Rabbi Lee Bycel of Napa’s Congregation Beth Shalom won the University of San Francisco’s 2016 Sr. Vicky Siu Award for Outstanding Contributions and Service.

Bycel, an adjunct professor for the USF Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, began his tenure in 2013, teaching in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and the Saint Ignatius Institute honors program. He teaches a Holocaust and Genocide course.

In addition to his work as a pulpit rabbi, Bycel has been a committed social activist, having made several humanitarian trips to Chad, Darfur and South Sudan.