2006 Dean’s Graduate Medalists

Pedro Hernandez, College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology
Pedro Hernandez completed his M.S. in Plant Science with a 4.0 GPA. He is the youngest son of a farmworking family of 12. He is skilled both in the laboratory and in the field and has been an intern for Bayer Crop Science and a research scientist assistant for Syngenta Crop Protection. Hernandez’s thesis research was on control strategies for the black widow spider in vineyards. He is working as a field development representative for Nichino America, an agricultural chemical company.

Lejla Tricic, College of Arts and Humanities
Lejla Tricic completed her M.A. in Literature with a 3.94 GPA. A refugee from Bosnia 13 years ago, she entered Fresno State in 1998 and was selected as a dean’s medalist as an undergraduate in 2001. Tricic has worked as a teaching assistant at Fresno State and an instructor at the Clovis College Center. Her writing has received attention from notable scholars, doctoral programs and publishers and she has been asked to contribute to an anthology to be published by Cambridge University Press. Tricic’s thesis was on postcolonial theory implicit in the works of Victorian novelist Charlotte Brontë. She is completing her M.F.A. in Creative Writing.

Jennifer C. Guzman, The Craig School of Business
Jennifer C. Guzman completed her Master of Business Administration,  Finance option,  with a 4.0 GPA. While working as a sales representative in the pharmaceutical industry, she pursued her dream of earning an M.B.A. When Guzman’s father was killed in a plane crash, she honored his work ethic by finishing her culminating project, an alternative investment business plan with detailed analysis for the drug industry that reflected recent changes in the Medicare prescription program.

Anusha R. Bhoi, College of Engineering
Anusha R. Bhoi, an international student who did her undergraduate work in India, completed her M.S. in Engineering, Electrical Engineering option, in summer 2005 with a 3.6 GPA. Bhoi impressed faculty members with her hard work and dedication and her success in teaching a freshman design lab. For her master’s project,  she designed and implemented architecture for the Advanced Encryption Standard. She works for Kawasaki Microelectronics in San Jose in high-performance integrated circuit design.

Lana Xiong, College of Health and Human Services
Lana Xiong completed her Master’s in Social Work with a 4.0 GPA. She is the sixth of seven children of Hmong refugees from Laos who were raised by their mother after their father’s death. She worked in Mastering the Master’s Program Tutor Services and was selected by the campus Learning Resource Center to attend professional tutoring training. Xiong is active in the Asian Social Work Organization at Fresno State and a member of the Hmong Young Women Support Group. She volunteers with Stone Soup of Fresno and Pan Valley Institution and is an advocate for Fresno’s Southeast Asian families.

Vianney A. Luna, Kremen School of Education and Human Development
Vianney A. Luna completed her M.S. in Rehabilitative Counseling with a 3.98 GPA. Twice the recipient of a Graduate Equity Fellowship, she has presented her research at national and regional conferences and is preparing two manuscripts for refereed journals. Luna’s research examines the incidence of disabilities among immigrant and limited-English-proficient welfare-to-work participants. She mentors two minority women, volunteers at her son’s school and is active in research, assessment and professional development. She plans to seek a Ph.D. and,eventually, a faculty position.

Justin A. Costa, College of Science and Mathematics
Justin A. Costa completed his M.S. in Biology in summer 2005 with a 4.0 GPA. He has presented his research at national and international meetings. Costa received the College of Science and Mathematics Faculty Sponsored Student Research Award and the Associated Students Grant. He received the postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award from the National Institutes of Health, where he is a fellow.. He completed his thesis in angiogenesis and has been accepted into an M.D./Ph.D. program.

Edgar L. Castillo, College of Social Science
Edgar L. Castillo completed his M.A. in History with a 4.0 GPA. A son of Guatemalan immigrants, he speaks Spanish, Estonian and Russian, and studied German. He is a McNair Scholar, who has presented several papers, including one at the American Association for the Teaching of Slavic and East European Languages. Castillo spent two years in Estonia as a community volunteer and is an accomplished musician. He has been accepted into the doctoral program in Russian Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, and was awarded the Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship.

Roberto C. Vaca, Division of Student Affairs
Roberto C. Vaca completed his M.S. in Counseling, Counseling and Student Services Option, with a 3.63 GPA. A McNair Scholar, he has been involved in numerous research projects and professional presentations. Vaca was a member of the planning team at the American Humanics Management Institute in Atlanta and a presenter at the Western Psychological Association in Phoenix. He was the first chair of the Student Subcommittee of the Alcohol Advisory Council at Fresno State and received the 2005 Student Leadership Award at the California State University Alcohol Conference. He plans to work as a high school guidance learning specialist and then begin doctoral studies.