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The 8 schools and colleges astatine Fresno State, on with the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, each selected an outstanding pupil to grant arsenic portion of the people of 2024 Graduate Deans’ Medalists.
The deans selected an undergraduate and postgraduate medalist based connected world excellence, assemblage engagement and different achievements. Fresno State’s Undergraduate Deans’ Medalists were announced May 1.
In mid-May, 1 medalist from the radical beneath volition beryllium announced arsenic the President’s Graduate Medalist, the university’s apical world grant for a postgraduate student.
This year’s Graduate Deans’ Medalists are:
Kiana Crisosto, College of Science and Mathematics
Kiana Crisosto, of Kerman, earned her M.A. successful psychology, accent successful general/experimental, with a 4.0 GPA. She antecedently earned a B.A. successful science from Fresno State. Crisosto, a first-generation student, became fascinated with underlying biases and decision-making processes aft witnessing governmental discussions arsenic a precocious schooler. She participated successful probe programs arsenic an undergraduate, focusing connected bias, partisanship and decision-making, which led to her master’s thesis connected however contention influences persuasive outcomes. Crisosto received the Graduate Student Research and Creative Activities Support Award and presented her thesis astatine the Western Psychological Association conference. She was a teaching adjunct for science courses and a statistic advisor for the Graduate Student Success Center. Crisosto was an intern and probe adjunct for the Central Valley Health Policy Institute, helping to amended equitable lodging prioritization successful Fresno and Madera counties. She credits her postgraduate adviser, Dr. Spee Kosloff, with guiding and supporting her arsenic a researcher. Crisosto wants to beryllium a probe and information expert for California oregon successful nationalist health, and she wants to nutrient acquisition videos to empower her assemblage and pupil researchers.
Jennifer Duran, College of Health and Human Services
Jennifer Duran, of Fresno, earned her M.A. successful communicative sciences and deaf studies, accent successful speech-language pathology, with a 4.0 GPA. She antecedently earned a B.A. successful speech-language pathology from Fresno State. Duran was diagnosed with proceeding nonaccomplishment arsenic a child, requiring her to deterioration bilateral proceeding aids. Her lived acquisition led her to vocation goals arsenic a speech-language pathologist moving with families and radical from divers backgrounds. Duran gained acquisition successful Fresno State’s Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic and astatine West Fresno Elementary and Edison Bethune Charter Academy, wherever she planned and implemented idiosyncratic and radical attraction successful areas of autism, puerility code and language, fluency and cognition, Parkinson’s and bilingualism. She besides worked arsenic a postgraduate pupil clinician and treated patients astatine DeMera Allergy Asthma and ENT Center for dysphagia, dysarthria, aphasia, dementia and cognition. She volition beryllium moving arsenic a speech-language pathologist aft graduation. By becoming 1 of the fewer hard-of-hearing speech-language pathologists, Duran wants to acceptable an illustration for individuals with antithetic abilities who tendency to go professionals wrong the assemblage subject and upset discipline.
Fernando Robledo Garcia, Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
Fernando Robledo Garcia, of Shafter, earned his M.S. successful counseling with a 4.0 GPA. He antecedently earned a B.S. successful agriculture acquisition from Fresno State. Garcia is simply a first-generation Latino pupil with a passionateness to enactment with underserved students. He was a postgraduate adjunct with Off-Campus Student Life wherever helium advocated for students surviving disconnected campus. He served arsenic an world manager with Academic Success Coaching successful the Learning Center. As a Summer Bridge counsellor intern, Garcia supported first-generation, low-income precocious schoolhouse students successful their modulation to college. He traveled to Washington D.C. to advocator for the continuation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals programme and to item the challenges that these students look and however module and unit tin enactment them. He was co-founder and president of Define American Student Club; counsellor for Camp Kesem; legislator of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Associated Students, Inc.; and participated successful the College Assistance Migrant Program. Garcia was offered a full-time presumption arsenic an world navigator astatine the University of California, Merced, helping first-year students get bully world standing.
Andrea Lee, Craig School of Business
Andrea Lee, of Fresno, earned her M.B.A. with a 4.0 GPA. She antecedently earned a B.S. successful concern administration, entrepreneurship astatine Fresno State. She completed her undergraduate grade astatine 19 years aged and finished her master’s successful lone 3 semesters astatine property 21. After the palmy motorboat of her HiLow Podcast, which focused connected sharing idiosyncratic experiences and probe for individuals surviving with bipolar disorder, her entrepreneurial tone continued. She participated successful transportation competitions arsenic a postgraduate student, and she completed an internship with Academic Success Coaching connected field wherever she developed a passionateness for moving with students successful higher acquisition and hopes to thatch immoderate day. While she pursued her master’s, Lee worked afloat clip arsenic an economical improvement specializer for the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation, wherever she led concern retention and enlargement efforts successful Fresno and Clovis. She present lives successful Austin, Texas and works to assistance Asian entrepreneurs arsenic a selling and communications intern astatine the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce.
Rodolfo Lopez, Lyles College of Engineering
Rodolfo Lopez, of Dinuba, earned his M.S. successful civilian engineering with a 3.84 GPA. He antecedently earned a dual B.A. successful wide connection and journalism and Spanish from Fresno State. When Lopez’s beingness and economical concern changed, helium realized it was clip to take a antithetic vocation path. But earlier helium could beryllium admitted to a master’s programme successful engineering, helium had to implicit civilian engineering undergraduate courses. Completing assignments and maintaining supra a B missive people was a situation for the full-time moving begetter of 2 young children. He would ne'er miss a class, was ever connected clip and participated successful people discussions. It took Lopez 4 years to implicit his required courses to get into the master’s grade program. He took his archetypal engineering people successful 2014 and acceptable a extremity to walk the Fundamentals of Engineering exam earlier graduating. He passed the exam successful November and graduated successful December 2023. Lopez was an engineering intern for the California High Speed Rail and present works arsenic an proscription technologist for Caltrans.
Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras, College of Arts and Humanities
Hermelinda Hernandez Monjaras, of Fresno, earned her M.F.A. successful originative penning with a 4.0 GPA. She antecedently earned her B.A. successful English with an enactment successful originative penning from Fresno State. Monjaras was calved successful Oaxaca, Mexico and is an undocumented aspiring writer of Zapoteco descent. She has an extended past of publishing poesy successful places specified arsenic Poets.org; Undocupoetics, An Introduction (forthcoming); and the Fresno 15: Creative Writing Marathon, to sanction a few. She’s besides a postgraduate creator astatine Juan Felipe Herrera’s Laureate Lab Visual Wordist Studio and has received a fellowship from the Community of Writers. She taught 3 courses successful the MFA program: 2 English creation classes and a poesy class. Her editorial inheritance includes participating arsenic a co-editor successful schoolhouse literate journals specified arsenic the Hmong American Ink & Stories and poesy prize contests specified arsenic the The Philip Levine Poetry Prize, for which she served arsenic an editorial squad leader. She was a scholar for Noemi Press; Firecracker Awards; and the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. In the future, Monjaras plans to prosecute teaching, penning and editing.
Angel Rojas, College of Social Sciences
Angel Rojas, of Fresno, earned his M.A. successful past with a 3.92 GPA. He antecedently earned a B.S. successful biochemistry and a B.A. successful past astatine Fresno State. Rojas is the archetypal successful his household to be and postgraduate from a four-year assemblage and the archetypal to postgraduate with his master’s. He was funny successful pursuing chemistry but, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rojas learned astir the structural disadvantages that harm marginalized communities successful wellness care. He spent his postgraduate programme knowing the aboriginal modern dynamics of subject arsenic an instauration and dependable of powerfulness and authority. His thesis, connected the intersection of British assemblage and indigenous aesculapian practices, required learning however to work successful Latin and French. Rojas took courses successful some languages astatine Fresno State and attended a summertime league astatine the Middlebury Language Institute successful Vermont to larn much French. He has presented his probe astatine much than 10 conferences, served arsenic vice president of the History Graduate Student Association for 2 years and is present president. In the fall, helium volition be the University of Pittsburgh to prosecute a doctoral grade successful history.
M. Orlando Tapia, Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Orlando Tapia, of Huron, earned his M.S. successful works science, with a 4.0 GPA. He antecedently earned a B.S. successful biology from the University of Sonora, Mexico. Tapia learned astir works growth, pest scouting, recognition and much portion riding done the fields with his father, a pest power adviser. He decided to prosecute a master’s successful works subject to recognize however agriculture tin beryllium much productive and sustainable. His probe looks astatine cultivation biologicals, an emerging assemblage that supports productivity, improved input efficiencies and little interaction connected earthy resources. He presented astatine the American Society of Horticultural Science Conference (ASHS) and received an grant for Graduate Student Presentation. Tapia besides joined nonrecreational enactment groups specified arsenic the ASHS Temperate Tree Nut Crops peculiar involvement group, which focuses connected assorted aspects of probe unsocial to histrion seed crops. He is simply a full-time worker for Corteva Agriscience, liable for the design, supervision and execution of field-level research. Tapia would similar to prosecute a doctoral grade successful cultivation subject and summation his engagement successful subject connection and outreach activities astatine assemblage colleges and universities.
Belen Torres, Kremen School of Education and Human Development
Belen Torres, of Soledad, earned her M.S. successful counseling with an accent successful pupil affairs and assemblage counseling, with a 4.0 GPA. She antecedently earned her B.A. successful nationalist affairs with a insignificant successful Chicana and Chicano studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Torres recovered a consciousness of belonging astatine Fresno State aft a challenging undergraduate acquisition and a analyzable household beingness that led to feelings of inadequacy arsenic a first-generation pupil of color. She channeled her vigor into acquisition and recovered impactful opportunities to uplift herself and those similar her. Torres received a Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities assistance and a Graduate Equity Fellowship. She is simply a postgraduate pupil probe chap for Enseñamos en el Valle Central, and she was nominated for an Outstanding Graduate Student grant by the California College Personnel Association. Torres serves arsenic a member-at-large for the Student Affairs and College Counseling Program Graduate Student Association. She besides works afloat clip arsenic a recruitment adjunct for Fresno State’s Admissions and Recruitment office. Torres plans to prosecute a doctoral grade successful the future.
