Fred Ruiz, who started Ruiz Foods of Dinuba with his father in 1964 and built it into the biggest processor of frozen Mexican foods in the United States, will be honored at 5:45 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at California State University, Fresno’s 35th Latino Commencement Celebration.
The event at the Save Mart Center is one of four diversity-related celebrations scheduled May 21 as part of Fresno State’s 100th Commencement season. Each is free and open to the public.
Dr. Deborah G. Blue, chancellor of State Center Community College District, is the keynote speaker at the 26th African American Recognition Ceremony at 2 p.m., also at the Save Mart Center.
The May 21 ceremonies are:
Noon – The College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) will honor its graduating students and their families, who come from farmworking backgrounds, during the Migrant Student Graduation Luncheon at the Satellite Student Union on campus.
More than 60 CAMP students are eligible for bachelor’s or master’s degrees. The luncheon highlights the students’ academic success and acknowledges the sacrifices that migrant families make in supporting higher education for their children, said Ofelia Gamez, the CAMP director.
CAMP is a federally funded program providing support and retention services to university students who are migrants or from farm-working families. INFO: 559-278-4768 or http://camp.csufresno.edu.
1 p.m. – The International Commencement Celebration at the Concert Hall of the Music Building will honor about 170 international students — half master’s degrees and half bachelor’s degrees — from 20 countries around the world. Refreshments will be served beginning at 11:15 a.m.
The public is invited to support students whose families are unable to travel to the U.S. for the occasion, said Dr. Lucia Hammar, director of the International Student Services and Programs at Fresno State.
NOTE: The international program will be streamed live on the Internet so friends and relatives throughout the world can watch at http://channel1.video.csufresno.edu/.
2 p.m. – The 26th African American Recognition Ceremony will be highlighted by Blue’s address and by academic and community service awards recognizing graduating seniors.
Musical selections will be played by violinist Willard E. Roberson II, a junior majoring in music, and Iris Person .The event is modeled upon a traditional African Rite of Passage ceremony, said Tawanda Kitchen, a counselor in University Outreach Services and event co-coordinator with Maxine McDonald, director of Retentions Services.
This tradition includes presentation of the kinte cloth, a ceremonial African dressing signifying the meaning of mmeeda (something that has not happened before). Students will be presented and then ceremoniously draped by members of the academic community.
Blue became the State Center Community College District chancellor July 1, 2010, in charge of a multi-campus district that includes Fresno City and Reedley colleges and educational centers in Madera, Oakhurst and northeast Fresno. The district serves nearly 40,000 students.
Blue previously she was vice chancellor for the Contra Costa Community College District and has served on California Community College and higher education state and national boards and commissions. She has presented numerous papers and workshops at state and national conventions and co-authored published articles after earning her doctorate and master’s degrees in speech and hearing science from the University of Illinois.
For more information, call 559.278.5364 or email tbowers@csufresno.edu.
5:45 p.m. – The 35th Latino Commencement Celebration, considered the largest of its kind in the U.S. with more than 10,000 guests, begins with folkloric dance and mariachi music.
Ruiz will be honored at the bilingual event for his many accomplishments since 1964 when he was just one year out of community college and his father, Luis Ruiz, was delivering groceries to farm families. Father and son started Ruiz Foods, which now is under a third generation of leadership. Ruiz Foods employes more than 2,500 people in three processing plants around the U.S. The company was recognized by President Reagan as U.S. Small Business of the Year in 1983.
Ruiz was inducted into the Small Business Administration’s Hall of Fame in 1992, said Dr. Luz Gonzalez, dean of the College of Social Sciences, which coordinates the Latino Commencement Celebration.
For more information, call 559.278.3013 or visit www.csufresno.edu/lcc.
(University Communications news intern Christy Patron contributed to this press release, her final one as a graduating mass communications and journalism major. Thank you and congratulations Christy!)
