Fresno State Centennial

President's Message

 

Being Fresno State’s president as our university celebrates its Centennial is a great privilege. The celebration is a reminder of how successfully we’ve worked together to overcome challenges and help thousands of individuals thrive to the benefit of others.

This website celebrates our evolution from modest beginnings as a normal school to an acclaimed, culturally diverse, 21st century university, which offers educational opportunities through eight schools and colleges. Our students have applied what they’ve learned at Fresno State as leaders and do-ers in communities throughout California, around the world and clear into space.

Our alumni are 9/11 heroes, judges, ambassadors, university presidents, teachers, farmers, doctors and nurses, political leaders, military men and women, authors and artists, astronauts, inventors, athletes and business executives. Fresno State alumni have won the Pulitzer Prize, Oscars, Olympic medals, Emmys, Grammys, the Super Bowl and other distinctions.

We’ve also helped our neighbors through volunteer service and partnerships designed to transform our region and improve our quality of life.

We have stayed true to the four Latin words on our university seal:
"Lucem accipe ut reddas" ("Receive the light that you may give it forth”).

As Bulldogs, we’re determined to continue taking those few powerful words to heart in our next 100 years, building on the accomplishments you’ll read about Fresno State’s first century of excellence.

Related Information

  Welty invites community to join centennial celebration
  Office of the President

The Celebration

Memories

  • Being there when everyone gave Steve Coupland – probably the greatest water polo player in Fresno State history – a standing ovation at the end of his last game as a Bulldog.

    Dan Waterhouse, B.S. Business 1978

  • My fondest memory is the time I was introduced to the girl that would later become my wife. We spent many hours socializing and studying at the USU. Thank goodness for my graduating from Fresno State and to have met my wife and partner.

    Steven Schleikorn, B.S. Business 1985

  • Some of my earliest memories are of Fresno State. As a child, my mother used to take me out to the farm to visit the pigs, cows, sheep, and horses. We'd picnic at O'Neill Park and peek at the baby animals in the springtime. I remember thinking what a magical thing it was to have a farm right in the middle of the city… and it still is!

    Tracy Newel, M.B.A. '11 • Staff '07 - present

  • My mother, Amelia Hansen, earned a teaching credential in the two year program from Fresno Normal School in 1921. She went on to teach four grades at the two-room American Colony elementary school. She earned $1,200 - that's per year!

    Shirley Kirkpatrick