Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Scholar.
For 21 years, Phyllis worked at Bakersfield Community College where she taught Speech and went on to become Speech Department Chair and Assistant to the College President among several other roles. She is currently the owner of PJ Enterprises, specializing in fundraising, meeting planning, and communications.
In Rotary, Phyllis has attended 21 Rotary International conventions and served on over 40 International, Zone, and District Committees. She had established an International Literacy Task Force to work with Rotary International on collaborative literary projects around the world. Our Club had already raised over $1 million for The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International (TRF) a while back, but Phyllis' efforts as TRF chair in the 2016-2017 Rotary year led our Club to the $2 million mark. To kick off the second century of The Rotary Foundation, Phyllis was the first to donate $26.50.
Rotary International awarded to Phyllis the Service Above Self award in 2006, the highest award to an individual Rotarian for lifetime, humanitarian work. In 2020, then District Governor Sue Rokaw presented The Rotary Foundation Legacy Award to Phyllis who had committed over $1 million to The Rotary Foundation Endowment Fund.
Phyllis has traveled to all seven continents while enjoying landscape photography, swimming, whitewater rafting, zip lining, hot air ballooning, fishing, horseback, camel, and elephant riding. She is an avid supporter of competitive athletic events and performs both classical and semi-classical piano and voice. She has sung in the World Choir for 22 years.