It has been a busy year at California State University, Fresno. The university began its Centennial celebration, hosted a historic Gubernatorial debate, adjusted to budget cutbacks, accepted an invitation to a new NCAA Division I athletic conference and offered more than a million hours of community service – all while providing quality education for nearly 21,000 students.

Fresno State’s headlines remind us of the events that shaped the campus in 2010 and tell a story of the university’s strength, not only in the past year but the other 99 years as well.

While the headlines number in the hundreds, here are some of 2010’s top stories from FresnoStateNews.com in chronological order:

  • Fresno State’s Bulldogs will compete in Mountain West Conference (Aug. 18) – President Welty announced that Fresno State had accepted an invitation for Bulldog Athletics teams to compete in the Mountain West Conference. Fresno State will leave the Western Athletic Conference, where it has competed since 1992, in June of 2010.
  • Fresno State hosts gubernatorial debate (Oct. 2) – Fresno State was one three sites to host a televised debate between candidates Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown. The spirited debate was the first California TV gubernatorial debate broadcast in Spanish.
  • The Campaign for Fresno State surpasses $150 million mark (Oct.16) – The Campaign for Fresno State continued marching toward its $200 million goal and finished the year at over three-quarters of the way there. The total was boosted by a $1 million gift from alumnus and recently retired Montana State University President Geoffrey Gamble and his wife Patricia to enhance Fresno State’s linguistics program. Other gifts, large and small, helped boost the total. Since July 2005, more than 25,000 individuals and organizations have made 95,000 gifts to the Campaign.
  • University’s two presidents call for passage of DREAM Act (Nov. 22) – President Welty used a student rally in support of the DREAM Act to call for Fresno State to lead the way in encouraging Congressional passage to help thousands of college students. Associated Students Inc. president Pedro Ramirez also addressed the rally, urging passage. The matter is personal for Ramirez, who revealed just days before that he is an undocumented immigrant enrolled under provisions of Assembly Bill 540.