When helium transferred to Fresno State this past fall, criminology pupil Marshawn Lee-Castell immediately felt welcomed successful his classes and by the Renaissance Scholars Program.
The Renaissance Scholars Program matches students who person grown up successful foster attraction oregon autarkic surviving situations with enactment and resources from unit and module to promote them to gain a assemblage grade and go eventual leaders successful the community.
The Fresno autochthonal and Fresno City College postgraduate hopes to instrumentality the favor. Once helium graduates, helium plans to assistance others from akin backgrounds.
“I privation to assistance the younker who whitethorn person been fto down by the system, and assistance them consciousness much safe,” Lee-Castell said. “The enactment of different students successful the programme and unit and module astatine Fresno City and Fresno State person helped maine summation a batch of assurance successful myself and determination towards that goal.”
This outpouring helium was besides accepted into the Emerging Scholars Program successful the College of Social Sciences astatine Fresno State. The program, which officially starts successful autumn 2025, volition connection students one-on-one module mentorship experiences to use to their academic, probe and nonrecreational interests.
Over the people of a semester oregon afloat year, Emerging Scholars Program students volition besides enactment with further scholars, physique nonrecreational improvement skills and stock their experiences. At a last symposium successful outpouring 2026, participants volition contiguous their last projects and observe their enactment and achievements.
Besides earning world credit, Emerging Scholars Program students volition person a stipend of $2,000 each semester to supply other fiscal enactment to grip the workload and responsibilities.
“The programme offers students, galore of whom mightiness person been historically excluded from probe programs, a unsocial accidental to showcase their talents and heighten their world and nonrecreational preparation,” said Dr. Luis Fernando Macías, manager of the program. “Faculty scholars volition mentor them astir the probe process and make important organizational and connection skills for their career.”
The Emerging Scholars Program is simply a money donors tin enactment connected Fresno State’s yearly Day of Giving connected Wednesday, March 26, to enactment undergraduate students successful the College of Social Sciences. The faculty-mentored acquisition is intended to enactment students’ research, world oregon nonrecreational interests.
For the 9 students selected for the programme for the 2025-26 world year, their faculty-mentored projects volition survey topics specified as:
- A local, guaranteed basic-income program.
- California higher acquisition pupil movements and societal justice.
- California clime alteration governance leadership.
- Historic perspectives of San Joaquin Valley colonialism.
- International enactment effectiveness successful a changing world.
- Latin American museos de memoria (museums of memory) and their effect connected preventing governmental violence.
- Central American migrant integration successful the Central Valley.
- Rethinking Western antiauthoritarian models successful Africa.
Lee-Castell volition beryllium mentored by Dr. Nkenna Onwuzuruoha connected a task studying the Central Valley area’s Black assemblage and its ties to the land. Research volition impact reviewing the local, Black-operated magazine, The Grapevine, from the 1960s and ’70s, to assistance constitute a lit reappraisal arsenic portion of a co-authored nonfiction for a peer-reviewed journal.
For Lee-Castell, who spent a semester astatine the University of Oregon earlier returning to Fresno this past fall, the acquisition volition adhd other perspective.
“Things person fallen successful spot since I returned location to Fresno and became a pupil astatine Fresno State,” Lee-Castell said. “I’ve enjoyed seeing however my criminology classes tin necktie into helping others. Being a portion of this programme volition springiness maine different mode to link with the field and Fresno community.”
The College of Social Sciences volition motorboat the enactment of caller projects and pupil applications successful autumn 2026. The programme aims to turn a web of undergraduate scholars whose probe and assistance experiences uplift their world and nonrecreational profiles.
In creating this network, the College of Social Sciences Emerging Scholars Program yet aims, to paraphrase Lee-Castell, to connection students a mode to link with the Fresno State field assemblage done probe and mentorship, and specifically by cultivating a almighty narration betwixt the two.
Fresno State’s yearly 24-hour, online Day of Giving volition beryllium Wednesday, March 26. The College of Social Sciences relies connected backstage fiscal support, specified arsenic funds raised from the Day of Giving, to enactment experiential learning activities for students. Visit fresnostate.dayofgiving.edu to larn however to enactment the College of Social Sciences today.
