The 99th Commencement at California State University, Fresno begins at 9:30 a.m. May 22 at the Save Mart Center, highlighting a busy three days of activities for baccalaureate candidates, those receiving advanced degrees and Japanese-American alumni receiving honorary degrees.

For the first time Fresno State will confer California State University (CSU) independent doctoral degrees. Originally, only the University of California (UC) was allowed to confer doctorates. More recently, the Legislature permitted Fresno State and other CSU campuses to award doctoral degrees in joint UC-CSU programs.

In 2005, the Legislature approved independent doctoral programs at CSU campuses. Fresno State in 2007 was the first CSU campus to take advantage, establishing its Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.) within the Kremen School of Education and Human Development.

This year, the first class in that program will present 19 candidates for the independent Ed.D at the Graduate Degree Hooding Ceremony at 7:30 p.m. May 21. At that event, nine other doctoral degrees will be conferred through joint Fresno State/UC programs in educational leadership and physical therapy.

Commencement activities begin at noon May 20 with a historic ceremony honoring Japanese-American students whose Fresno State education was interrupted by being interned during the early days of World War II.

Eighty-six Fresno State students are eligible for honorary degrees in the CSU Nisei College Diploma Project. Three of those alumni, and the families of several others, will participate in the ceremony, which will be open to the public.

On May 21, there will be 16 college and school convocations in addition to department and program celebrations throughout the day, which ends with the Hooding Ceremony.

Seven events are scheduled Saturday, beginning with Commencement and ending at 6 p.m. with the Latino Commencement Celebration at the Save Mart Center.

The final Class of 2010 Commencement event is the Air Force ROTC pinning ceremony on June 3.

In addition to the Save Mart Center, commencement events are held at various locations on campus and some of the smaller venues require tickets due to limited seating. The Commencement schedule (see link below) contains ticketing and contact information for each event.

The Commencement season began with Grad Fair in March and continued with students visiting the Kennel Bookstore on campus to order regalia and graduation announcements.

To accommodate those students who did not already have photographs taken, appointments are available May 19, 20 and 22 for Commencement portraits at the Smittcamp Alumni House Library.

The Fresno State Alumni Association has arranged for flowers to be sold at the Commencement ceremony May 22. Prices range from $10-30.

Parking will be free in the Save Mart Center lots for the University Commencement and all commencement events on campus. Guests are encouraged to arrive early, especially May 22 when students begin lining up at 8 a.m. at the loading dock on the east side of the arena.

Events are organized by the University Commencement Planning Committee, coordinated by the Division of Student Affairs under the guidance of Commencement coordinator Gary Nelson in the Office of Student Activities and Leadership Development.

The schedule of the 22 Commencement events is available at www.csufresno.edu/commencement.

For more information, call 559.278.2741 or see updates online at:

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