The Asian-American and Pacific Islander Commencement Celebration returns to Fresno State this year as graduation season for the class of 2015 moves into high gear.

Last held in 2002, the Asian-American and Pacific Islander commencement will be at noon Saturday, May 9 in the North Gym (Room 118) with University President Joseph I. Castro presiding and delivering the keynote address.

Presented by the Asian and Faculty Staff Association, Asian-American students and community members, the celebration will again be part of Fresno State’s long-standing tradition of celebrating diversity on campus with several events.

The largest graduation event is the Latino Commencement Celebration scheduled for Saturday, May 16, along with the African-American Recognition Program and the LGBTQ+ Graduates Recognition Program.

The EOP Graduate Recognition Ceremony will be May 8, and the International Commencement Celebration and the CAMP Migrant Student Graduation will be May 15.The University’s main Commencement ceremony is May 16 with several college convocations on May 15.

“It is a great honor to deliver the first keynote for the resurrected celebration recognizing the academic successes of our Asian-American and Pacific Islander students,” Castro said. “This important occasion is another moving testament to the rich diversity of our University community as we prepare our students for their contribution to our broader community.”

The return of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander celebration is a long time coming, said Dr. Katsuyo Howard, counselor emerita who currently teaches in the Kremen School of Education and Human Development and helped found the original event.

The first small-scale Southeast Asian graduation ceremony was held in the late 1980s with about 25-30 graduates of Hmong, Lao, Cambodian and Vietnamese descent participating, she recalls.

“They represented the first wave of Southeast Asian students to arrive on campus after escaping their war-torn countries,” said Howard, who at that time, served as a coordinator for the Southeast Asian Student Services. She saw a need for a recognition event that would allow students to celebrate their accomplishments with their family and community.

In 1999, the name of the event was changed to Asian-American Graduation Recognition Celebration to represent all Asian-American and Pacific Islander students on campus. When the Southeast Asian Student Services program closed in 2003 due to budget cuts, this celebration was also discontinued.

The return of the commencement ceremony was initially spearheaded by students Vicky Xiong-Lor and Melissa Vang last fall when they proposed it to Castro. With support from the president and Dr. Lynnette Zelezny, provost and vice president for academic affairs, the commencement was re-established.

“I am very delighted to see students like Vicky and Melissa come forward to make this happen again,” Howard said. “It is important for the families of our Asian graduates to see their accomplishments. For graduates, it is not just an individual accomplishment, but a chance for the entire community to celebrate them. That is the beauty of an event like this.”

Xiong-Lor, a third-year student in the educational leadership doctoral program, said this is a significant step toward providing more recognition of the 3,378 Asian-American and Pacific Islander students on campus as of fall 2014.

Of that number, about 700 are expected to graduate this spring, said Xiong-Lor, who received her bachelor’s degree in liberal studies in 1995 and has been an educator for Clovis Unified School District for the past 19 years.

“It is our hope that having an individual commencement event will motivate Asian-American and Pacific Islander students and show them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that they should be proud of the degree they earned,” Xiong-Lor said. “I am living proof that a degree at Fresno State leads to many opportunities.”

Vang, a second-year graduate student in the Higher Education, Administration, and Leadership program, hopes the tradition will carry on with future graduating classes, but says it cannot be done without the support of students.

“It is so great to have faculty and staff support, but we need students to lead the effort,” Vang said. “We encourage all graduating Asian-American and Pacific Islander seniors to participate, but having juniors come out as volunteers this year will greatly prepare them to take the lead next year. After all, this commencement is history in the making.”

Phong Yang, associate director of University Outreach Services and a commencement committee member, said the numbers reflect a need.

“The celebration will show families, graduates and the Asian community that graduating from college is achievable for them and many others like them,” Yang said. “The parents need this time to be proud of their graduates. At the same time, this event will instill hope for the younger siblings that they too will be able to walk that same stage.”

For more information, follow the event on Facebook for up-to-date information or Melissa Tav at 559.681.9656.

(Written by Melissa Tav, communications specialist for the College of Health and Human Services at Fresno State).