Family always has come first for Germán Astorga.

John Molthen had no real concept of college when he began his Stanislaus State journey.

When she arrived in the United States as a 13-year-old immigrant from Mexico, Juana Nieto Vazquez didn’t speak a word of English.

For two hours every morning, Maria Rocha would board a public bus and make her way from her hometown of Dos Palos to Stan State for her first class.

Samantha Thomas found her groove at Stanislaus State.

For years, Benjamin “Ed” Fitzpatrick and his wife Bertha were regulars at Stanislaus State basketball games. While they were ardent supporters of athletics, they also were known for breaking racial barriers, championing the merits of education and creating opportunities that uplifted people and communities.

On May 28, Stanislaus State and the California State University awarded their highest honor, the Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, to Bertha Fitzpatrick and her late husband Ed during the morning Commencement ceremony honoring the Class of 2021.

After having spent their final year at Stanislaus State in virtual and online spaces due to the pandemic, graduates from the Class of 2021 assembled on campus this week for the ultimate in-person event: Stanislaus State’s 61st Commencement.  

The University hosted six ceremonies for the Class of 2021 over three days, May 26-28, in the campus’s outdoor amphitheater. For the 2020-2021 academic year, Stan State celebrated 3,051 graduates. 

Stanislaus State awarded Central Valley community advocate, civic servant and retired educator Kenni Friedman an Honorary Doctorate of Humane 

As shock swept across the United States following George Floyd’s murder last May, Associate Professor of Psychology Aletha Harven could see that Stanislaus State’s c