The American Humanics Program at California State University, Fresno brought home three honors from the 31st annual American Humanics Management Institute held in Las Vegas.

Twenty-two AH students from Fresno State were among the 700 participants from 70 colleges and universities at the Jan. 2-4 event. The conference is the “capstone” experience of the AH certificate program in Nonprofit Management and Leadership.

American Humanics is a national alliance of colleges, universities and nonprofit organizations that prepares and certifies college students for professional careers in youth and human service agencies. American Humanics is affiliated with more than 75 colleges and universities nationwide and partners with 18 national nonprofit organizations including Boys & Girls Clubs, United Way and the YMCA.

Fresno State President John D. Welty, who is chair of the national AH board of directors, attended the institute and Dr. Matthew Jendian, assistant professor of sociology and director of the AH Program at Fresno State, served as Associate Dean for the institute.

Fresno State student award winners were senior sociology major Fabiola Valdez, for business card design, and junior biology major Koua Cha, who was one of five students nationwide named to the 2004 AH Management Institute Advisory Council.

The third honor was the “Excellence in Community Service Award” presented to Fresno State’s AH Student Association. The main criteria for the award are the number of hours of community service per student and the effectiveness and impact of the service. During the 2001-2002 academic year, Fresno State’s American Humanics students contributed more than 6,350 volunteer hours dedicated to building better communities in the Valley.

“These forms of community service provide the students the opportunity to learn management and leadership skills to build and improve a nonprofit agency so that it can more effectively meet the needs of the individuals and communities served,” said Jendian.

For more information about the American Humanics program, call Jendian at 559.278.2891 or see http://socsci.csufresno.edu/department_pages/humanics.htm