After nearly 31 years of dedicated service to the advancement and development efforts of Fresno State’s agriculture programs, Alcidia Freitas Gomes will retire from her role as executive director of the Ag One Foundation on May 1.

Since she started in 1994, she has successfully helped lead efforts to raise $120 million to connect students, alumni and industry members in support of its campus agricultural programs.

At the heart of those efforts was a transformational gift from Bud, Dee and Lowell Jordan, who were friends of agricultural business faculty Dr. Bob Glim and his wife, Dorothy.

Those relationships, which Gomes helped foster, ultimately led to the Jordan Agricultural Research Center — the single largest cash gift in the California State University system, and the first of its kind in the CSU. The 30,000-square feet building, which opened in 2016, helps agricultural, engineering, science and mathematics faculty and students pioneer new methods and technology tied to agriculture, food and related natural resources.

Her passion for supporting campus agricultural programs and its Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute and a University of the Azores student exchange program continue to reflect her lifelong connections to culture and education.

Born in the Azores, Portugal, she grew up in Fresno after immigrating at the age of three. Besides growing up and working on a dairy, she also showed dairy cattle and helped raise hogs, chickens, ducks and rabbits.

A graduate of Central Union High School in Fresno, she took marketing classes at Fresno City College before she transferred to Fresno State, where she received an agricultural business degree. She also worked at the Fresno State dairy and was a member of the National Agri-Marketing Association and Alpha Zeta Cal Epsilon chapters for agricultural students.

After graduation, she worked for the California Holstein Association as an intern and then as its director of marketing and promotions, as well as its manager, before she applied for Ag One executive director and college development director position. That campus role was elevated to full-time status for the first time under the direction of University President John D. Welty, Vice President Peter Smits, and College Dean Dan Bartell. The goal was to grow philanthropy for the college while also engaging alumni and friends in the life of the university.

Ag One has gone from 40 endowed funds before her arrival, to over 150 that have now combined for $33 million. Those funds have provided scholarships and other support to nearly 5,500 students plus numerous projects and programs.

Other fundraising efforts have led to the naming or building of the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market, Foster Farms Poultry and Education Research Center, Donald E. Gumz Enology Building, Dr. Vincent E. Petrucci Viticulture Building and Manuel Mancebo Jr. and Katye Mancebo Dairy Unit plus numerous other hands on laboratories.

Her leadership has left an indelible mark across the campus with helping create and mentor the Portuguese Student Club. She has also served on the President’s Portuguese Leadership Council, which is directed by Diniz Borges and strongly supported by President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval.

She has also served on boards for community organizations such as the Fresno County Farm Bureau, Our Lady of Fatima (Easton), American Cancer Society, the Fresno Republican Central Committee and as a volunteer tutor at Pinedale Elementary.

In retirement, she looks forward to spending time with her husband, Gabriel, also a native of the Azorean island of Flores, and spending more time sailing.

In recognition of her extraordinary career, the Ag One Board of Directors announced the creation of an endowment fund in her name to help advance agriculture at Fresno State. Others can make contributions to her name at: bit.ly/FS-alcidia-endowment

See pictures of a campus retirement event attended by nearly 300 people on Feb. 18 in name, visit this photo gallery.