Pride Points

We are a campus of opportunity, boldly empowering our diverse student body for success. Here are just a few things we’re proud of at Fresno State:

Education and research

High-quality academic programs in 66 bachelor’s, 44 master’s and three doctoral areas prepare students to tackle real-world needs and transform communities in the region and world.
Our faculty and students continuously conduct pioneering applied research. The Jordan Agricultural Research Center fosters collaboration between some of the brightest minds in agriculture, engineering, science and mathematics. The Henry Madden Library – the largest academic library in California between Los Angeles and San Francisco – opened in January 2009 and is arguably one of the busiest libraries in all of inland California with 1.76 million visitors a year. Through our School of Nursing and Health Policy Institute, faculty and students are conducting research to understand and address the special health problems of Central California.

Fresno State is more than 24,000 students strong. We nurture cultural competence by celebrating diversity and welcoming all. The Cross Cultural and Gender Center, Veterans Virtual Resource Center and the University’s new Hmong minor program are just a few programs and initiatives which reflect our tremendous diversity. Read more about diversity at Fresno State here.

We have focused attention on the essential life necessities that are sometimes taken for granted. Our Student Cupboard – a free food and hygiene pantry for students – averages more than 4,000 visits a month. Comprehensive programs and initiatives such as the Renaissance Scholars Program, the Clothing Closet and the Good Samaritan Fund address the basic needs of underserved students, so that they can focus on what’s centrally important: reaching their personal, academic and career goals.

“Learning by serving” is becoming core to who we are as a University. Community service, coordinated by the Jan and Bud Richter Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning, is a hallmark at Fresno State. Students, faculty and staff have provided more than 10 million hours of community service in 10 years.

Balancing athletics and academics is something we don’t take lightly. Our students are expected to do well in school and act as role-models on and off the field. Few universities can join Fresno State in boasting a student-athlete GPA average of 3.12!

Eighty percent of our graduates stay in the Central Valley to become this region’s next generation of leaders. Here are just a few centers at Fresno State which foster leadership:
- The Maddy Institute at Fresno State provides non-partisan, interdisciplinary and fact-driven analysis of public policy issues impacting our region and state.
- The Kremen School of Education and Human Development prepares the majority of the region’s teachers to do their part in solving key problems faced by Central California schools. We’re also preparing the educational leaders this region needs through the John D. Welty Center for Educational Policy and Leadership.
- The Center for Leadership builds the leadership capacity of students through the development of personal leadership philosophies applied to campus, community and national issues.

Each year, academics at Fresno State steadily garners more attention with the release of national rankings. In 2016, reports from Washington Monthly Magazine, U.S. News and World Report and Firetail put our University in league with University of California campuses, Ivy League institutions and Stanford.