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 2025 Undergraduate Deans’ Medalists.
The deans selected an undergraduate and postgraduate medalist based connected world excellence, assemblage engagement and different achievements. Fresno State’s Graduate Deans’ Medalists volition beryllium announced adjacent week.
In mid-May, 1 medalist from the radical beneath volition beryllium announced arsenic the President’s Undergraduate Medalist, the university’s apical world grant for an undergraduate student.
This year’s Undergraduate Deans’ Medalists are:
Shaur Herng Chong, College of Science and Mathematics
Shaur Herng Chong earned his B.S. successful chemistry with a 4.0 GPA. He is simply a first-generation pupil from Malaysia who earned an associate’s grade successful chemistry from Fullerton College successful 2023 earlier transferring to Fresno State. Chong’s idiosyncratic acquisition of losing his gramps to pancreatic crab ignited his passionateness for medicinal chemistry. He contributed to respective probe projects centered connected processing treatments for prostate cancer. In Dr. Qiao-Hong Chen’s medicinal and bioorganic chemistry lab, Chong’s squad worked connected synthesizing nature-inspired compounds arsenic imaginable prostate crab therapies. He presented his enactment astatine the 2024 Central California Research Symposium and the California State University systemwide probe competition. He served arsenic president of Fresno State’s Chemistry Club and arsenic a subordinate of the San Joaquin Valley ACS Younger Chemist Committee, starring outreach initiatives to animate underrepresented students to prosecute STEM careers. Chong volition prosecute a Ph.D. successful chemistry astatine UC Santa Barbara this fall.
Jason Raythell Davis, College of Social Sciences
Jason Raythell Davis, of Fresno, earned a B.A. successful sociology with a 4.0 GPA. As a pupil successful the Humanics program, helium is dedicated to societal justness and uplifting marginalized communities, which helium plans to bash aft graduation by founding his ain community-based enactment successful Fresno. He earned the College Corps Legend of Service Award from the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning successful 2024 aft volunteering much than 650 hours astatine the Poverello House successful Fresno. As a assemblage engagement fellow, helium provided indispensable services to unhoused individuals and organized services that recruited implicit 290 volunteers and developed relationships with section organizations. Davis besides worked arsenic a mentor for students and the assemblage done Project Rebound’s Educating Our Youth Program, arsenic good arsenic the Impact Justice programme for incarcerated younker and their families. On campus, helium helped constitute a assistance connection for the Custom Stack programme and participated successful the Humanics Mentoring Project. As a subordinate of the College of Social Sciences Honors Program, helium has conducted probe connected guaranteed basal income’s effects connected employment and poverty. He expects to contiguous his probe findings connected the Senate level successful Sacramento and successful meetings with legislators and authorities leaders.
Vanessa Gallegos, Kremen School of Education and Human Development
Vanessa Gallegos, of Tulare, earned her B.A. successful wide studies and her multiple-subject teaching credential done the South Valley Integrated Teacher Education Program with a 4.0 GPA. Gallegos served successful a enactment relation for an after-school programme that provides acquisition activities for TK done sixth-grade students. While moving successful this role, she discovered a passionateness for teaching and earned her associate’s grade successful simple teacher acquisition from the College of the Sequoias. Between enactment and school, she enjoys raising and homeschooling her daughter. After graduation, Gallegos plans to prosecute a master’s grade successful acquisition and thatch kindergarten oregon archetypal grade. Her extremity is to go a person successful the tract of acquisition arsenic an administrator.
Robynn Huber, Craig School of Business
Robynn Huber, of Kerman, earned her B.S. successful concern medication with an accent successful absorption and a insignificant successful chemistry with a 4.0 GPA. Huber is simply a Craig School of Business Scholar, a Craig Honor Student and a subordinate of the Craig Gender and Leadership pupil cohort, Health Professions Pathways and the Health Careers Opportunity Program, successful which she served arsenic a tutor to pre-health students. She served for 2 years arsenic treasurer of Delta Epsilon Omicron, the world fraternity/sorority for students funny successful dental careers, readying events and maintaining nine activities. She was an progressive unpaid with the Kerman Community Food Bank for 5 years. Huber works for the nonprofit Valley Small Business Development Corporation, wherever she assists with fiscal services to section tiny businesses. She besides serves arsenic a committee subordinate of the International Green Industry Hall of Fame, a nonprofit enactment that recognizes pioneers successful sustainable industry. Huber plans to be dental schoolhouse and enactment toward opening her ain dental practice.
Vanessa Jauregui-Salgado, Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Vanessa Jauregui-Salgado, of Fresno, earned her B.S. successful cultivation business, and insignificant successful precision agriculture technology, successful 3 years with a 4.0 GPA. She competed connected pupil selling teams and concern lawsuit survey projects astatine manufacture conferences and events, which led her to articulation the Agricultural Business Club — National Agri-Marketing Association Chapter and service arsenic its president the past 2 years. She partnered with engineering students for an planetary ag robotics league task past fall. She besides served arsenic vice president of the Minorities successful Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences Chapter and helped signifier the Agricultural Business Department yearly banquet and its Agribusiness Management Conference. Jauregui-Salgado participated successful a survey overseas people successful Spain that progressive vino marketplace and user sensory analysis. Last summer, she learned astir crop, soil, pest and irrigation absorption arsenic an agronomy intern for Reiter Affiliated Companies. She presently works with the California Agave Council and collects manufacture research, assists with grants, and develops acquisition materials to pull caller agave growers successful the Central Valley.
Katelyn Lehigh, College of Health and Human Services
Katelyn Lehigh, of Loveland, Colorado, earned her B.S. successful recreation medication with an accent successful sports and amusement installation absorption successful 3 years with a 4.0 GPA. She immersed herself successful her large and took connected invaluable out-of-state internships with the Wichita Wind Surge shot team, the Harmony Golf Club and the Wyoming State Golf Association, wherever she played an progressive relation successful moving play tournaments utilizing her cognition successful venue management, lawsuit planning, leadership, programme readying and improvement and marketing. Aside from academics, Lehigh is simply a student-athlete and subordinate of the Fresno State play team, wherever she broke aggregate schoolhouse records, including 2 astatine the 2023 Timpanogos Collegiate Golf Invitational. In the fall, Lehigh volition instrumentality to Fresno State to prosecute her master’s grade successful kinesiology with an enactment successful athletics administration. She hopes to utilize her precocious acquisition to go a person successful the athletics absorption industry, wherever she tin play a relation successful shaping the lives of aboriginal athletes successful the Central Valley and beyond. In addition, Lehigh volition participate her 4th twelvemonth playing for the Fresno State play team.
Frederick Mark Lisitsa, Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management
Frederick Mark Lisitsa, of Los Angeles, is simply a first-generation Ukrainian American and U.S. Navy seasoned who earned his B.A. successful science and insignificant successful doctrine with a 3.8 GPA. After serving arsenic a sonar technician aboard a destroyer — and receiving the Humanitarian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal and Basic Training Honor Graduate Ribbon — helium was medically retired for PTSD and enrolled astatine Fresno State done the Veterans Education Program. He was encouraged by relatives continuing their studies amid war-torn Ukraine. At Fresno State, Lisitsa was elected enforcement vice president of Associated Students, Inc., wherever helium helped make a $40,000 pupil probe assistance fund, authored cardinal argumentation resolutions and launched “Campus Beautification Days” that rallied volunteers to works astir 175 trees and reconstruct field greenish spaces. He served arsenic president and vice president of the Student Veterans Organization, co-founded the university’s caller crystal hockey nine and presented probe connected civic engagement, misinformation and AI equity astatine determination and planetary probe conferences. A two-time President’s Service Award honoree and recipient of the division’s Achievement of Excellence Award, Lisitsa plans to be instrumentality schoolhouse and hopes to champion the semipermanent occurrence of the California State University – the nation’s largest assemblage system.
Joshua Lor, College of Arts and Humanities
Joshua Lor, of Fresno, earned his B.A. successful linguistics with an accent successful teaching English to speakers of different languages and second-language acquisition and teaching and a insignificant successful Hmong with a 3.94 GPA. Born and raised successful Fresno, Lor saw firsthand the acquisition shortcomings successful cultural, connection and household enactment for first-generation Hmong students successful nationalist schools. That acquisition informed his extremity of altering the schoolhouse strategy to amended accommodate the taste values and enactment for aboriginal first-generation students. Putting his acquisition into practice, Lor is the schoolhouse tract person for the Every Neighborhood Partnership Reads programme astatine Heaton Elementary School, wherever helium oversees 3 literacy involution programs, and acts arsenic a liaison betwixt interns, schoolhouse unit and the organization’s enactment staff. He has completed implicit 100 hours of assemblage work with the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning astatine Fresno State. This past summer, helium was a schoolroom intern astatine Fresno Adult School, wherever helium assisted with acquisition readying and led people sessions for intermediate and precocious English learners. Lor aims to prosecute a master’s successful linguistics astatine Fresno State with a extremity of becoming an pedagogue adept astatine teaching each aspects of the Hmong people.
Komal Sandhu, Lyles College of Engineering
Komal Sandhu, of San Joaquin, earned her B.S. successful civilian engineering with a 3.9 GPA. In mediate school, she attended an engineering summertime campy astatine Fresno State that sparked her passionateness for engineering and solidified her aspiration to prosecute it arsenic a career. Sandhu, a Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholar, held aggregate enactment roles, including president of the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association, treasurer of the American Society of Civil Engineers, president of Tau Beta Pi and K-12 outreach coordinator for the Society of Women Engineers. She served arsenic a tutor and instructional pupil assistant. Additionally, she worked arsenic an undergraduate probe adjunct for a task related to gathering palmy obstruction manufacture internship programs. In 2023, Sandhu completed an internship with Flatiron Construction, wherever she participated successful a California High-Speed Rail project. She went connected to beryllium a inferior technologist intern astatine Cornerstone Structural Engineering Group. This fall, she volition prosecute a master’s grade astatine UC Davis. Her extremity is to get a structural engineering licence and beforehand to a task manager role. Through her work, she hopes to lend to nine by designing safe, businesslike and lasting structures that service the public.
