California State University, Fresno’s 34th annual Latino Commencement will honor alumni whose humble farmworker family beginnings motivated them to pursue careers helping others — Dr. J. Luis Bautista, a physician, and Armando Rodriguez, a pioneering judge.

The event is the largest of its kind in the United States attracting 10,000 or more people each year, says Dr. Luz Gonzalez, dean of the Fresno State College of Social Sciences, which sponsors Latino Commencement.

“Our Latino Commencement Celebration is not only the largest, but, perhaps, the most beautiful and colorful as well,” she said. “The event has been attracting a growing number of participants in the past several years.

This year’s event at the Save Mart Center on campus begins at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, May 22, with entertainment followed by the opening procession at 6:30 p.m.

“Both of these Fresno State alumni are role models who have made considerable contributions to their professions and the community at large,” Gonzalez said.

In past years honored dignitaries have included John Quinones of ABC News Primetime, actor Edward James Olmos, film director Moctesuma Esparza, former Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Univision news anchor Maria Elena Salinas.

Retired Fresno County Superior Court Judge Rodriguez, 81, graduated from Fresno State in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Bautista, 55, graduated in 1979 with a bachelor’s degree in biology.

Rodriguez is a local Latino community icon. He was the ninth of 12 children, who graduated from Fresno’s Edison High School and enlisted in the Air Force at the beginning of the Korean War, serving as a Morse Code radio operator.

After attending Fresno State on the GI Bill, Rodriguez went to law school and became an attorney and was the first Hispanic elected to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors of Fresno County in 1972.

Rodriguez helped open the judicial doors for many other Latinos when he was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to be a Fresno County Superior Court judge in 1975. Although retired for many years, Rodriguez serves on assignment covering court vacancies throughout the state. He is currently assigned to Fresno County and hears cases in Coalinga twice a week.

He and his wife, Betty, have each been recipients of La Medalla Ohtli, the highest recognition that the Mexican government bestows on non-Mexican citizens. The Rodriguezes were honored for their work with the Mexican Consulate, with Fresno’s Sister City Torreon and with youth from Mexico. (Ohtli is a Nahuatl word for path).

His community service includes being a director of Arte Americas, Fresno State Alumni Association, Radio Bilingüe, Fresno County Community Hospital, Fresno-Torreon Sister-City Committee and other community organizations.

Rodriguez is proud of many “firsts” in his life – his first marriage in its 60th year; first lawyer to work for the California Rural Legal Assistance; first in his family to graduate from college; and one of the first to be elected as an adviser with el Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior during Mexico President Vicente Fox’s administration.

Bautista practices in Fresno, Sanger and Fillmore, and is president and medical director of Bautista Medical Group, Inc., Bautista Rural Medical Clinics, Sespe Medical Group Inc. and Avance Home Health Inc.

A Fresno native, he comes from a migrant family of 12 and was raised in Sinaloa, Mexico.

When Bautista was 12, his family migrated to Santa Paula to work in the fields. His mother gave him the option of picking lemons or going to school, so Bautista enrolled at Fresno State and earned his biology degree.

He became an award-winning student at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

In his early years as a physician, he provided medical treatment to migrant workers during protests and marches. For the past nine years, Bautista has hosted Navidad en el Barrio Health Fair, which informs the community about disease management and progression.

Bautista donates time to youth needing sports physical exams, participates in public service announcements and gives seminars on subjects such as stroke prevention, alcoholism and diabetes.

Bautista and his wife, high school sweetheart Martha Guerrero, raised five children – Hector, Luis, Juan, Raquel and Diego – all of whom followed in their father’s footsteps into the healthcare system.

For additional information, contact Gonzalez at 559.278.3013 or Kent Karsevar, director of Development for the College of Social Sciences, at 559.278.4381.

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